steve.soule.10
New member
Another referral from Mike at Bar Tuning Houston. Had a couple of conversations about this one with Corey as it had been previously coated and xpel installed by a shop in Houston about a year ago and I had some concerns about how deeply scratched it was. The owner, Bruce is a super nice guy, Vietnam vet and long time professional race car photographer. I initially asked Cole to look at this car so we could quote and due to the staggering pics and comments he sent me, decided I better take a personal look to make sure we covered all bases when quoting this job. Not sure if this one was washed with sand and gravel, but oh my was it torn up. The car is ten years old and has 185,000 miles but was still hard to believe that it had been corrected and coated so recently.
One of Cole's initial pics in daylight.
A little left over high spot from previous coating job.
Unfortunate nasty gouge down passenger side which happened just before we got the car.
Documentation pic when we reviewed the car and so I could have good reference of how it was corrected.
Nice shot showing that even the xpel was damaged severely. I guess it just goes to show you can damaged even the best coating and protection film if you take it to a sloppy car wash.
It was time to get this one cleaned up and ready for the knife... Washed with honey do foam, followed by iron X snow foam and iron X on the wheels. Clay'd with Ultima and Carpro Decon towel then on to figuring out the best pad polish combinations. Lots of fun there. Several touch up spots, an unbelievable amount of wash marring and hidden underneath was an equally large amount of deep, linear wiping marks that were very stubborn.
one of many test spots before deciding to work with rotary and Shine Supply Flat Top. Killer correcting combo for sure! Ate up some serious defects and significantly reduced the overall correction processes. A close second and the follow up step was Flat Top and Meg's MF cut pads on the Rupes machines. This still left some visible deeper linear marks that I wasn't happy with so u gave the hood and trunk a pass with Meg's 3000 grit followed up with the MF pads and flat top. This left us with a nice clean surface for final polishing with Rupes Shine Supply Classic Polish and orange ccs pads. Ah.... Finally a look I could put my name on
There were numerous areas that got spot sanded with 1500 then 3000 to remove deeper defects. And most came back very well.
Learned along the way the you can polish a large amount of marring out of xpel and we decided to save the clear bra versus spending another 1000 of Bruce's dollars to remove and replace. It's not perfect but it was more than acceptable.
After around 15 hours of sanding, compounding and polishing [emoji15] we were ready for coating. Eraser'd the car and dosed her up with 2 thick coats of CQ Classic.
Moved to redoing some previously coated plastic the had a somewhat uneven look. Cleaned fully with Meg's apc followed by eraser and coated with DLUX for deep rich shine.
As a little extra, I released 180k worth of dirt, grime and oil from the engine bay and gave her a shot of hyper dressing
Also, gave the interior and leather a thorough clean and dress with optimum leather guard.
Car came back to life very well and the level of scratch free gloss is exceptional now.
And of course there were a few little detail spots that made the job complete, like around the badges
https://vimeo.com/143615206
https://vimeo.com/143617775
Bruce couldn't have been happier and in our deal, I detailed his engine compartment in exchange for some professional photos. Since I shoot all from my iPhone 6.... These will be greatly appreciated. Going to pick them up today.
Btw.... Huge thank you to Corey for all the q&a sessions about this car. Not sure I know anyone in the industry more helpful than you buddy!
Thanks for looking.
One of Cole's initial pics in daylight.
A little left over high spot from previous coating job.
Unfortunate nasty gouge down passenger side which happened just before we got the car.
Documentation pic when we reviewed the car and so I could have good reference of how it was corrected.
Nice shot showing that even the xpel was damaged severely. I guess it just goes to show you can damaged even the best coating and protection film if you take it to a sloppy car wash.
It was time to get this one cleaned up and ready for the knife... Washed with honey do foam, followed by iron X snow foam and iron X on the wheels. Clay'd with Ultima and Carpro Decon towel then on to figuring out the best pad polish combinations. Lots of fun there. Several touch up spots, an unbelievable amount of wash marring and hidden underneath was an equally large amount of deep, linear wiping marks that were very stubborn.
There were numerous areas that got spot sanded with 1500 then 3000 to remove deeper defects. And most came back very well.
Learned along the way the you can polish a large amount of marring out of xpel and we decided to save the clear bra versus spending another 1000 of Bruce's dollars to remove and replace. It's not perfect but it was more than acceptable.
After around 15 hours of sanding, compounding and polishing [emoji15] we were ready for coating. Eraser'd the car and dosed her up with 2 thick coats of CQ Classic.
Moved to redoing some previously coated plastic the had a somewhat uneven look. Cleaned fully with Meg's apc followed by eraser and coated with DLUX for deep rich shine.
As a little extra, I released 180k worth of dirt, grime and oil from the engine bay and gave her a shot of hyper dressing
Also, gave the interior and leather a thorough clean and dress with optimum leather guard.
Car came back to life very well and the level of scratch free gloss is exceptional now.
And of course there were a few little detail spots that made the job complete, like around the badges
https://vimeo.com/143615206
https://vimeo.com/143617775
Bruce couldn't have been happier and in our deal, I detailed his engine compartment in exchange for some professional photos. Since I shoot all from my iPhone 6.... These will be greatly appreciated. Going to pick them up today.
Btw.... Huge thank you to Corey for all the q&a sessions about this car. Not sure I know anyone in the industry more helpful than you buddy!
Thanks for looking.
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