New ZL1 Dealer Save

THE Mook

New member
Oct 16, 2014
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Colorado
Morn, did a 2015 ZL-1 a couple weeks back. Spent 20 hours on the polish side. It looked about 85% better when it was finished. I have never seen a dealership essentially murder a factory paint job like that ever in my life. There are some deep scratches and other things (dealer installed) left that I wasn't able to even touch. The one left on the spoiler looks to be under the clear. Wouldn't surprise me after seeing so many Camaros with shitty paint. Anyway...

I used pretty much AP and SCummy stuff to complete this. Flex, PC, and Drill. No sandpaper. Car was given my full exterior treatment, finished with sealant/glaze/fancy wax. Pics and such below.

Car showed up on a Friday, 9AM. Customers drove just over an hour to have me work on their car. Upon observing the car a week earlier for an estimate, I knew I had my work cut out for me.




Doing the Prelim. walk, I noticed a few things...
I made sure to clean the rear lower valance with APC and a towel first, as the previous pair of clownshoes to touch this got polish and wax all over it.

I mean really? Wash spots stained in from laziness.

Check out this nice scuff the left in the front chin.


More hard water staining left behind on the trim.


"Buffer Mark"


Dirty Tips.





I figured, "EFF IT, let's do this now." I went and got my tools, .0000 Steel Wool, AP's Metal Twins, some APC, and also a Blue Hex Grip.





Came out nice!





I made sure to dress all the trim right after decontaminating it, with AP's stuff.





Dudes. WHY TF do Bees need to mess with me EVERY time I do a Camaro? I punched these bitches in the face. They looked to be mid hump in the air when I landed my devastating left hook.



In all the time I have been doing this for money (and slowly learning to hate detailing), this is the cleanest an Engine Bay has ever shown up to me. Even the other dealer preps I've done...nothing as clean as this. I literally used some waterless wash and a towel to clean, then dressed with AP's aerosol and lotion type dressings.
(Before)




DAT LSA (clean-er)



Ok. Onto the Paint. It had some dust and bugs on it from the drive. The owner also walked the car with me to show me some trouble spots.



^The entire hood had some deep stuff in it. I spent 4 hours on it in the end, and I think it looked a lot better, albeit I can't believe some of those didn't come out. You'll see in upcoming pics.


I still do this for cars that are bug hammered...a long presoak of waterless wash while I do the wheels and tires. Really softens those carcasses up.




I didn't take any wheel/tire cleaning shots, because, well, I just don't care I guess. Here's some foam shots though. Used the Hydrofoamer, an ounce of Dawn, and some OG AP Car Shampoo.




Artsy Soap Porn






Cleaned and dried off, it was time to start dressing, taping, and claying this beast.


Paint doesn't look too bad until you focus your eyes on the lights above in the paint itself...YIKES.


Front Driver Fender


Different lighting on the hood.



Even on the doors.
 
So I guess I made the first post too big.

Deck lid with free River Rock Texture Orange Peel.



Rear Driver Fender, just in front of Spolier


Spolier of hell.









I got the car clayed then used some waterless wash and microfiber plush towels to remove the residue. I don't like leaving all of that on. The clay wasn't dirty, it's just this time I wanted it off before I started testing/correcting. I spent a fair amount of time testing the right combo, speed. Ended up using SC Cut on Speed 5 for best results. I tried the old tricks from older Camaros...wasn't what I wanted in the end. Used a little finishing polish on the cutting pad...it was marring the paint by itself. Sealed with a test version of AP LPS, AP's glaze, and Patriot.












Some random shots of results.







A good friend stopped by as he and I were communicating thru the whole thing, and he knew I was having serious anxiety about this car. LOVE the help and THANKS JD_SS!








I do love the application of this wax.






#rwtp sneaker











So after spending all that time on the Camaro, and having a dirt lot, with a Sunday afternoon pickup, they show up, it's windy as hell. Therefore the exterior walk down and pics...was only a walk down so they could get out and back home an hour away! I will be in that area tomorrow to follow up with the customer, so I will try and take some sun shots at that point.




Thanks for stopping in to this sloppy mess of a post.
 
That's all I got. The write up is now scattered amongst the same three shitty posts. I can't/don't have access to delete posts to make this piece of shit thread make sense.

- - - - - - - - - -auto merged double post- - - - - - - - - -

Thank you to whomever helped me get this on track...Sam, Oktain, and maybe that Chud Demon... :lol:
 
Awesome work man, really shitty that people pay so much for a nice car and the paint is harsh. Gives you something to do tho. Lol
 
Looks SO much better, it's sad that gm sells pretty expensive vehicles(other than the econo boxes) and doesn't train their detailer at all. Hell even just a simple list of do and don't and some proper equipment would help, not saying they need to be at your level but have a basic understanding of how to use a da and swirl remover and how to wash a fucking car.......end rant, again nice work