Butchered by a bodyshop... Nissan 350Z Enhancement

[RussZS]

The owner of this car originally came to see me a few weeks ago, a few days after parts of his car had been resprayed, concerned at the severity of the swirling and hologramming present on his 'fresh out of the bodyshop' paint! It was a pretty bright day, and I could see it was in a bit of a state - usual holograms, buffer trails that most bodyshops seem to churn out!


After re-arranging a few times, I finally got a chance to do what I could with it today, with the main aim being to remove the severe buffer trails and restore some of the original lustre to the lovely black paint.


So, on to the detail... a few befores:

DSC00566 by RussZS, on Flickr

DSC00568 by RussZS, on Flickr

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As always, wheels, tyres and arches first:

DSC00577 by RussZS, on Flickr

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Then, a quick snow foam using Auto Smart Duet:

DSC00584 by RussZS, on Flickr

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Next, I washed with GTechniq G-Wash (love this stuff, we need bigger bottles Rob!) and a CarPro Mitt, which was simply superb to use. Pricey yes, bit extremely well constructed and a great size, without feeling heavy when loaded with water like a lot of the larger mitts...

DSC00589 by RussZS, on Flickr


Next I moved it inside, ready for claying...


I used AF Glide and the new Bilt Hamber Medium Clay:

DSC00592 by RussZS, on Flickr


BH have really created the perfect clay with this one IMO, great bite to it and perfect consistency! The price is perfect too, so I see me using little else moving forward...


The Z was then dried, ready for polishing:

DSC00593 by RussZS, on Flickr


It looks great at this stage... who would have known what horrors were hidden...

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You get the idea... the WHOLE car was this bad!!!


To make matters worse, the paint readings...


Roof:

DSC00610 by RussZS, on Flickr


Bonnet...

DSC00611 by RussZS, on Flickr


The whole car was reading below 100, which isn't unusual for Japanese cars, but the lower readings were certainly areas where caution would be required.


After testing about 12 combinations, on different panels, I finally settled on Megs 205 via Rotary on a Megs black finishing pad. Anything 'heavier' and it would leave its own marks, this paint was SOFT...


Now, I only had this car for 8 hours or so, so had to do the best I could with the time I had, so it isn't perfect, but is certainly a LOT better...

DSC00608 by RussZS, on Flickr

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As I was going round the car, I was finding that the original defects had been hiding some very severe swirling, pad marks from compounding and RDS's. Given the thickness of the paint and time constraints I decided to leave these for today, and instead concentrate on restoring the gloss and lustre back to the paint:

DSC00623 by RussZS, on Flickr

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One side completed...

DSC00644 by RussZS, on Flickr

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Rear bumper before:

DSC00658 by RussZS, on Flickr


After:

DSC00660 by RussZS, on Flickr

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Deeper stuff remained...

DSC00662 by RussZS, on Flickr


I finished with:


- Auto Finesse Gloss on the tyres
- Auto Finesse Crystal on the glass
- CG NLTG on plastics
- Auto Finesse Tough Coat on the paintwork


Some afters...

DSC00663 by RussZS, on Flickr

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DSC00689 by RussZS, on Flickr

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DSC00694 by RussZS, on Flickr

DSC00700 by RussZS, on Flickr


I'd like to say a HUGE thanks to Lee@BespokeCarCare for the use of his detailing studio today and also for giving me a hand and some advice on this challenging car - top bloke!


Thanks for reading!

DSC00701 by RussZS, on Flickr


Russ - MidlandsCarCare

 

[Djw John]

Good, quick turnaround mate.

 

[afinney]

Finished result looks beautiful, especially given the challenges it sounds like you had. Nicely done

 

[JD]

What a mess! But good to see it corrected. Body shops should be held accountable for that sort of thing, Russ. I'm sure Gally agrees!

 

[Kane.]

Wtf did they do to it :S top work anyway.

 

[Y7 ADW]

Superb work as per Russ, i'm still yet to detail a black car.

 

[Fred@BTM]

Happy Matt's 350!!!

 

[Addicted]

What a transformation!

 

[Fletcher]

Much better.

 

[Jimbo_M]

Great work mate, what a state that was in before!

 

[Rob]

Car looks lovely, really lovely.

Great job.

 

[VIICarCare]

great job again Russ

 

[ThereIsOnlyMe]

Great job Russ. If I owned that car I'd be delighted.

 

[jimbo666]

Nice work. Was it 'just' AS Duet you used as a foam dilution? Or did you add something else into it?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Super turn around especially in a short time frame too !

Rather sexy looking beast too... (the car I mean)

 

[Knuckles]

I thought my fresh-from-the-body-shop paintwork was bad! did they polish it with a brillo pad?

youve done an amazing job! i have to get this done in the future!

 

[Leeshez]

Wow that is amazing .

 

[RussZS]

Happy Matt's 350!!!

Thanks for the referral Fred! I owe you a drink!

 

[RussZS]

Nice work. Was it 'just' AS Duet you used as a foam dilution? Or did you add something else into it?

Just Duet... but the Kranzle certainly helps with the thickness...

 

[Reyes]

Love the sneaky shot of the Golf in the reflection (Probably wasn't intentional) some lad on my Facebook has one, Russell.

 

[RussZS]

That was indeed an accident Pierre!