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50 HOURS!!!??? Wow! Looks awesome. I can't imagine using the PC 7424 for that long. The vibration leaves my hands numb.
I just spent 10 hours on mine in one sitting and my arms felt like they were about to fall off. I used a
1)Rupes Bigfoot Nano Long Neck for small scratches, front and rear bumpers, side intercooler intake
2)Flex 3401 for everything else
3)Menzerna FG400 for the scratches and heavy swirls
4)SF4500 to bring everything to an immaculate shine.
looks great! Did you use an orbital or all by hand? I used my orbital and it came out very well. Never want to do a whole car by hand again. It's draining.
It looks great like you I do this about once every year it's a bunch of work.
There is no better way to get rid of those swirls that washing produces.
I'm 30% done just leave mine under that faux silk Porsche cover and get to it as I can.
you can't do this every year. my painter friend explained it to me you only correct the paint once every couple of years if that. i would never go back to high cut compound on the entire car again. now i'll seal the car every month or so and worse case go to polish and ultra polish.
this isn't a regular orbital used. it's a Dual Action Orbital.
The rupes is good stuff. $399 for a polisher. The flex worried me because all the videos i watched of larry@ammo and junkman talking about the clutch system on the flex can heat the paint up too much. I'm probably in about $800 or more worth of stuff and boy i would like to have a smaller 3in polisher next
.
one more tip for anyone who wants to do this is each car will take about 1 spray bottle of detailer. you'll need it for claying and for removing the compound/polish. i used one towel per panel for the first 3 steps. then 2 to remove the sealant. wolfgang states leave sealant on for ATLEAST 15 minutes. it also has a 12 hr cure time. i put triple coat on within 36 hours. the reason for the 3rd coat is if i missed a spot.
i wet sanded some spots and it is not for the faint heart. wet sanding headlights make a world of difference and polishes stupid easy with a DA. what took me two days to do with a drill took 15 minutes to do with a DA and the proper compounds. I polished all the lights on the car with Ultra Polish and i sealed all of them as well.
I would rotate between pads so make sure you have two sets. I wouldn't do more than two panels with one cutting pad. you'll see a lot of compound in there. I would do one pass with compound. Then one pass with detailer spray. Some panels needed 6-8 passes. That's why compounding is such a PITA but is also the most important foundation pass. A couple of times i noticed i missed a spot or didn't like the look of the panel when i put a florescent light on it. i would go back and take it back down again.
if you can feel the scratch with your nail, then you aren't going to get it out. if the scratch is to the point where you can see it but can't feel it, then you can wet sand it. get a block, start at 3k then work down until the scratch is gone.
if you have a stain in the paint, hit it with a magic eraser, but be prepared to have to polish afterwards. much easier to than wet sanding. To be honest, wet sanding isn't for the faint heart. if you think heating your paint up from polishing is scary, wet sanding takes it to a whole another level of scary. i got to the point where i had to say, enough. my goal was to work on one panel to perfection every 3 days since that is how long it takes for pads to dry after washing. most detailers will tell you focus on 1 sq ft but to me that isn't realistic.
i taped everything and untaped for the ultra polish because i wanted gaskets cleaned off and sealed. when removing the tape there will be a residue that is PITA to take off. use 50% water 50% alcohol and a rag. DON'T touch the paint whatsoever without any sort of lubricant. if the compound is hard to take off, spray detailer on it and wipe it off. Micro fiber has two sides. one side is for absorbent and the other side is for polishing. Don't push hard on the polish side or you'll be compounding again... don't ask me how i know
The best way of getting rid of swirls is not get them
i learned this the hard way. Use two bucket with dirt strainers in them, foam gun, either electric blower or california x-blade. I have two mitts and i look at them while i'm agitating the dirt. I back my car in my driveway, soak the car, foam the car, then drive back in the garage. take my two buckets and go to town. then back the car out the driveway, wash it down. Squeegee my garage floor. Hose the car again and drive it back in the garage to get blow dry. Process sounds extreme but honestly takes me less than 30 min to wash a car. i could go further and clean engine bays and vacuums but my cars are usually pretty clean.
here are pics of the other vehicles i've been working on. the back brace saved my life and so did the compression/tennis elbow. I don't plan on polishing anything for a long long time
I have a Flex 3401, Rupes 15ES, Rupes Nano; as well as experience with rotary polishers. You really should try the Flex 3401. Yes its a forced rotation machine, but due to the dual orbital action, its virtually impossible to damage paint. It's nothing like a rotary polisher that can easily burn thru paint. The 911 is a curvy vehicle, the Flex 3401 will power thru scratches and swirls on the concave curved panels where the PC 7424 and Rupes 15ES will stall, but it's safe enough where it won't burn paint.
That looks great! I would have to say in all the cars I've owned, 3/4ths of them have been either black or white. I love the look of a freshly detailed black sports car. It's my favorite color for a car. My last 911 was black. But my current one is white, and white is my 2nd favorite car color (yeah, I'm pretty boring I guess). Every time I make the switch back to a white car I am so happy about how much easier it is to keep clean. Still though, a properly detailed black car will always have my heart, and the OP has a fantastic example.
A buddy and I spent about 9hrs detailing one of my previous black cars. First and last time I'll spend that much time doing it. I pay a pro to do it once a year, and I do the two bucket clean mitt washes and quick waxes in between. That's enough to satisfy my mild OCD. Thinking about maybe doing a 22ple glass coat. Anyone have experience with that product?
That looks great! I would have to say in all the cars I've owned, 3/4ths of them have been either black or white. I love the look of a freshly detailed black sports car. It's my favorite color for a car. My last 911 was black. But my current one is white, and white is my 2nd favorite car color (yeah, I'm pretty boring I guess). Every time I make the switch back to a white car I am so happy about how much easier it is to keep clean. Still though, a properly detailed black car will always have my heart, and the OP has a fantastic example.
A buddy and I spent about 9hrs detailing one of my previous black cars. First and last time I'll spend that much time doing it. I pay a pro to do it once a year, and I do the two bucket clean mitt washes and quick waxes in between. That's enough to satisfy my mild OCD. Thinking about maybe doing a 22ple glass coat. Anyone have experience with that product?
i've been using wolfgang. stuff is about $30 a bottle and goes on stupid easy. comes off even easier. i use it on the rubber and headlights too. residue clean up is very easy.
i heard of the other stuff that is like $200 a bottle. to be honest, that stuff probably works well, but putting on wolfgang takes less than 30 minutes to do from start to finish. really no reason why i shouldn't do it between car washes. i should film a video of me throwing a clean microfiber across the hood. my painter friends all say u know when u have enough sealant is when the towel will slide off the hood and hit the floor
i like to use water to dry the car. check it out on youtube if you haven't seen it. if you have enough sealant on paint, the water tension will actually pull itself off the car. then use an electric blower which is important because gas blower will settle exhaust gas particles on your freshly clean paint.
i've been using wolfgang. stuff is about $30 a bottle and goes on stupid easy. comes off even easier. i use it on the rubber and headlights too. residue clean up is very easy.
i heard of the other stuff that is like $200 a bottle. to be honest, that stuff probably works well, but putting on wolfgang takes less than 30 minutes to do from start to finish. really no reason why i shouldn't do it between car washes. i should film a video of me throwing a clean microfiber across the hood. my painter friends all say u know when u have enough sealant is when the towel will slide off the hood and hit the floor
i like to use water to dry the car. check it out on youtube if you haven't seen it. if you have enough sealant on paint, the water tension will actually pull itself off the car. then use an electric blower which is important because gas blower will settle exhaust gas particles on your freshly clean paint.
sid
I will check both things out (the Wolfgang and the water dry method). I have two electric blowers, so that's covered. Thanks for the tips!
Great work. As a former pro detailer I can assure you there's nothing you can do if you're detailing enough to prevent your body from suffering. Shutting down the detailing business and focusing on my primary career was the best thing I've ever done for my body and health...not necessarily for my pockets :-)
Technology in the detailing industry has come along way in just the last 5 years. Better and better polishes come out every day, microfiber pads added a whole new level to what a DA can do in my opinion, as well as cross over machines like the flex and then the big throw Rupes 21. Then you throw in the new micro battery operated units for those really tight to reach places and you've got a garage full of really neat stuff to play with. Not to mention where coating technology has gone too.
I'm still addicted to throwing on a great set of headphones and spending a fully day in the garage every now and then polisher in hand trying out all of the latest stuff on the market to see what's what. One car a month is about it for me these days just enough to keep my sanity but not too much to start all the back / shoulder / elbow pain I was dealing with.
08-15-2016, 11:06 PM
