Zach McGovern
Certified Finest Installer
The owner of this car had just bought the vehicle a couple of weeks before contacting me. He was looking for the best way to protect the paint and make the vehicle easier to maintain - the clear choice was a long lasting paint coating. This vehicle had only 4,500 miles on it and the paint was in very good condition. There were minor swirls and scratches throughout, however the horizontal surfaces (hood, roof, and trunk) all had etched water spots as well. The horizontal areas received a 2 step correction, since the defects on those surfaces were more severe. The rest of the vehicle required only a 1 step polishing process. Due to the hard paint, I used FG400 on a polishing pad in order to remove the light swirls. There were some more severe scratches that were spot corrected with a 3" MF Cutting Pad and M105/D300 mix prior to polishing - a couple of spots required wet sanding, too.
All in all, the paint was 90-95% perfect. There were a few RIDS that remained, of course, as it is simply not reasonable to find/correct every single defect. After the paint was prepped, CQuartz Finest was chosen as the means of protection. The coating was excellent to work with, even though it was ~85 degrees and very humid during application. The coating proved to be extremely glossy, and I can't wait to use it again.
Process
Wheels: Sonax Full Effect agitated with various brushes and wheel woolies
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tuf Shine Tire Brush
Foam Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via DI Foam Canon & Karcher X-Series 2000PSI Pressure Washer
Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss w/ Sheepskin Wash Mitt (2 bucket method)
Iron Removal: Iron X
Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
Clay: DI Fine Grade Clay (spot claying only)
Paint Thickness Readings Taken
Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
Paint Correction: Spot Correction (RIDS) - 2000 & 2500 Grit Wetsand Paper (when needed) followed by 3" MF Cutting Pads w/ D300/M105 Mix
Horizontal Surfaces - FG400 on Orange LC 5.5" Pads followed by Sonax Perfect Finish on White LC 5.5" Pads via Rupes LHR21ES & 3"/4" Pads via PC7424XP
Vertical Surfaces - FG400 on white LC 5.5" pads via Rupes LHR21ES & 3"/4" Pads Via PC7424XP
Foam: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Glimour Foamaster II
Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss w/ Sheepskin wash mitt (2 bucket method)
Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
Paint Wipedown Prep: CarPro Eraser
Coating (LSP): CQuartz Finest
Wheel Polish: M205 via yellow foam applicator by hand
Tires: Optimum Opti Bond Tire Gel (2 coats)
Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection via MF Towel by hand
Matte CF Spoiler & Trim: CG Meticulous Matte Detail Spray
Glass: Meguiar's D120
Before
One of the first things I noticed on the car when it showed up for delivery was the water spots on the paint. This is always a red flag to me because I've come to learn that the chances of etched water spots are very high.
There was also bug splatter on the front bumper and lower part of the hood. This is also a red flag because chances are there will be some etched bug marks as well.
These little dots covered a portion of the vehicle and I was worried it might be over spray, but they ended up washing off (thankfully!)
The exhaust tips were in pretty good shape already.
The car had a nice set of matte black wheels... NOT. They were just extremely dirty. You can see the thick layer of dirt and grime compared to the true color of the wheel on the areas where I have swiped my finger on the metal.
The brakes also needed some attention. They had a layer of dirt on them as well.
During
As always, I started with the wheels and tires. Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner was sprayed liberally on the wheel. The chemical starts as a bright green and turns purple as it starts to react with the dirt and brake dust that cover the wheel.
Here you can see the color change as the wheel cleaner begins to work and the dirt and contaminates start to flow from the wheel.
After agitating with various brushes and wheel woolies, you can see the amount of grime that is coming off of the wheels.
The wheels cleaned up quite nicely.
After the wheels and tires were cleaned up, the car was foamed with a heavy mixture of Citrus Wash followed by a thorough two bucket wash. This helps to remove any existing sealant or wax that may be on the surface of the vehicle.
Once the paint was totally clean and decontaminated, I was able to really inspect it to see what I had to work with. As I had expected, bug etchings and water marks were both present. There were also light swirls and scratches throughout, but overall the car was in great shape (as it should be for such low mileage and 2013 model year). The defects were rather hard to capture with the camera, so unfortunately there will be no dramatic 50/50 shots in this write-up... but I suppose that is a good thing because it means the car was in pretty darn good shape.
There were some pretty bad water spots under the area where the side of the spoiler covers. You can imagine this area is often missed when drying the car because it is difficult to reach unless you open the trunk to lift the spoiler out of the way.
There were some areas with more moderate to heavy defects that needed to be spot treated prior to polishing, and even some rather severe scratches that required wet sanding.
All in all, the paint was 90-95% perfect. There were a few RIDS that remained, of course, as it is simply not reasonable to find/correct every single defect. After the paint was prepped, CQuartz Finest was chosen as the means of protection. The coating was excellent to work with, even though it was ~85 degrees and very humid during application. The coating proved to be extremely glossy, and I can't wait to use it again.
Process
Wheels: Sonax Full Effect agitated with various brushes and wheel woolies
Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Tuf Shine Tire Brush
Foam Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via DI Foam Canon & Karcher X-Series 2000PSI Pressure Washer
Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss w/ Sheepskin Wash Mitt (2 bucket method)
Iron Removal: Iron X
Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
Clay: DI Fine Grade Clay (spot claying only)
Paint Thickness Readings Taken
Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
Paint Correction: Spot Correction (RIDS) - 2000 & 2500 Grit Wetsand Paper (when needed) followed by 3" MF Cutting Pads w/ D300/M105 Mix
Horizontal Surfaces - FG400 on Orange LC 5.5" Pads followed by Sonax Perfect Finish on White LC 5.5" Pads via Rupes LHR21ES & 3"/4" Pads via PC7424XP
Vertical Surfaces - FG400 on white LC 5.5" pads via Rupes LHR21ES & 3"/4" Pads Via PC7424XP
Foam: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via Glimour Foamaster II
Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss w/ Sheepskin wash mitt (2 bucket method)
Dry: DI Waffle Weave Towels
Paint Wipedown Prep: CarPro Eraser
Coating (LSP): CQuartz Finest
Wheel Polish: M205 via yellow foam applicator by hand
Tires: Optimum Opti Bond Tire Gel (2 coats)
Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Polish + Protection via MF Towel by hand
Matte CF Spoiler & Trim: CG Meticulous Matte Detail Spray
Glass: Meguiar's D120
Before
One of the first things I noticed on the car when it showed up for delivery was the water spots on the paint. This is always a red flag to me because I've come to learn that the chances of etched water spots are very high.
There was also bug splatter on the front bumper and lower part of the hood. This is also a red flag because chances are there will be some etched bug marks as well.
These little dots covered a portion of the vehicle and I was worried it might be over spray, but they ended up washing off (thankfully!)
The exhaust tips were in pretty good shape already.
The car had a nice set of matte black wheels... NOT. They were just extremely dirty. You can see the thick layer of dirt and grime compared to the true color of the wheel on the areas where I have swiped my finger on the metal.
The brakes also needed some attention. They had a layer of dirt on them as well.
During
As always, I started with the wheels and tires. Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner was sprayed liberally on the wheel. The chemical starts as a bright green and turns purple as it starts to react with the dirt and brake dust that cover the wheel.
Here you can see the color change as the wheel cleaner begins to work and the dirt and contaminates start to flow from the wheel.
After agitating with various brushes and wheel woolies, you can see the amount of grime that is coming off of the wheels.
The wheels cleaned up quite nicely.
After the wheels and tires were cleaned up, the car was foamed with a heavy mixture of Citrus Wash followed by a thorough two bucket wash. This helps to remove any existing sealant or wax that may be on the surface of the vehicle.
Once the paint was totally clean and decontaminated, I was able to really inspect it to see what I had to work with. As I had expected, bug etchings and water marks were both present. There were also light swirls and scratches throughout, but overall the car was in great shape (as it should be for such low mileage and 2013 model year). The defects were rather hard to capture with the camera, so unfortunately there will be no dramatic 50/50 shots in this write-up... but I suppose that is a good thing because it means the car was in pretty darn good shape.
There were some pretty bad water spots under the area where the side of the spoiler covers. You can imagine this area is often missed when drying the car because it is difficult to reach unless you open the trunk to lift the spoiler out of the way.
There were some areas with more moderate to heavy defects that needed to be spot treated prior to polishing, and even some rather severe scratches that required wet sanding.
Last edited:
Great work as usual and outstanding photography
