fc-racer

Hey guys,

Just wanted to share a detailing success story. I'm a total detailing newbie. My regular routine for detailing was to use 3M Imperial Hand Glaze and 1Grand Blitz Wax once a year (at most!). While the car usually looked pretty good, the 3M IHG must use fillers because the marks would soon return.

I decided to take the next step and get a DA polisher; I wanted bang for the buck because I mostly track my car and am not really into detailing it. After doing tons of research, I chose the Porter Cable 7424XP along with Lake Country foam CCS pads and then turned my attention to polish, wax and which LC pads to get.

I didn't think my paint was in bad shape so I read up on this forum and found Phil's advice from Detailers Domain to be excellent and very useful in determining which combination to go with. I ultimately ended up with Menzerna Final Finish 106FA Nano, Menzerna APO60 Carnuba Wax, LC white CCS polish pad, LC black finish pad and LC blue finish pad.

After reading all the forum posts and watching two weeks worth of youTube videos, I was scared to death of doing damage to my paint. The day arrived to finally do it and this is the procedure I followed. I'm providing intricate detail in hopes this helps someone else that is gun-shy of doing their own detail using a DA random orbital:

1. Tape all the emblems and trim using 3M Scotch 233 green tape.
2. Polish using 106FA and white pad by:
a. Placing a small mount of 106FA on pad to work a 2'x2' area
b. Spreading 106FA onto the 2'x2' paint area before turning on the PC
c. Setting the PC to 3 and turning it on while in contact with the paint
d. Spreading the 106FA around the area before really getting into breaking it down
e. Turning the PC off while in contact with the paint
f. Turning the PC to 5 and moving at a pace of about 0.5" per 1 second
g. Continue slow paced coverage while overlapping sections
h. Stop the PC when the 106FA has turned translucent (about 5-6mins in my case per section)
i. Burnish with the PC at 3 for another few passes (not sure if this did anything)
j. Clean off the 106FA with a microfibre towel (this was really easy to take off)

I followed pretty much the same routine for the APO60, with the exception that I used the blue pad; the breakdown time was very quick and I used a slower speed overall (3 to 4 on the PC). When taking off the APO60, it was amazing how easily the excess came off, it was a dream to work with. Even if you don't want to polish your car with the PC, once you've waxed with it, you'll never go back to hand.

I also wanted to take a crack at making my headlights and turn signals a bit clearer. I used the 106FA with the white pad and went at it with the same approach as the paint. The headlights look a bit better, but there is still some very minor haze from the inside, but the turn signals came out crystal clear. They were the ones I was hoping would improve because they were pretty hazy.

In the end, I'm VERY pleased with the results and want to thank Phil from Detailers Domain and the others who contribute to this forum; I could not have tackled this without the guidance they provide in their posts. The results are so good that I'm almost afraid they are too good to be true!

See for yourself and let me know what you think:

Before



After



A few things I learned along the way:
1. The white pad is great and easy to use, but you could probably go for something with a bit more cut if you want to really correct your paint
3. Putting wax on with a PC is a dream; the way it comes off makes the purchase worth it on its own
4. There is no way I could make the car look like this by my own power
5. The Menzerna stuff is made by a higher power, it's that good
6. Even with a PC, it still takes a LONG time to detail the car (all told, including washing and taping, I spent 8hrs on it!)
7. The PC vibrates *A LOT* so be prepared for that

Unfortunately, the GT3 is now in hibernation for the winter and won't see the day of light until the spring. I hope it looks as good in the sun as it did under the halogens.

Hope this helps someone,
Cheers!

mooty

nice job!
8 hours is fast.
usually takes me 16-20 hours.

CRex

It's twice as impressive when you did it all on your own--congrats. U got more pics to share?

CorsicanBB

Great job!! I would love to do that with my car and have thought about purchasing a PC many times, but when I think about the effort it would take, I give up and take the car (once every six months or so) to a detailing shop. They are ok, but the results are nothing near what a homemade job like yours can achieve. They just don't spend enough time on the car.

Congrats and thank you for the inspiration!!

Haku

That is a terrific job. Did you clay the car first?

Erik

Looks fantastic,

Menzerna is the best. I prefer the Flex over the PC myself. Ever since I got the Flex my PC has been "retired". You can indeed go much more aggressive with the pads, I can even use yellow pads (about the most cut besides wool) on my clear bra without issue. Neither the PC or Flex has a high risk of burning the paint, just stay away from the edges for extended time.

I don't do it very often anymore since the car is covered in clearbra which never makes the results as nice as above, and second, like Mooty, once I start, it takes me hours and hours and hours. I can start on saturday, and by sunday night the car is still not done. On the other hand I'm pretty good at leaving the car dirty :-)

mooty

^ speaking of which, i may venture no bra next time. the edges of the film will catch clay bars and hard to get it back out. yes, i usually tape it, but invariably i will forgert some parts until too late.....

roberga

thanks for the detail on the detail. Supports my decision to pay someone else to do it.
Mooty: just get the entire hood done.

Erik

No way without a bra if I'm tracking the car, I've learned my lesson. I think it's a necessary evil. I would not be able to keep up with the stone chips every weekend. On the other hand, I'm not putting a bra on any non track car.

Harold

Beautiful job!!! thanks for sharing. Unfortunately my paint is far gone with stone chips on the front, the doors (from gravel traps), the rear wheel arches etc that I will just wait till the day I finally respray the car before attempting to do what you did to your car...

mooty

hood is easy, but usually the wheel arch are covered, where the arch meet the fenders is usually where i get clay all over ;-) i am getting lazier and lazier. soon i will need someone to drive me around instead driving myself

fc-racer

haha, I was thinking the same thing while doing it! Actually, I was thinking, "how do these detail shops make any money doing this!!"

My reason for doing it myself is because I've had bad experiences with three different detail shops on various cars:

1. Previous owner of my 993 TT had the car detailed before selling it to me and it had polish and wax residue all over the car (clear film near fenders, black trim, etc.). It took me 4hrs to clean up the mess.

2. Picked up my new GT3 from the dealer and the detail shop they used (now out of business) to prep the car left buffer trails on the rear wing area and the car overall had a light haze to it. I took it back there to get them to clean up the buffer trails and to my horror, they made it worse. I cut my losses and lived with it until this polishing that seems to have gotten rid of them.

3. The worst experience wasn't even with my car. I was getting some track-induced stone chips touched up and decided to wait around the "highly recommended shop" for my car to get done. While waiting, I saw them take a black 996 and do a 6,000rpm clutch drop in front of the shop with tires ablaze. When I mentioned to the manager that this was not appropriate, he told me it's the dealer's car and that's the way they were meant to be driven...

I may screw up the paint, but at least I did it and not at the hands of someone I'm paying. Having said that, spending 8hrs detailing your car gets really old at the 4hr mark and I'd gladly pay if the paint was in bad shape

roberga

My old car was chipped all over as well. Even had a couple above the windscreen. My new car has the front fenders,hood, and behind all the wheels. The previous owner had it done. Seems to be working. I have to say that I kind of miss all the chips. Kind of a patina.

fc-racer

Picked up a new camera (Canon S90) and took some shots of the car under overcast skies. I'm really pleased with the way the car looks out after the Menzerna + LC + PC detailing combination. You'd never know this car spends most of its time on the track.

roberga

Still looks perfect.