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Wills.WindowsAndWheels
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With all they hype that has been surrounding this 700+hp beast the last few months - we were very excited when we received a call to do a full paint correction and apply CQuartz Finest paint coating on a new Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
We would be performing a full exterior detail and decontamination - followed by a full paint correction, interior detail, leather conditioning and engine bay protection...and to top it all off, CQuartz Finest would be applied to the exterior. With its 2 year warranty, extreme protection and second to none gloss...you can bet this was going to be one hell of a turn out
Out to Scottsdale, Az we went with our "detail bus" to tackle this highly anticipated job.
A badge completely fitting of such a fierce ride. We had completed the wash, clay bar, cleaned the tires/rims/wheel wells and then applied a sealant to the matte wheel faces and a protectant to the tires and wheel wells...up next...was inspecting the paint and taping off all this trim!
"New" is a very relative word when dealing with paint correction. True, the Hellcat only had 182 miles on it when we arrived...but there was more than enough damage to go around. Between the transport and the dealership "detail"...this paint was not in like new condition - and the owner knew it.
Having already looked the car over himself, he told us he was aware of the swirls and scratches that were present and that he didn't just want a 1-step polish, but rather our "Full paint correction" He was also admittedly a very particular person who had seen a lot of hype on the internet about awesome detail work, but had yet to see anything that impressed him in person...our job was to show him that we were one of the exceptions. If you're a CQuartz Finest installer...you've*put the time time in to be one of the best at this labor of love.
It took about 1 1/2 rolls of tape on this big monster to tape off and protect all the plastic trim, window moulding etc. The reason for this is to make sure we do not get any polish on these areas while correcting the paint. Every inch of the paint is to be corrected..and that means right up to the edge where paint meets plastic.
As noted above, there were plenty of swirls and scratches to go around...so our first polishing step would be to completely remove all of these deeper defects.
Progress was being made but there were some rather deep scratches that needed additional attention. We ended up having to use our 3" polisher with a more concentrated cut to remove some deep individual scratches that still remained.
The worst of which were on the drivers side front quarter panel.
A quick side note - in the middle of our detail...a bobcat...a real live bobcat, walked across the front yard ...just strolling around like he owned the place...kinda look like he got jealous and clawed the car here!
These were deep and took more than one* pass to get them down, but even then...one very deep one remained:
No, no no! We cant have that! After hitting it a couple of times with our 3" microfiber pad though - it cleared up
After the first polishing stage was complete, it was then time to refine the paint even further - to squeeze every bit of gloss we could out of it and make sure it had a crystal clear finish.
While the deep scratches were all removed...there was now a very fine marring left on the paint:
After the finishing polish stage though - it cleared up nicely
This process was completed over the entire car as well. Once the paint was in tip top shape, we then prepped it for CQuartz Finest. During the first day, we would only be applying Finest to the doors, rear quarters, trunk and roof. The front 1/3 of the car and areas on the rear clip behind the rear wheels would later be receiving clear bra. The owner just wanted the paint to be perfect first before applying the clear bra...and then would later have us back out to apply CQuartz Finest on top of the clear bra.
That being said - we still had to apply a protection to the panels that would not be coated just yet...leaving paint bare is never a good thing...birds seem to have "smart bombs" that find the weakest point in the paint...and a bird bomb on bare paint will likely lead to it etching the paint. So, Meguiars D156 synthetic wax was applied to the non coated panels as a temporary protection.
Here's how she looked at the end of day one:
Glowing is the word that came to mind
This was the end of Monday night. Thursday the owner had Xpel applied and Friday we returned to finish up the rest of the detail.
Finest being applied to the paint protection film...
Dani in the mean time completed the interior detail and engine bay detail
Carpro's Reload Silica paint sealant was applied to the door, trunk and hood jambs as well as any painted pieces in the engine bay.
After a couple more hours of work - it was time for the finishing touches...CQuartz Finest warranty sticker and card:
And of course - the gloss shots out in the sun! This baby was BRIGHT under Arizona's lovely afternoon sun:
Had to give our van props in the picture too since it kindly hauled our entire shop out to the owners location since a drop off at our place wasn't in the cards. Thank you detail bus!
When it was all said and done - this Hellcat stood out as a beast among beasts. The best part for us was - the owners overwhelming excitement of how the car turned out. Thats the biggest complement we can get.
Hopefully this will just be one of many of these babies we have the pleasure of working on this year.
For more information on how to get your baby to look this good*visit:
www.windowsandwheels.com
And for more information about a CQuartz Finest installer in your area visit:
http://cquartzfinest.com/where-to-buy.html
We would be performing a full exterior detail and decontamination - followed by a full paint correction, interior detail, leather conditioning and engine bay protection...and to top it all off, CQuartz Finest would be applied to the exterior. With its 2 year warranty, extreme protection and second to none gloss...you can bet this was going to be one hell of a turn out
Out to Scottsdale, Az we went with our "detail bus" to tackle this highly anticipated job.
A badge completely fitting of such a fierce ride. We had completed the wash, clay bar, cleaned the tires/rims/wheel wells and then applied a sealant to the matte wheel faces and a protectant to the tires and wheel wells...up next...was inspecting the paint and taping off all this trim!
"New" is a very relative word when dealing with paint correction. True, the Hellcat only had 182 miles on it when we arrived...but there was more than enough damage to go around. Between the transport and the dealership "detail"...this paint was not in like new condition - and the owner knew it.
Having already looked the car over himself, he told us he was aware of the swirls and scratches that were present and that he didn't just want a 1-step polish, but rather our "Full paint correction" He was also admittedly a very particular person who had seen a lot of hype on the internet about awesome detail work, but had yet to see anything that impressed him in person...our job was to show him that we were one of the exceptions. If you're a CQuartz Finest installer...you've*put the time time in to be one of the best at this labor of love.
It took about 1 1/2 rolls of tape on this big monster to tape off and protect all the plastic trim, window moulding etc. The reason for this is to make sure we do not get any polish on these areas while correcting the paint. Every inch of the paint is to be corrected..and that means right up to the edge where paint meets plastic.
As noted above, there were plenty of swirls and scratches to go around...so our first polishing step would be to completely remove all of these deeper defects.
Progress was being made but there were some rather deep scratches that needed additional attention. We ended up having to use our 3" polisher with a more concentrated cut to remove some deep individual scratches that still remained.
The worst of which were on the drivers side front quarter panel.
A quick side note - in the middle of our detail...a bobcat...a real live bobcat, walked across the front yard ...just strolling around like he owned the place...kinda look like he got jealous and clawed the car here!
These were deep and took more than one* pass to get them down, but even then...one very deep one remained:
No, no no! We cant have that! After hitting it a couple of times with our 3" microfiber pad though - it cleared up
After the first polishing stage was complete, it was then time to refine the paint even further - to squeeze every bit of gloss we could out of it and make sure it had a crystal clear finish.
While the deep scratches were all removed...there was now a very fine marring left on the paint:
After the finishing polish stage though - it cleared up nicely
This process was completed over the entire car as well. Once the paint was in tip top shape, we then prepped it for CQuartz Finest. During the first day, we would only be applying Finest to the doors, rear quarters, trunk and roof. The front 1/3 of the car and areas on the rear clip behind the rear wheels would later be receiving clear bra. The owner just wanted the paint to be perfect first before applying the clear bra...and then would later have us back out to apply CQuartz Finest on top of the clear bra.
That being said - we still had to apply a protection to the panels that would not be coated just yet...leaving paint bare is never a good thing...birds seem to have "smart bombs" that find the weakest point in the paint...and a bird bomb on bare paint will likely lead to it etching the paint. So, Meguiars D156 synthetic wax was applied to the non coated panels as a temporary protection.
Here's how she looked at the end of day one:
Glowing is the word that came to mind
This was the end of Monday night. Thursday the owner had Xpel applied and Friday we returned to finish up the rest of the detail.
Finest being applied to the paint protection film...
Dani in the mean time completed the interior detail and engine bay detail
Carpro's Reload Silica paint sealant was applied to the door, trunk and hood jambs as well as any painted pieces in the engine bay.
After a couple more hours of work - it was time for the finishing touches...CQuartz Finest warranty sticker and card:
And of course - the gloss shots out in the sun! This baby was BRIGHT under Arizona's lovely afternoon sun:
Had to give our van props in the picture too since it kindly hauled our entire shop out to the owners location since a drop off at our place wasn't in the cards. Thank you detail bus!
When it was all said and done - this Hellcat stood out as a beast among beasts. The best part for us was - the owners overwhelming excitement of how the car turned out. Thats the biggest complement we can get.
Hopefully this will just be one of many of these babies we have the pleasure of working on this year.
For more information on how to get your baby to look this good*visit:
www.windowsandwheels.com
And for more information about a CQuartz Finest installer in your area visit:
http://cquartzfinest.com/where-to-buy.html
