1st Place Winner
 

Sadly...this isn't a racing event, not even a DE (even though I win all of my DE's). My GT3 took home first place honors in the Porsche GT class at the Arthritis foundation show a couple weeks ago here in central Ohio. This show has a fairly large draw (nearly 2000 cars this year) and we had a particularly large showing of Porsche cars to celebrate 50 years of the 911.

As some of you know detailing is a passion, hobby and former career of mine. Once or twice a year the old track girl goes up on stands, wheels off and gets properly cleaned top to bottom. This year it took every bit of 5 full evenings to get the car where I was happy with it for the show. I'm pretty lazy with taking pictures these days so forgive the cell phone shots.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...psc0e13c30.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps45vg8l31.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...psbvpdjvb7.jpg

Look Ma....no swirls
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...psge3ns8r5.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...pscrxchlnv.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...pszrk9zqhi.jpg

At the show...next to my good friends turbo which I also detailed for the show and brought home an award of excellence.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...psqvsucqjy.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...pscc43e20e.jpg

In case any of you are interested, the process was as follows:
Wash - obviously
Decontamination via clay bar treatment
Further decontamination via Iron-X - I find this product somewhat gimiky but for a car that constantly has brake dust from race pads it does seem to further decontaminate and keep the paint healthy.
All polish work done with an Orbital not rotary
Medium polishing for rubber removal and fine swirls with Meguiars D300 and orange foam pads or Meguiars Microfiber cutting pads where a little more bit was needed
**Car was actually pretty much swirl free to begin with and didn't need anything REALLY aggressive to bring it up to par**
Final polishing with gray foam finishing pads and Sonax Perfect Finish polish.
Optimum Opti-Coat (Pro version) on all surfaces including glass and wheels (inside and out).
Cup spoiler and plastic wiper trim treated with Black Wow.
Tires dressed with Meguiars high endurance Gel.

NOW...I'm itching to get it back to the track to get it dirty again!

Looks fantastic. I think the Speed Yellow looks the best. Even though mine is red.....

I need to learn how to clean my car.. I feel that after a wash, there's still plenty of spots (rubber mark, etc.) that won't come off. Is that where the clay bar come in?!

That turned out great Andy. Nice work :thumbup:

clean cars are faster as well.

Wow she cleans up nicely. Well done!

Me, I'm no good at it. After having white, I bought black so as to avoid that guilty feeling as the rubber marks add up and the car starts to look like a zebra....

Clay bar is the first step yes, but it may not be a stand alone resolution to the marks remaining on your car.

Claying will remove contaminants that are embedded into the surface of the paint but that also stick out above the surface. Brake dust and exhaust fallout and rubber marks to a certain extent will all sit on and above the surface of the clear. This is what makes the surface of the paint not feel smooth even after a fresh wash. The best way to feel thsee contaminants is to put your hand in a plastic bag and run it across the surface of the paint (don't ask why it just works). Claying will make the surface smooth again. It glides across the surface with the aid of lubricants and sheers off and then grabs those particles.

What you could still be left with is staining / spotting that isn't above the surface and needs to be polished off with a mild abrasive. The best bet if you're not trying to do any paint correction (swirl marks) is to just get a buffer with a mild pad and a chemical cleaner with no abrasives in it such as a cleaner wax and let the mechanical abrasion of the buffer pad work as your abrasive without spot scratching the surface. From there you step up to a polish with stronger cutting abilities.

So the answer of your question is maybe...Clay's the first step it might just not be the only one you have to take to completely get rid of all of the marks.

Kudos to anyone that can track their car and then win a contours type event! Wish I had the patience or time for that.

What type of orbital do you recommend?

Car looks great Andy!

Anyone looking for a product that lets you wipe away track rubber, try this-


You do need to wash and wax after use, but it makes the rubber removal process a breeze if you don't plan to break out the polisher.

I own 4 of them right now...yes I have a problem. As much as I hate to admit it I've had just as good luck with the cheapo Harbor Freight Orbital in the last couple of years as I've had with any of them.
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-va...her-69924.html

Porter Cable 7424 was pretty much the industry standard for years and years but the last couple ones I've owned lasted just outside of their one year warranty period and then died.

Griots makes a pretty decent unit...more powerful and effective than the Porter Cable but I've been through 3 of them in 4 years. Lifetime warranty and thus far they just keep replacing them. - I only use the Griots with small 3" pads now for spot correction instead of big jobs.

Rupes is the latest and greatest to the market. Has good power and a very large 21mm orbit which makes it much more effective at cutting. Spendy though not even sure why I dropped the coin on it since I'm not detailing any longer. You can get the same job done with the others just takes a little bit longer and dare I say it on Porsche paint which is soft the more aggressive machines aren't even necessary.

I generally buy all my pads and other supplies through AutoGeek. There are better deals out there on one or two items if you really hunt around but I'm not that patient these days I enjoy the fact I can get everything I need through autogeek.

Sorry I missed seeing her in her "Sunday Best' - she is a STUNNER :rockon:

And, CONGRATS!!!!

love your plate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7iU...ature=youtu.be

Kick @ss work! Congrats :cheers:

Hawt!

Beaut AoN ... Just interested ... Have you or would you ever considered a ceramic coating?

Ps - a friends battery exploded on the work bench next to the car one night this week...
Thanks to his wax addiction he was able to clean off the car w/o any marking from the acid 4-5 hrs later!