Here’s the process:

Clean wheels with P21S Gel Wheel cleaner
Wash with Mystique using Gilmour Foam Gun (dwell for 2 mins)
Rinse
Mystique with Foam gun, follow-up with 2 bucket wash
Rinse and dried with Waffle weave MF.
Clay with Meguiars QD kit
Polish: M80 via PC & white pad
LSP: Prima Epic via PC with grey pad
Waited 24 hrs cure and applied succeeding layer of Epic (this is where I went overboard).
Tire Dressing: Meguiars High Endurance
Trim: Cleaned with M39 then Black Wow
Total time: 8 hours.

BEFORE
Not much pictures here as it was very hard for me to capture swirls on pure silver. I only managed to capture the swirls on the roof. The condition of the paint is good as I have been sticking to the proper washing technique the minute I got the car 6 months ago.

Roof swirls - dealer installed.


Taping process






AFTER

Roof After M80



Hood: After Epic



Black wow Trim dressing



3 layers of Epic. The pictures doesn't really reflect the shine. I hope to find out the right camera setting to capture the shine on metallic silver.





I will add more pictures later.

 

Wow...it looks amazing! How long did the process take you???

Thanks for sharing

 

looks good!


why did you tape the stripes?

 

Thanks Ken. I thought of protecting the stripes from the polishing step (M80 via PC). I didn't put fresh painters tape on the stripes as I was afraid of ruining it so I taped it initially on my jeans to ldecrease the tackiness and applied it on the stripes.

 

Thanks at7815. it took me approximately 8 hoursl. I didn't do it in one sitting, I spread the work in the 2 days. The taping process just takes so long to complete.

 

Looks awesome! And I agree, taping takes forever, but it saves alot of work and frustration down the road.

 

beautiful work... looks fantastic.

i have the same wheels... they are a pain to keep clean. what are you using (tools and products) to keep them clean?

 

aha! very nice idea.

 

Great job! I would use the tape to also protect the edges of the stripes from accumulating polish/wax residue!

Good idea on "detacking" the tape. What I do is just press the tape into the paint, smooth that side down, but leave the side over the stripe hanging--as in don't actually smooth it down. Your way is better though!

Richard

 

The wheels are ok to clean, its the OEM brake pads that is terrible. You literally get brake dust accumulation as soon as you drive out your driveway.

I tried a lot of wheel cleaners and finally settled on P21S wheel cleaners. I have both of the formulation. Regular for light duty cleaning (use on wheels that are regularly cleaned) and the Gel type (for tougher baked-in brake dust). You can get them from Heather at DP.

As for tools, I bought a good quality 1.5 inch paint brush from Home depot and use that to agitate the P21S wheel cleaner onto the wheels. Get the ones that are designed for varnish (lacquer).

I also have a sheepskin wheel brush made by Carrand that I use with my regular car shampoo. You can get this at your local auto parts store.

 

^^ i got these boar's hair detailing brushes from Griots... very similar to
paint brushes.



http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?&SKU=15520

 

The 3m Blue Tape actually comes in two adhesive strengths. I noticed last time I was in target that two seemingly identical rolls had different prices. Look at the number of days it is expected to last. You might as well use the weaker (and cheaper) one.

 

Would that be the white pad that comes with the Porter Cable?

 

I used Detailers Paradise branded white pad (the same as the Lake Country White Pad). The hook and loop backing plate is much easier to use. You simply peel-off the pad and easily switch to a different pad. It is just cumbersome to unscrew the pad that came with the PC as it has an integrated backing plate.

 

Ken, thanks for sending link. I need that rounded brush for engine detailing.

 

Dang! That looks good!

 

thanks for the info minimk3! I see that some of it is in your original post (which I must have missed) but I'm glad you added a bit, because I do have some tougher baked-on dust that won't come off... even after working at it with a brush. I'm hoping the Gel will help take that off.

P.S. - i see on the DP site it says that P21S works on engine cleaning, too, have you ever used it there?

 

The Gel works. I like the fact that you can leave the gel on the wheels upto 2 hours to help it dissolve the brake dust (don't expose to direct sunlight) and it simply hoses off and safe for our wheels. No acid/caustic smell because it is citrus based.

P21S makes a different product for Engine detailing. This is called P21S Total Auto Wash. I heard that it's good and I will try it when my supply of Meguiars APC+ runs out.

Hope this info helps.

 

i use that rounded one after each drive to dust out my boot's seal area.
i open the hatch and just brush the dust off prior to QD so that i don't
get that never-ending dust of small sand come out of the crevise.

then a quick squirt of air duster does the rest.

then the QD starts.

 

Ken, great idea on the air duster. I have a few can of those stuff here somewhere.

 

yah, just don't tilt the can too much when you use it. cause liquid
sprays out. lol