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This weekend's project was a 06 Chevy Impala LTZ. The owner has done a good job of keeping the car clean and waxed, so it still had a bit of shine when I got it. Unfortunately though, it had a moderate amount of swirls, and a lot of scratches. Most GM clear coat is very hard, and this one was no exception. It did not want to be polished today, but I was not going to give in!

Since it had a fresh coat of wax on it, I started by washing it with Dawn to help strip the wax layer. After blowing it dry, I did an alcohol wipedown (on the car, not me) to get rid of any of the wax that the Dawn didn't remove.

After hitting it with a clay bar, I proceeded to tape off the hood and start with the testing procedure to see what the pad/polish combo of the day was going to be for this particular car. The swirls were easy enough to get rid of, but the deep scratches all over the surface were trying to spoil the party. I needed to go with a heavy combo for the scratches, which was a bit overkill for the swirls. Many of the severe areas were hit first with a combination of Purple Foamed Wool, and Megs 105. Since this aggressive combo leaves its own marring, I would follow up with Menzerna Super Intensive Polish and a white pad...this is what I needed on the rest of the car anyhow, so no big deal. After doing the entire car in either (or both) of these combos, I then went back over the whole car with Optimum Poli-Seal using a PC and a blue pad.

When all was said and done, I achieved about a 95% correction rate on swirls, and about 90% on scratches. The owners of the car were floored by the transformation their car went through.

OK, now on to the details:

Process:
Wash with Dawn to strip current wax
Megs Wheel Brightener 4:1 on rims
Meg's APC+ 4:1 on wheel wells
Isopropyl alcohol wipedown

Paint correction: Makita 9227
Purple Foamed Wool/Megs 105 in heavy correction areas
Menzerna SIP/white pad on entire vehicle
3M Ultrafina SE/3M blue waffle pad on hood
Optimum Poli-Seal/blue pad on PC on entire vehicle
Topped with Optimum Car Wax

Total time (exterior only): 10 hours.

How clean is your car after washing? This is how the clay looked after one small area after wash & IPA wipedown!



Got swirls?


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before. The trunk lid had a lot of deep scratches, and took multiple passes with the PFW/105 to get most of them out.


After:


All after shots:

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Finished

mattfeet

Great work!!!! That's a nice color, especially now!

-Matt

wanabe

nice job!!

and great pics-

what- alcohol for the car and none for you???

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Thanks!

Trust me...I got mine when this 10 hour job was done!!

Ubetit

Man that was some dirty clay.

slanguage

great work. color looked a lot better after the fact

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Thanks. The color really popped after it was done.

GPWhiteS2kFTW

So you finished your polishing (except the hood) with Menzerna SIP?

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No, I finished it off with OPS. I did a bunch of test sections on the hood to see what would work best given the amount of time I had. After polishing with SIP/white, I went over a section with 106FF, and a section with OPS. I couldn't tell any difference, and pulled the car into the sun no less than 6 times to check progress and make sure there was no marring or holograms left by the SIP that couldn't be cleaned up by the OPS. All was fine. The OPS also goes on much easier (and quicker) and leaves a slicker finish.

If it were a softer paint (Honda/Acura), I probably would have had to gone with the 106 instead of the OPS. On this rock hard clear however, the SIP/white left a very nice finish enabling me to use the OPS option.