2002 chrysler sebring convertible - maybe 1st detail of its life

[sscully]

I bought a Red 2002 chrysler sebring convertible for my mom
- I got it from a friend, she only drove it in the summer, has 28K miles on it.

She religiously washed it every time it got dirty, bad news 100% tunnel washes.

The paint looked similar to brushed Stainless.

It is taking some time, but I am getting it to ~ 80% before I opti coat it. 
- I do not want flawless on it, as I want mom to drive it all the time in the summer.  If I make it too perfect, I think she might always question where she is taking it.

URL for the gallery that I will update as I make progress.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108831051674920956896/2002ChrySBDetail?authkey=Gv1sRgCNrDzdLC4MOCgAE

Few shots to gie you some idea :




Some scratches on the rear quarter panel, that were hit with touch up paint


The scratches were just in the clear coat.  I polished off the touch up paint ( made a mess of the pad ) and blended the scratches a bit, so they are 90% gone.

Shot from far after , but the FL light fixture is where they were at :

- The scratches are still in there, they are just muted, as not to stick out like a sore thumb.

Trunk after shot ( you can see some of the marring left in the paint if you look close


Working on the Hood and front driver's front fender tonight.  I need to get the Opti Coat on it WED night, so it can cure before Mom & ad pick it up FRI ( they are dropping off their CR-V to be done ).

About time someone did some detailing around here 

[Too Stroked]

Steve,

Wow, that looks pretty darn good! I'm sure your mom will be proud to drive it around - and boast about her son's detailing skills too! Hmmm, this could be good for business.

So what are you using for pads & products? The paint looks to be reasonably well hammered, but coming back nicely.

Oh yea, and it is about time that one of us posted up pics or an actual detail! 

Tom

[sscully]

Guess this would be some useful info.
- Been so long since I posted a new vehicle correction, I forgot to include the what am I using part of the thread 

I am using a 3 step correction process with the Flex.
- This seemed to be the bets between finish and amount of time to correct.

Step 1 :
2 to 3 passes ( depending on the panel ) with a 5.5" LC Orange Pad using Poorboys ProPolish

Step 2:

2 to 3 passes ( again panel dependent ) with a 5.5" LC White pad using OPT HyperPolish

Step 3:

2 passes with a 5.5" LC Blue pad using Poorboys ProPolish

The trunk was my test area. 
I tried a OPT MF polish Pad with OPT HyperPolish, did not do much ( it is ~ step #2 from above ). 
Next I tried OPT MF Cutting Pad with OPT HyperCompoiund. 
- It corrected down to Polish stage, but it was much slower than the Orange Pad / PP combo. 
I am working in ~ 60* temps with high humidity. 
That seems to have some impact on how the MF pads are working. 
- I have only really used them in 70+ temps prior.  I don't want to wait out heating the garage to 75* ( to drive down the humidity as well ) for 3 hours of work ( doing this nights now ), so I went with something that works well in the lower temps.

After the "weirdness" with the MF pads, I did not bother trying a Purple foam wool pad.  In higher temps it might have been the key to single pass step 1 ???

Took about 2.5 hours last night to do the hood and front driver's fender.  I have the driver's side rear quarter panel & door and the front and rear bumpers ( using white & blue only on them ).

The paint is not giving up the defects easy at all.  It acts like it is hard as a rock. 

[Too Stroked]

Are you running the Flex flat out?

[sscully]

see, way too long since I posted a new vehicle.

Similar to others, I run mine at 6 all the time when correcting.

[Rollingrock]

Wait, this is a detail forum?

[Blown F-150]

Sweet a posted detail! 

Looks like one heck of an improvement Steve!

I have no experience with the flex, but with the Rupes, I do find that the MF pads work best (especially the cutting pad) with the speed dialed back a bit. It was the same with the PC, but I don't know if it would help with the forced rotation of the FLEX.

[sscully]

Wait, this is a detail forum?

*like*

[sscully]

Sweet a posted detail! 

Looks like one heck of an improvement Steve!

I have no experience with the flex, but with the Rupes, I do find that the MF pads work best (especially the cutting pad) with the speed dialed back a bit. It was the same with the PC, but I don't know if it would help with the forced rotation of the FLEX.

In warmer temps I did not have an issue with the MF pads on the Flex.
- I used them quite a bit on the G6, when I was going at it.

I was not getting the correction out of them that I should have.
- the Foam pad in 60* temp seemed to correct faster than the MF pads

[Kitzy]

I don't have any experience with MF pads but I never would have thought there would be a drastic change due to temp.

Tapatalkin...

[sscully]

I could not get the garage over 70* tonight ( it is 25*, with wind chill 17* ) so I just bagged the Opti Coat and put Menz Power Lock on it.
- It is going into storage, I think being parked indoors for 4 months, PL should do just fine.

I could not get the camera to pick up the marks that were still left in the paint.
the V on the towel is inside a larger V of 2 scratches 



the results of the touch up paint polishing ( towel pointing right at one of the marks ?? )



I would call it 75% ( the point at which any of us are dragging out everything to correct the paint on our vehicles  ).

Turned out nice, for a summer daily driver for Mom, I think it is passable work





And NO I DID NOT DO THE WHEEL WELLS 

[Rollingrock]

Looks incredible, so what was the temp in the garage?

As for the Flex and MF pads I gave up trying that combo.

[sscully]

Looks incredible, so what was the temp in the garage? ...<snip>...

After an hour I had it to 57.5*. 
- I am sure I could have cut hard salami on the meter during that hour.

The Mrs had just got home and I flipped it on, so I was fighting heating that ice cube along with trying to get the garage from 49*.

...<snip>...As for the Flex and MF pads I gave up trying that combo.

I have good luck in warmer weather.   Supposition is the compound was too cold to work with the MF, due to it biting too much.
- The OPT MF Cutting pads are aggressive, somewhere between an Orange and Yellow LC pad.

[Too Stroked]

I think it looks awesome Steve!

[Blown F-150]

Looks like it turned out really nice Steve!

Great work!