polish

Finally had some time to do some paint correction on the FRS. Ever since I took it home from the dealer it had a major case of the swirls all over the car – kind of a bummer cause “usually” all the cars I’ve bought have had great paint with very little paint issues. I guess this is what I signed up for when I bought a black car… At the same time, black is the best looking color when it’s free of swirls and freshly washed and wax.

Last weekend I made a trip to Carzilla and picked up some new additions for my arsenal. On a side note – anyone who is serious about their paint and caring for it NEEDS to go to hit up Carzilla locally. There hasn’t really been a good place locally to pick up some good, brand name products. Not only do they have some sick products, the customer service is top notch. They spent a lot of time telling me about a lot of the new products they have and combinations. I was going back and forth between a few waxes and when I couldn’t decide, they gave me samples to “try before I buy”. I’ve only been there that one time but I’ll be a repeat customer for sure.

Starting off. The lighting isn’t the best in my garage right now and it’s hard to tell – black looks fine under this light but trust me it was bad.

Washed and ready to go.

My cheap mans attempt at trying to showcase the swirls in the paint. It’s barely noticeable in this pic but you have to take my word for it… It’s bad haha

Picked up a bottle of Menzerna PF2500.

Also a new pad and the little samples. One on the left is Victoria Wax and the one on the right is another product (I forget the name) for black cars.

Polishing the rear quarter

Finished the back end. So good!!

A shot of the paint reflection.

Another… Diana’s car in the back.

All done! Nice and wet!

As you can also see – a shitload of construction going on around us 24/7 so it’s ALWAYS dusty. Such a pain…

Nice and good from the back.

No more swirls!

Also decided that while I was at it, I’d throw on the LEVEL one decal. I know – my car is still stock as shit but it’ll give me something to work towards… Ironically, this is the most difficult decal to get “level” by yourself… LOL

Ended up getting it and it’s perfect! Better than new!

Shout out to Carzilla for the awesome products and the service. The recommendation of Menzerna PF2500 and the orange cutting pad is awesome!

The weather ended up being super nice today which is awesome cause I’ve been wanting to go out to the garage and spend some time polishing it up and give it some detailing. I really only half ass washed it a few days after I took it home and dried it carelessly. I’m a real stickler when it comes to washing and drying my cars. I hate swirls with a passion – that’s the only bad thing about having a dark car. But when it looks good, it’s amazing.

I was waiting on a package from auto obsessed with new detailing pads and polishes but somehow it went from Edmonton to Winnipeg… when it should’ve just came to Calgary 3 hours away… Kind of annoying. Anyways, I did with my pretty beat pad and did about half the car. I wanted to get some of it out of the way. Worked out well too – I’m kind of upset though cause a bunch of things you wouldn’t see when you purchase the car show up when you take it home. It didn’t help that when I went to go see the car, it was dirty and shit. Oh well – I can’t expect everything to be perfect. In time, it’ll come out minty again. I’ll just have to deal with the minor imperfections for now.

Anyways – a few pics of my progress.

A pic of the swirls. You can see it in the top left. Pretty bad swirling.

I didn’t really take pics of my progress because who really wants to see polishing sitting on a car? Anyways I finished up and it turned out nicely. I did one pass with SSR 2.5. I will do one more pass with the new stuff when it arrives and when I have time again. I’m going to make this thing sparkle as much as it can before it gets driven.

No more swirls! Lexus clearcoat is actually pretty soft and didn’t take much time to correct. Plus, I was lucky because it didn’t look like the previous owner used those brushes or anything harsh to wipe or dry the car. It was pretty much just normal wear and tear so it was easy to fix.