2005 Pontiac G6 GT

[danielle]

Well, this isn't really bragging. But here she is.
It's not perfect, but it is sooooo much better than it was before.
The marring and micro swirls are gone, with just the bigger scratches remaining.
I'm open to all critiques, good and/or bad.
Please keep in mind, I'm just starting out and don't have everything. So I used what I had available.


I started in on it at 8am in the car wash bay.

I did the 2 bucket method.
Washed it once and then clay barred it.
eww...

Then washed it again and drove it to the shop to air dry and get started.
After bath waiting to go inside:

Here are just some pictures showing the severity of the paint:

This was after working the SSR2 a little with a white pad at speed 5/6:

All taped off and ready to get started on the bigger panels

Before:

After:

Once I got the whole car done, I went over it again with Spray and wipe to get rid of the ssr2.
I then put a red pad on and applied EX-P (love this stuff!)
Let that sit for a little while I washed windows, ate lunch and cleaned up some other things.

After I wiped the EX-P off: and after that I applied some "x" brand carnauba wax

How's this for a reflection shot

Then I finished cleaning up my things and stood back and admired my work, really not wanting to move the car outside because I knew it'd get dusty immediately.

On the the outside pretty shots:

I don't have any pretty palm tree's, so pine tree's and leaf less oaks will have to do

Thought this turned out neat with the American Flag:

And then of course I took it out on the road and got some more shots:

Goin' Fishin

Then I dropped her back off and luckily parked back in the garage where she will sit for the next week.

Again, please give me any tips and advice.
I don't know what to do from here to get the rest of the scratches out.

 

[wallywax]

Great work! You did much better than I did the first time correcting paint! As you can tell being a detailer is hard work! Takes tons of patience but well worth the effort. It seems the SSR2 helped to correct the swirls. Your paint looks about 85% corrected!! Most people won't even notice those scratches or swirls. Unless they are like "us" and look at the paint at 50 angles in the sun looking for imperfections. lol. I recommend 2 different options for you.

1. Would be to hide the rest of the imperfections and seal them in. You would need to apply Black hole with a finishing pad at speed one on the pc working about 2-3 gentle passes per sections. Top that with your EX-P and top that the next day with Nattys Blue. I find that Nattys B works great at hiding minor imperfections. That would make your paint "look" about 90% corrected but remember you will need to fill and seal again about 2 months down the road give or take.

2. Would be to fully correct the paint. Its hard to say on paper what would work or what won't. I learned that when I first purchased my Mustang. It looked worse than yours! It took some trial and error and tons of patience to see what worked to correct the finish. By looking at the end result I would try SSR1 with a finishing pad at speed 3. See if that eliminates the rest of the scratches. If not I would try doing another pass with SSR2 or 2.5. It seems the SSR2 really did a great job. Follow that by SSR1.

Great job and remember to have fun doing it!

 

[wallywax]

I forgot to mention...If your black car is anything like mine, you need to always use the 2 bucket method and be very gently while drying. My Stang gets swirls and scratches by just looking at it!

 

[sscully]

Dani,

That looks great. Can't ask too much from a 1st time going at it.
You found out the S.O. was passing along hype about DAs based on rotary polishers.

You are set for the remainder of what the spring will be. About APR / MAY you can go at it again, and remove the remainder of things, if you want to.

I find Black Hole is great as filling in the last 10% of defect that need to be found with a halogen work lamp. I actually work in it as Steve suggests at a higher speed.

Few things for the next round, if you have time for it.

1. After going at the remaining defects you want to remove, use a black pad and ProPolish to give it a once over polish. I find on dark colors it helps with making it pop a bit more in the shine area. I use my Flex with a 7.5" LC VC pad on speed 4, you should be able to use a 5.5" pad on 3.5 to 4 for it on the PC. No pressure, just hold the PC7424XP in line and work a section pattern.


2. After polishing with PP and a black pad, go to Black Hole working it in. This will fill in any mirco defects left behind. Some call it cheating, I call it daily driver prudent.

3. Use EX-P and then Natty's Blue or Red. I actually go Natty's blue and BH layers ( 3 )

4. Glass cleaning, if you do not yet, use your Spray & Wipe and the Green Velvet MF towels from PB. I just gave away the last unopened cans of Zep glass cleaner to my sister. Last AG free shipping sale, I used the 10% code and got a gallon of it.

5. Car drying. Use a leaf bower to get 90% of the water off, and then use the large Blue velvet MF towels ( same as the green only blue and larger ) and Spray and wipe to finish drying. Give the paint a quick mist of SnW and use the blue towel to dry it. No need to drive the car dry when doing this. I use the Ridgid shop vac detachable blower to dry the car. I blow it out with the compressor before washing the car, and I have the blower nozzle cleaned out and polished, and only use it on the car. You can use any electric leaf blower if you do not have one around to use, just make sure it is clean prior to drying the car. Some product manufactures sell a version for 45.00 that gets faily good reviews, but I don't think any of them have tried one from a big box store to know any better. Amazon is another place to check for one.

These are just a few pointers I have pickedup over the years, and see to work for me. You will try a few things, toss those you do not like or don;t work for you or morph them into something that works for you.

Again great job for a 1st try, looks great.

Steve

 

[danielle]

Thanks Walter!
I was very happy with the results being my first time.
I didn't think black was that awful as a beginning job.
But yes, this car is a lot like you describe your mustang, the paint is so soft.
I didn't hand dry it, I let the air at 50 mph cruising do that part of the job and then wiped it down the S&W before I pulled it inside.

My biggest worry was if I was working the SSR2 to thin or dry?
I conditioned the pad first, then applied a circle of product around the pad, and patted it 2-3 times on the working surface to kind of spread it out.
I then put the PC on the surface and turned it on working in back and forth, front to back, overlapping motions, grabbing more product from tapped spots as I thought I needed it. I could see the SSR2 turn from white to clear and had a "greasy?" look to it, I then worried if it was gone or dry? But when I touched it with my fingers, it still felt wet.
Is that how this product is or should I have added more product?

I like your idea of option 1 with BH. SSR2.5 worries me, being a beginner. I don't want to get to aggressive and make things worse?
The car sits outside 90% of its life and he doesn't take as good of care of it as he should (I'm hoping he changes that since I spent all that time on it).
With that said, it doesn't need to be "show car condition".

I think before I go and buy 1, 2.5 or BH, I might try my car first. That way I will know if 2 works on it or if i need something heavier or lighter.
I already have WD for my white car, so I'm set there. Again, it sits outside ALL the time.

For the BH of WD, a finishing pad....I have 1 black, 1 blue and 2 red. Which one of those would be best? I read the blue bag and it said glazes and sealants, so I was thinking that but wasn't sure.

Also, for SSR1, does a polish need to be applied after?
Is SSR2 like I used it ok by itself to just have a glaze overtop or does it really need a polish after?
I was thinking of getting Pro Polish, but wasn't sure if EX-P covered that area as well too.
I am working on a limited budget, and only have a few cars to do from time to time, so I don't/can't afford to get a lot of money wrapped up into a detailing cart.

So, in theory; process should be as such:
SSR
BH/WD
EX-P or PP????
Wax of some type (I have cough* Wolfgang Fuzion Cough*) Is that ok until I run out?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get everything straightened out!

 

[danielle]

Thanks Steve!
There is so much to learn for doing this, and so many different products. Its crazy!

I obviously need to order more stuff to finish the job.

 

[wallywax]

It sounds like you are doing everything correct. Results def show that as well! As far as SSR1. That is a "fine" polish and should not need any more polish steps after that. It all depends on the finish if you need to step down from ssr2-ssr1. In the sun does the paint look like a halogram or does it have a nice even shine? If it doesn't have that halogram effect you should be fine going straight to the Black hole. You already have EX-P on the car so I would recommend 2 options.

1. Wait about 2-3 months and apply the Black Hole with the PC. Top with EX-P and Nattys.

2. Apply SSR1 to remove the EX-P than follow step 1.

 

[wallywax]

To be honest...in your pictures your job looks done

 

[sscully]

With the plan you have

SSR
BH/WD
EX-P

At this point of how the car looks, and the BF might not be the nicest to it, I would pass on the BH for now.
I don't know the next time I am over towards FW. All my IN trips have been to Indy and Vigo county for work as of late. Next time I am heading that way, I can drop off some BH for you to try at your BF's work or if you are ordering stuff sooner, try a 4 oz sample bottle of it from PB, it is 5.00 to try on the hood, roof and trunk. If you use BH on a white finish, it gives the white paint a pearl finish to it. Don't know if you want your car to look like that, I like it on my GL1500.

The list you have is enough for a daily driver to be honest.

Pro Polish is a chemical polish that you up the pad aggressiveness to get more correction out of it. The SSR line is a mechanical polish. The greasy feeling was correct. Just keep working it until the gloss starts to pop out.
This is about what it looked like ?

There is a thread in the product section showing the break down stages of SSR that I found useful.

I like PP for a lot of things, but I also have SSR1 ( should not have bought having PP ) SSR2 and SSR2.5.
I prefer PP better than SSR1, but that is me. For defect removal SSR2 & SSR2.5 are very nice to work the surface with and I am a geek, so I always follow up with PP on a black pad before LSP.

 

[Mrclean81]

That really turned out great. +1 on the Black Hole. I noticed how those first few after shots had that classic SSR2 reflection. I use that same pad/polish combo all the time, and have recently been going back with Black Hole after the SSR2. You can literally watch the tone of the paint change from a bright reflective glow to a tone so deep that it looks like its dripping wet. Very nice job on it

 

[mdmill1]

Nice job it came out great.

 

[Sal329]

Looks great. I would look into microfiber pads I think that would get the extra cut needed. Take advantage of the dented product thread and get master cut and white diamond.

 

[Poorboy]

nice job Dani ... a question and a suggestion .... how many passes did you do with the SSR2 and white pad? passes meaning ..working the product fully and then removing to see your work ...
Since it is a daily driver and you are not expecting show car results .. I would polish it one more time, and maybe add Black Hole to the process as others have said. If you wanted to go to the next step, I'd go with the SSR2.5 with an orange pad and follow with the SSR2 on a black or blue pad. If not then just be happy that your work looks better than 95% of other cars out there

 

[danielle]

This is really the only outside sun shot I got afterwards

The sun kept hitting the body lines funny and made it look weird.

I already have white diamond, but I like the idea of making my white car look pearly colored
(I love the newer pearl white GM color!)

It does look a ton better, but like you all said, I notice everything even tho to a non-detailing person it would look fine.
I think I may pick up a BH and PP (i have things I need PP for) and try the BH on it.

And Steve, Over most of the car, i did 2 passes as you described.
Worked it once, wiped and worked it again.

The greasy look looked like the above picture, maybe a little more clear?
I should have gotten a picture, I wasn't thinking about that.

Question: With BH or WD, on say a white pad, will it "cut" more? Or does it work the same as it would on say a black or blue pad?

 

[Poorboy]

Black Hole doesn't cut and should not be used with a white pad ... I'm thinking from the last picture, that there may be more paint damage than just swirls ... I would be careful on the polishing and stick to soft pads .. I'd like to see a few more pictures in the sun from other angles ...
Yes, Dani the process sounds good and you worked it well ... you can do more passes, but again on that black paint I might play it safe as some paint is better than no paint :shock:

 

[danielle]

Thanks for all the reply's and comments!

I will try and get some more pictures of it in the sun, it may not be till weekend or so until I see it again.

I will wait a few weeks/month or so and see what the car looks like again.
I'm honestly happy with the way it turned out.

And coming up on farming season, its going to be sitting outside and covered in dust (and not getting washed unless I steal it).

I'm super excited to get started on my car now!
Are the SSRs ok to use out in the sun when its warm?

 

[Sal329]

You should be super proud of the outcome. Black paint gets very hot I'm not sure I would Polish in the sun. But the ssr polishes are OK to use in the sun

 

[BigLeegr]

Was the car repainted at some time? Areas like the trunk look like there's an awful lot of orange peel. If that's the case, you won't get it looking perfect with just polishes.

Also, to add to your list of things to use Pro Polish on, it can be used to clear up the haze on the tail lights (and other smooth hard plastic parts). Pro Polish 2 is also pretty snazzy.

 

[danielle]

I was planning on possibly trying my white car outside at home this weekend instead of dragging it and everything else back to work.
I'm finally getting my new spoiler painted this week and wanted to get the deck lid polished and cleaned up before installing the new one!

To my knowledge, the only part that was repainted was the front of the roof between the sunroof and the front windshield from when I hit a goose.
But its first 2 years of life before I got it, I'm not sure. I just know that it was in the GM 2 year lease program.
There are no CarFax warnings that pop up, but we all know that doesn't mean much these days.

I was noticing a lot of the orange peel yesterday, and the paint is just so soft.
Like Walter said with his Mustang, just looking at it makes the paint get scratched.
I think I will try some BH on it and see where that gets me.

I was planning on using the PP on exhaust tips, headlights, glass...and, will it work ok on the crappy/peeling chrome and clear coated factory GM wheels?
I will post some pictures tonight of what I am trying to fix. They clean up really well, but they are scratched and don't keep that shine very long.

Whats the difference between PP and PP2? Would you suggest one over the other?
Sorry for the questions, all this stuff is still new to me.

 

[danielle]

Okay, next on "The Problem Childs" list of boo boo's.

Thanks to the lovely but crappy GM chrome plated/clear coated wheels, they look gross.

They clean up great, but have scratches from the outside edge to about halfway up the spoke (Assuming from the car wash?).
My question, will PP take care of these? Or am I fighting a loss cause?
They aren't peeling to bad yet, except for the very outer lip that the weight clips on to.

Prior to anything

Close up (used a flash light for the light since sun had already hid)

The closer to inside of the wheel

I won't even post pictures of the inside, that is definitely a lost cause.
Again, just like the car: daily driver, low maintenance.