SweetJazz

Like golf this hobby can really humble you. Case in point, the NBP paint on the TL is super soft and very difficult to work with. It is great that I do not have to use aggressive products to correct and polish the paint. However, the paint scratches and chips very easily. This can be very frustrating and it forces a dedicated maintenance routine to maintain the finish. Mercedes and Audi owners are lucky to have hard clear coats which are not as labor intensive to keep up. I recently detailed my car for spring and summer 2009 and realized that my previous details were flawed. Nothing major but enough to keep me scratching my head.

I noticed that I still had some micromarring although I have been only using a polishing pad and finishing polish for the past couple of details. The only way I could see this micromarring is by looking at a sunrise picture from a previous detail (see Picture #1). The paint was super glossy and the blue pearl was popping but the sun reflection looked elongated horizontally like a galaxy. If I were more experienced I would have known that soft paint like this will require a micro polishing step using a finishing pad although the paint looked great under lights. Picture #2 was taken at sunset after my recent detail. Notice how the sun reflection looks compared to Picture #1. The sun is clearly focused and no longer has the right and left wings like Picture #1. I really tried to obtain a similar picture like Picture #1 but the sun was blocked by high clouds for the past three weekends so I tried sunset instead.

Picture #1



Picture #2



I hope this helps those of you who are dealing with very soft paint. It has taken a while for me to understand how to polish this particular paint to perfection. NBP paint continues to be an ongoing challenge to maintain it. I suspect I would not have as much fun if it were really easy. Thanks.

Stephen


NOTE: For those that are interested I am posting my process and some additional pics below.




WASH:

• First Bucket: Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Clear at 2 oz/gallon prep ratio (for LSP removal) and grit guard for all paintd surfaces. Red Lake Country UltiMit for all paint and glass.
• Second Bucket: Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Clear at 0.25 oz/gallon prep ratio and grit guard for wheels and tires. Various brushes and mits used.

CLAY:

• Meguiars Mild Clay using Meguiars Final Inspection Quick Detailer.

MACHINE(S):

• UDM with 4"and 6.5” white LC CCS pad, Speed 4 for 3M Clear Bra.
• Flex XC3401 VRG Orbital Polisher (Dual Action) with 5" White LC CCS pad, Speed 5 for PO106FA.
• Flex XC3401 VRG Orbital Polisher (Dual Action) with 5" Gray LC CCS pad, Speed 5 for PO85RD.

POLISH:

• 1 x Pinnacle XMT360 for Clear Bra.
• 1 x Menzerna Nano Polish (PO106FA) for paint.
• 1 x Menzerna Micro Polish (PO85RD) for paint.

GLAZE:

• 1 x Danase Wet Glaze (DWG) on Clear Bra only.

WAX/SEALANT:

• 1 x Optimum Opti-Seal (Paint only).
• 2 x Wolfgang Fuzion.

FINAL WIPEDOWN:

• 1 x Finish Kare Ultra Slick Poly Wipe Spray Detailer (FK425).

TIME:

• 3 x 8 hour days.

exceldetail

Geeeeeeeeeez.....Im speechless...........Were you this anal before Acurazine?
Stephen, you have by far, one of the best looking TL's I have ever seen photographed.....

TLAdvanced

iTrader: (4)

Beautiful! 3 X 8 hour days!! Wow, you invested a LOT of time in this. DO you drive it much? I am wondering how often you do this process? Great work Stephen
-Brett

dmassott

god dam i love your tl..looking great..i wouldnt know what to do if i had that much time to spend on my own car.

godfather2

immacualte

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

That's it...you're coming to Kansas City to do my Type S Stephen.

SweetJazz

Awe Shucks Patrick! Thanks alot! I have always been anal about my cars but now I have the tools and skill to achieve my desired result. Seeing pics of Todds TL sent me over the edge I think.


Thanks Brett. I split time between my Civic and the TL. I commute to work @ 80 miles per day. The TL gets about 10K miles/year. Thankfully, I only polish the car twice per year (Winter and Spring). The winter detail is not as tedious.


I usually do not have that much time. I could not do this for a living since my wife would have my stuff out on the lawn.

Thanks.

TSC17

Come on now Stephen...blaming me for your obsessive compulsive disorder tendencies on your TL-S?

Seriously though, the car looks fantastic (and very familiar...oh wait...I have the same car). Trust me, I know exactly what you mean when you say NBP can be frustrating. I've seen micro-swirls in mine that can only be detected in the direct sunlight from about 2" away (yes, that's inches, not feet). Products like PO85RD or 3M Ultra Fine with a blue or red pad on a rotary are the only ones that I have used that can finish it down perfectly. I'm sure that Menzerna FPII would work well too.

Unfortunately I haven't had the time to polish mine (other than a few touch-ups from oil-change scratches courtesy of Jiffy Lube) since last fall...simply been too busy with other peoples' cars.

For NBP, there's a huge difference between a good finish and a great finish, and it looks like you've found a way to make it "great".

CocheseUGA

Puts mine to shame. Of course, I don't have the tools that you do, so I don't feel too bad.

I also don't have that kind of time.

Jesstzn

Great job on the TL... regarding the VW , Audi paint and them being lucky .. I had an 03 Passat and once they do mar or scratch they are very hard to correct so there is a plus & a minus to them.

JETSPD1477

looks GREAT!

definitely inspires me for my next detailing session.

SweetJazz

Thanks. Yeah I know I need to take responsibility for my OCD.

Ramrodthrusterpuppy

Wow....well done!

Todd's, and now your TL-S; are the inspiration to get my own TL-S up to snuff...looks like I have a loooong way to go!

Rhlieu

GREAT job! Wow you make the upkeep on a NBP look very easy....