My first paying client

After taking my friend's C4 to a Cruise-in a friend of his was astonished at how clean and how deep of a red that Gary's C4 was that he wanted to know what the trick was. So he asked the owner... Gary pointed me out and told him to talk to me, so after about 30 minutes of talking (and an occasional ego stroke for me ) I agreed to detail his C4. Which is identical to Gary's, expect Jon's C4 has red interior and he didn't want me to clean that.

So he dropped it off today, he told me he didn't want me to use Armor-All on it (*gag*) I told him nothing touches my vehicles from that company. So he was pleased with that. The car came to me dirty, apparently Jon talked about taking it through the car wash prior to bringing it to me, well Gary insisted he didn't... That I like to clean them myself (which is true) because even if he did wash it... I'd just wash it again when it got to me.

Anyway, I looked over the car 'bout an hour ago. There are plenty of swirls, but 95% are surface swirls, an easy fix because I already know the combination I'll use on it. It'll be more time consuming than Gary's though considering the only M105/M205 combo I did on Gary's was the hood. The rest of Gary's 'Vette was M105 then waxed.

Here are some before pictures, sorry the swirl pictures suck, it was dark and the camera didn't want to cooperate... Handler error The car was in overall great shape, the driver really cares about his cars, just didn't have a buffer to properly baby it. Some money in my pocket for that though. However, swirls are inevitable, the paint has a film on it and is a bit dull. It'll be there no more after tomorrow

I'll update this as I go... I'm hoping it'll be done tomorrow evening. No after's the of the rims, got too dark. No garage = fail

Dirty Untouched Rim:

Soaking:





Front Right Fender:



Rear:

Left Hip:

Part of The Hood:

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Mods: Vector ECM/TCM tune | VG Sharkfin | Volant CAI w/Amsoil Filter | Spyder Tails | GXP Rear Diffuser | Debadge | SLP Spoiler
Erebus: 2000 Grand Prix GTP Sedan
2009.5 G8 GT
GPONA's June COTM 2011 & March 2012

The dirty looks bad. I hate dealing with water spots. Can't wait to see the finished result.

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One Big Ass Mistake America

That will be a rewarding project to clean up that paint! From my experience though, Corvette clear coat is notoriously hard so it may take a bit more elbow grease! Good luck and can't wait to see the final product!!

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2005 Grand Prix GT - SPO Spoiler, Tips, Grilles, Sills, Mats, SE Front Fascia, GMPP F/R STB's W/ Don's Brackets, GMPP RTA's & GMPP Rear Sway Bar

Yall dont even wana know how bad my GP is lol it looks like its been through a rally race

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All sho no go...

Nice Trey

I finished the 'Vette this morning and to say the least I wasn't satisfied with its results. The owner was thrilled, me... Not so much.

The car had plenty of surface swirls, no problem, but then the deeper swirls would NOT come out for nothing. I tried every combination I could think of and it didn't work. When I took the car back I told the owner that when I get my wool pad in to bring it back to me, that I wouldn't charge him to fix what I couldn't fix. There were still swirls on the hood that wouldn't come out. I spent roughly 15 hours on the Corvette and as meticulous as I was I couldn't get them. So despite what my Dad and my friend that owns the other 'Vette said. I took $150 for the job instead of the agreed upon $175.

I did get the film off the paint and the water spots as well, sorry I have no close-ups of the paint. I was peeved and couldn't get the LED to cooperate with my camera either. I had patience the thickness of a thread at the point I finished lol. So at least I accomplished most of the swirls, all the film, and the water spots off. The guy used red tinted turtle wax on the car

Watch your eyes on the interior






^ Not sure what the camera focused on o_O


Before:


After:


He had hard water (or chemical) stains on the windshield, it took M105 massive amount of power and repetitive work to work them out.


Windshield done:



Seeing double yet?

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Mods: Vector ECM/TCM tune | VG Sharkfin | Volant CAI w/Amsoil Filter | Spyder Tails | GXP Rear Diffuser | Debadge | SLP Spoiler
Erebus: 2000 Grand Prix GTP Sedan
2009.5 G8 GT
GPONA's June COTM 2011 & March 2012

Good god!!! I'd drop my car off in a heartbeat. I in no way have the patience to go in detail like you do. Looks awesome!

My windshield looks like that too...

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Good job!

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Thanks guys

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Mods: Vector ECM/TCM tune | VG Sharkfin | Volant CAI w/Amsoil Filter | Spyder Tails | GXP Rear Diffuser | Debadge | SLP Spoiler
Erebus: 2000 Grand Prix GTP Sedan
2009.5 G8 GT
GPONA's June COTM 2011 & March 2012

damn, after seeing what you did there it makes me wonder what you could do with mine

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2001 white gt coupe with enough crap to make it run mid 13's with 3 bad pistons
2002 40th GTP sedan mostly stock

Omg if only you were closer I would pay you in a heartbeat to get the swirls out of mine. I tried the whole 105/205 combo with a orange lc pad and made several passes and thought I took a lot of the holograms and swirls out but once I changed the lighting they were still did. Which pads do you use Kendra...and I guess I can be real picky since my car is my DD and is left outside

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Thanks so much guys

I used Lake Country Hyrdo 4 inch pads. They're a bit small for a car with such a large hood, but the next size up I have is 6 inch and it wasn't worth swapping out. I really need to buy a wool pad or buy a Flex because the clearcoat was so stubborn that the LC 4 inch Orange took off a significant amount of "damage" from the paint, but because it'd been abused for so long there were more RIDS than swirls it seems.

I used the M105/205 combo on a majority of the car, but then I realized that it wasn't doing much more than M205 and I was getting burnt out.

Make sure you have good microfiber towels there, Matt. I learned the hard way with those. They're pricey, but it makes a world of difference when using these:
http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-deluxe-jr ... towel.html

When working on swirls its best to use the M105/205 on "level" 5 - 5 1/2. 6 is too fast and the product dries too quickly, especially M105. Everyone tells me to apply wax by hand, but I realized that even with the slighest pressure you'll add swirls and minor holograms. So I apply the wax with a Cyan or Black pad at speed 1. However, I noticed that when using the Cobra Deluxe Jr. that I see less left behind from wiping it off. It's an annoying learning process

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Mods: Vector ECM/TCM tune | VG Sharkfin | Volant CAI w/Amsoil Filter | Spyder Tails | GXP Rear Diffuser | Debadge | SLP Spoiler
Erebus: 2000 Grand Prix GTP Sedan
2009.5 G8 GT
GPONA's June COTM 2011 & March 2012