Friday, February 28, 2014

Refurbishing the Reflection

As soon as my plane touched down in IAD (Washington Dulles Airport), I found about 12 voice mails left in the last 26 hours since I left Singapore concerning work.  One of them was from a great client who was so impressed with his Opti-Coat and XPel clear bra treatment on his Audi S7, that he wanted to schedule in his Porshe 997 C4S for the same treatment before heavy snow struck the Boston region. We quickly determined to get his car in within the week and beat the upcoming snow storm. 

The History:

I have had the pleasure of working on this Porsche C4S since it was purchased in 2007. It has been detailed twice a year like clockwork with a full Zaino process. While Zaino is a great product, it is basically just a sealant with micro finishing polish that provides long term durability and decent clarity. Unfortunately overtime, these micro polishes cannot correct or even bite through paint contamination and dullness. So this detail was going to require a good dose of polishing to bring the Slate Grey metallic back to its original pop and luster before coating in Opti-Coat. 

 slate grey metallic looking a bit faded...

The Process:

As always, the first step was to wash and remove the old 3M clear bra. While it looks ok on the vehicle, the 3M really shows how yellow it can be when removed...

 removing at a 45 degree angle to avoid paint pull

 hiding the fresh paint that lurks beneath

look at that oxidation and discoloration

Along with the washing process includes a full klaying of the car. Now no matter what people say klaying does create micro marring in modern clear coats. Even the best lube cannot stop that from happening as you drag dirt out of your paint with force. This is a reason I never recommend to klay unless you plan to polish or at least use a cleanser afterwards. To avoid as much marring as possible, I like to klay after the car has been washed but still wet along with a home made lube that is very slick and has some cleanser mixed it with it. Thankfully this C4S did not have a ton of contaminants in the paint, and only took about 35-45 minutes to fully klay. 

After washing and drying, I treated all the metal surfaces to a nice polish with some P21S multi finish restorer and then dried with a chamois. While the car continues to air dry, I usually go ahead and start attacking the interior. This lets me ensure that no moisture will be present once I start the paint correction process.

interior detailed with a combination of products...

The interior process consisted of a thorough vacuuming, Zymol vinyl on all vinyl and plastic surfaces, Leatherique conditioner and cleaner on all leather along with Zymol treat to follow. All glass is cleaned and then I like to apply a nice layer of Optimum Interior Protectant Plus over everything to help ensure all surfaces remain matte and antistatic. Due to the long cure time of the Leatherique process (2+ hours), I went ahead and also took some paint measurements and taped up all precarious corners for the polishing process. As expected, the reading for paint level were consistent around the 110-125 um range which left a decent amount of paint for me to work with. 

 

consistent readings along the entire C4S of between 110-125 ums...


 all taped up and ready for paint correction to start...


While discussing this job with my client, we came to the agreement that the car did not need to be perfect in terms of the paint finish. It is driven a lot and since it was a grey metallic, he could not justify the time or cost to go ahead with a full 3 step correction. So I immediately planned a 2 step correction with a medium polish and microfiber pad as the main scuff step (2-3 passes). The results were quite good on the test panel and I decided to stick with that treatment for the entire vehicle. I would then finish up with a fine foam polishing pad along with a micro fine polish to remove all hazing, swirls, and micro marring left behind (2 passes). 

After about 6-9 hours of polishing, we were ready to rewash the car to remove all polishing dust and contaminants, remove the tape, and then apply Klasse AIO for a nice cleanser before applying the Opti-Coat. As always, the Opti-Coat goes on very smoothly but requires a daft touch to not create high spots in the paint with the product. This is where lights come in very handy and can save you hours. We treated every surface of the car (paint, chrome, plastic, lights) with the Opti-Coat except the front windscreen, which was coated in Rain X per the clients request.

 Lighting is every detailer's best friend, especially when polishing and applying thin layer sealants looking for high spots...


After finishing the Opti-Coat on the paint, it was time to call it a day and have the XPel full frontal coverage installed the next morning. This process takes about 2-3 hours for a 997 and came out flawlessly thanks to the great work of my clear bra team. We also did new rear quarter pieces to replace the yellowing factory Porsche roadblock. 

The next part of the job was where my largest concern laid. Cleaning and Opti-Coating the brakes and Kinesis wheels. Since the wheels were a textured matte center, I was curious to see how the Opti-Coat would work with them. While the cleaning and prepping of the textured surface proved time consuming, the overall outcome was positive and thanks to the durability of the Opti-Coat, should never have to be done again. 

The second awful thing about these Kinesis wheels are the raw polished aluminum lips. While they look fantastic when clean and polished, they are an absolute bear to clean. Your only option is to use Mother's Incredible Billet Aluminum Polish and prepare for hours of scrubbing by hand with a terry cloth towel and microfiber. This is usually the part of the job were you start cursing like a sailor and wonder why you even agreed to take the job, but the results are rewarding as you see a huge transformation in the aluminum finish. 

 car is lifted and wheels removed to clean and treat wheels and brakes with Opti-Coat...

 all hubs cleaned with wire brush and greased with anti-seize to prevent sticking wheels...

 the polishing process for aluminum barrels always takes place on the floor as so much pressure is required to polish out the aluminum properly...

 nothing better than a properly polished aluminum lip...


simplistic speed at its finest, 4 pots are plenty for this Carrera without adding unsprung weight...

all wheels hand torque to proper specification...


The next day we awoke to a nice layer of snow on the ground with more expected that evening. As I prepared to deliver the car I took some photos in the best available lighting the conditions would allow. But notice how much more life resides in the paint after a proper correction and Opti-Coat. Its all about the little things that make a detail on a car successful. 


 finished product...


 Kinesis wheels look so proper on a Porsche...

 ready for delivery...

 all plastic (spoiler underside) treated with Opti-Coat as well...

 snow clouds moving in...

 much more clarity and brightness in the Slate Grey Metallic

XPel is completely undetectable when done with in a full panel sheet...





Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Added Value of Vinyl...

It has been a whirlwind few months for us here at Automotive Specialist recently. After returning from Asia in early December, we were literally booked out 7 days a week (14+ hour days) to handle all of our clients' needs before heading back to Singapore in mid- February. While most of the jobs were new exciting projects (that I shall be posting about in the next few weeks as I catch up), some tend to be call backs or repairs of something previously installed that do not make us or the client happy. Such is the case with our lovely Wald MB CL550 vinyl wrap project posted about in an earlier entry. In early January I received a text from our client simply stating he had a problem followed by the following photos...



some nice key marks found along the side of the car...

Firstly, anyone running a small business knows how depressing it is to see an unhappy client. Secondly, it is infuriating to see a project that took such time and effort get vandalized for no reason. My heart sank as I saw the photos and quickly responded asking how deep the scratches were, what panels, and how would the client like to proceed. After a few exchanges I determined the vinyl panels were keyed along the whole right rear side of the MB CL. Our client stated they were quite deep and we both wondered how badly the custom paint job underneath was affected.

It's not all about Looks:

After ordering more vinyl for the car, we scheduled the vehicle in to remove, inspect, repair, and replace the vinyl sections for the right quarter panel and door (about 16 ft of vinyl). After washing and prepping the car to inspect the damage, I was quite nervous of the paint underneath as the keying was quite deep and aggressive. It still amazes me to this day, how many people will actually take the time and effort to ruin someone else's property. Goes to show someone's true character and lack of class I suppose. 

So as I pulled the vinyl off the door, I was surprised how much abuse the 3M material took. Not only did it stop any paint from being ripped off the custom satin black black underneath, it also prevented any permanent scratches! After removing the rear quarter panel, the same result was found. I was quite astonished and relieved. After such a horrible experience, it is always good to deliver some good news to a client. He was very pleased to hear his paint was left unaffected, and excited to get back his Wald CL. 

Once we determined no paint damage was done, we got to work prepping the panels for their new vinyl covering. Starting with the door, we removed the handle and trim and had that done with little fanfare. Then we moved onto the large rear quarter panel (11ft *5 ft). While not technically hard, it is one of the most challenging panels in terms of time required to install since it is so large and requires a ton of trimming with the wheel well, trunk, rear lights, fuel door, side skirt, roof and door sill.



a sea of vinyl...



6 hours later...

Next up was a quick wax and inspection of the rest of the car's vinyl. A few quick touch ups and cleaning and we were ready for delivery. But this is a true testament to vinyl (in terms of its durability, and ability to repair or replace). If this had occurred on paint, we would have had a full repaint on tap for the whole passenger side. Not only would it require about 2-3 weeks of work, but also a good $3-5k for a repaint plus a loss of resale value. So while we cannot avoid complete useless acts of jealousy and vandalism, we can try to help minimize them by utilizing all the benefits vinyl has to offer over paint.

happy delivery...

back in action...