Clark @ PB

This was the second weekend in a row I had to work, but seeing as it was one of these I wasn’t too bothered...




We had seen the car when it was only a couple of days old and the dealer prep was less than impressive, the owner hadn’t washed it since - too busy enjoying it no doubt! :driver:










Pre-foam first, with R222 through the lance @ 60 degrees:




Left to dwell for a few minutes:




Then rinsed off at high pressure:





The wheels were soaked with Gloss-It Wheel and Tyre Gel (3:1) and left for 3 or 4 minutes:




They were then agitated with all the various brushes and then rinsed:





I then followed up by cleaning the tyres and arches with Meguiars Super Degreaser (4:1):





All exterior trim/badges/shuts etc were sprayed with APC (4:1) then agitated before being rinsed:







Last job before the mitt wash was to get as much of the bug splatter off the front end as possible, using Poorboys Bug Squash:




This was sprayed on, left for 5 mins then rinsed off.

The two bucket wash with shampoo plus followed and I then removed some minor tar spots with Autosmart Tardis and rinsed the car off for a final time.


Now inside, I clayed the car with Meguiars Mild:




Not too bad but enough for a car only a few weeks old.


I then pat dried the car with a deep pile drying towel...






...and applied the first of 3 coats of Gloss-It Signature Tyre Gloss:





Paint readings were consistently healthy:







Now some pics of the defects. Fair enough the paint is solid black and pretty damn soft but the dealer prep was still poor, with alot of RIDS present:



















It took a good hour and a half for me to settle on a polish and pad combination. Due to the car only being in for a 2 day Minor Correction (exterior only) I had to find something which would achieve the desired correction but finish down in one go without micro-marring (nothing with the rotary would finish down 100% buffer trail free) and this wasn’t the easiest thing with the paint being so soft and easily marked.

In the end I found a mix of Meguiars 205 and Menzerna FPII on a Menzerna Finishing Pad with the G220 worked well, although alot of panels needed a second hit to remove some of the deeper RIDS:




This produced a nice sharp finish though:


















N/S wing before:



After:





Whilst giving the engine a quick wipe down I noticed this sticker under the bonnet, I can’t help but think Nissan are taking the **** here - hard clear?




Once all the polishing was done, I carefully removed all the dust with a new lambswool duster and then gave the paintwork a wipe down with Top Inspection (Hated this step as I was paranoid about marring the finish!).


For LSP, I wanted to apply something that was as easy to apply and buff off as possible for the owner to maintain, so Blackfire Wet Diamond was chosen - the fact that it looks great on black was a bonus

I applied it with the G220 and a Lake Country Gold pad to make the buffing off stage just that little bit easier:



The tighter areas were done by hand:




I then buffed off after approx 20 minutes:





The tailpipes were polished up with Brilliant Metal Polish:






They were then protected with Blackfire Metal Sealant, as were the wheels:







Guess I better show you the afters now

























































Thanks for looking


Clark

carlpcross

tip top

ryan33hks

iTrader: (2)

That's come up well

sparkytrix

awesome stuff

averyp2

iTrader: (25)

Wow!

johnson12

Great as always.

wrx287

iTrader: (8)

Absolutely stunning job I need to get myself a polisher and some pads to do mine

F1 CJE UK

iTrader: (8)

looks great, the more i see gtrs the more stunning they seem

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

Great job Clark

One thing I have to ask.... I know the customers are always happy to say the least but what reaction do you normally get ? they drop a very expensive grubby car off maybe without fully understanding what they are going to collect when it's finished... so walking into your showroom seeing the car looking even better than when the dealer handed it over new must come as quite a shock at times

Rich @ PB

iTrader: (3)

We've had shouts of manly joy, total silence, man hugs (only once I might add, and he's been told not to do it again lol) and everything in between. It really varies, and is quite surprising on occasions!

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

You should get a video camera on them and use it as an advert...

Quite simply "customer reaction" it could be amusing to say the least

G00ner

That dealer prep is shocking

My pick-up had better dealer prep than that GTR, I'd be giving the dealer a large chunk of your fees as a bill.

postie90

bloody awsome guys im in love!!!!!

Simon C

looks like the prep my hatch had...

But PB you have just told me where I'm going wrong with my polish sequence using BF. Im not leaving it long enough.

STiLtd

I WANT ONE.......

....and I want it to look that good please Clark!