DrRick

since my first attempt was weak, to say the least, i tried a lil harder...

over the last couple of weekends, i've taken to getting rid of the ridiculous amount of swirls in the paint. today, i finished....

i had an INSANE amount of brake dust on my wheels. its like i could never get them completely clean. especially on the lip between the spokes. i wasnt really feeling the fact that i had to wait for some Sonax or Iron-X, so research led me to Griot's Garage Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner. god i love this stuff....



i still need to 'correct' the paint on the wheels but i was just too damn tired. regardless, the results are better than i expected.

on to the rest of the car

just terrible...


Claying, Meg's Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish, M205 and Gold Class yielded these results. much better, i think....

J2K

Looks absolutely amazing. Your hard work definitely paid off.

DrRick

preciate it, my man. i've never prayed for rain so hard in my life. of course, it came in the middle of the night while i slept. nothing worse than dropping sweat on the section youre trying to wipe down. smh...

pc1990

Looks bada**

Did you do the wheels yourself? Love the look of the piano black rims. Beautiful!

sydtoosic

sweet... OB is beautiful when detailed.

rselby

WOW.....that really is a difference.....that is how black should look, great job!

DrRick

Thanx guys. The hard part is figuring out a way to keep it like this. I need to find a high quality sealant..

The wheels were done by dlad when he had the car. They are actually the same obsidian as the rest of the car. The just haven't been cared for, as well...

Btw...the Griot's can be found at Advance Auto.

bnizzle87

The hard work and effort putting into keeping Obsidian clean...as a fellow owner, I understand how difficult it was to really make the paint as close to showroom as possible again. Swirls galore, dusting, and anything and everything will be shown on a black car. But you did a great job restoring it. I like the shot of the trunk, as you can vividly see the sky and clouds. Great work! Now, enjoy the F, because it won't be long till you need another detail.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Wow Rick great job.... Looks perfect IMO....

When washing to keep swirls to a minimum this is what i do mostly on the newer car....

rinse car with pressure washer
Foam gun with Maxi suds 2
rinse with pressure washer
2 bucket method
electric leaf blower to dry vehicle than the "absorber" for left over water spots..

Have had the car for 2 years now and no swirls... Hope this helps a little but it works for me...

torxuvin

^Nice job Rick. Looks great.

DrRick

the leaf blower and the foam gun are my next purchases. autogeek is such a great resource...

Lmood

iTrader: (3)

Looks great Rick! I forgot your wheels were black. That first pic looks like a stock isf wheel color.

comcongen

iTrader: (2)

This was all done by hand???? Awesome job

vbb

iTrader: (3)

Unfortunately my car (despite my two-bucket method and use of Optimum No Rinse and clean microfiber towels) looks more like your before than your after pic. Your car looks GREAT. I pulled up this thread less than a day after discovering that a bird pooped on my car on one of the rare occasions I had it parked in my driveway instead of my garage and of course it etched my paint.

How many hours did it take you? I've already got the clay bar, Meguire's Ultimate Compound, polish, and Gold class ready to go. Just need to buy some more microfiber pads and get to work.

DrRick

NOOOOOO!!!!!

i did the washing and waxing by hand. the hard stuff...correcting the paint...i used a 6" DA orbital buffer from Harbor Freight. Everyone recommends the Porter Cable unit but this one works just as well for about half the price. They are $67 on their site, but it seems like every other month they go on sale. i used this coupon...



then you match the pads up with product. i used the orange pad with the compound and then went with the black pads for the polish and M205.