Jump to content
SAU Community

My Detailing - The Full Paint Restoration Of My S15

BakemonoRicer
 Share

Recommended Posts

BakemonoRicer Grand Master

BakemonoRicer

Posted
Posted

I bought my car in May 2012. I was very impressed by the fact the car had all original paint and panels (with panel gaps that were 100% factory). However, the paint was not in the best condition....and I always thought my car looked a tad dull compared to other examples I've seen in real life and on the internet.

It is now in July 2013, that I have finally gotten around to restoring the car back to its former glory, sort of. The reason I say sort of is because the front bumper is pelted with rock chips, the rear bar is a scratched through the clear coat, and the bonnet has a fair few stone chips which would require a lot of brush touching.

Now, I drive this car on a daily basis. I strongly believe that a performance car is built to be driven, and also kept looking nice. I think it is a bit of a shame when performance cars rarely ever come out of the garage.

I believe you develop a better bond with your car by appreciating how to tackle all the shapes and curves of the car through detailing. I use a Dual Action Polisher, and with the correct pad and product selection, you CAN achieve the same results as with a Rotary, but with less risk. The only downside is it will take a bit more time.

Here is my album of photographs BEFORE starting the DETAIL.

http://imgur.com/a/lLaNY#0


I put roughly a LOT of man hours into this restoration. I did an extensive amount of prep work before I commenced a 3 stage polishing regimen with an aggressive compound, intermediate polish, and a jewelling polish.

& Here are my results....(the pictures taken are with a sealant applied after polishing, once I apply carnauba wax I will take the car out in sunlight and take more pictures). I haven't applied trim conditioners or anything either yet.

lg4P6Jk.jpg

lg4P6Jk.jpg

Mfm28Yj.jpg

kzvjwjt.jpg

uY87nWp.jpg

luSMWvI.jpg

qyYuA5U.jpg

pT5ezE7.jpgAm6kcAi.jpgXfK9qJT.jpggtOxfVF.jpg

2Rav3js.jpg

WlB1O5n.jpg

ar1kBUC.jpg

4ZPEOM8.jpg

eAMZqHo.jpg

ppMrHG2.jpg

  • Like 1
BakemonoRicer Grand Master

BakemonoRicer

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Would've helped if you noted which photos were which, as it's kind of hard to see the differences before and after detailing. Put them in some sort of order.

Not sure what you mean. The album link is all the before photos. Just a random assortment showing the paint has a lot of scratches, swirls, etching, general contamination etc.

The pictures posted in this thread here are after photos. As you can tell, there is none of that present in the after photos.

Well done mate looking sweet so far. Saw a random bottle of ammo - who stocks the stuff in oz?

Hi, thanks man.

I got my stuff via airmail from Ammo in America. I used AMMO skin to seal the car.

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
BakemonoRicer Grand Master

BakemonoRicer

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well, it's now been close to 2 months since I completed the detail....

I spent some time today washing the car, and then I applied a layer of carnauba wax, let it sit for 45 minutes, then buffed it off by hand with a megs microfiber towel.

These pictures should give you a good idea of how the car looks in natural lighting in the afternoon.

The reflections really have a lot of clarity which I'm super happy about, as I was able to remove a lot of the factory orange peel in the paint when I went through the compounding to polishing phases (this was my one of my goals).

Roof

rdnG2ZJ.jpg

Roof

NrCSzSc.jpg

Kenna802 Experienced

Kenna802

Posted
Posted

Hey Benji great job, just thought I'd ask is have you used autoglym super resin polish and hd wax before? You can source the polish via eBay for half the price retailers in aussieland can sell it for and the wax the cheapest I've seen is about $85 but seriously its easy to apply and easy to come off and it makes a fantastic difference

BakemonoRicer Grand Master

BakemonoRicer

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey Benji great job, just thought I'd ask is have you used autoglym super resin polish and hd wax before? You can source the polish via eBay for half the price retailers in aussieland can sell it for and the wax the cheapest I've seen is about $85 but seriously its easy to apply and easy to come off and it makes a fantastic difference

Hi Ken,

Cheers!

As for your questions:

Super resin polish - it is lightlyyyy abrasive but its downfall is it contains a lot of fillers. After you polish these fillers will be left to hide swirls or scratches. If you want to remove scratches completely you'd use a different product.

Hd wax - I am not too familiar with the HD wax...but if it is priced at $85 I assume it would be a good carnauba based wax.

I use Dodo juice supernatural carnauba wax (can get it from the UK for an ok price) applied over a base of AMMO NYC sealant (sealant is applied, buffed off with MF towel, left to cure for 24 hrs to bond to the paint, then I apply wax over the top). It is a really good wax and makes the paint absolutely look like glass, but it shares the downfall of any carnauba wax is it attracts a lot of dust. I'll only need to have taken the car out once or twice and there will be a fine layer of dust sitting on the car.

  • 2 months later...
BakemonoRicer Grand Master

BakemonoRicer

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Here is a picture of my car taken with an SLR camera....should give you guys a good idea of the finish.

Washing every 2 weeks and waxing every 4-6 weeks to protect and maintain the finish.

DAQbnNE.jpg

Owens Rising Star

Owens

Posted
Posted

Oh damn love how it's turned out! all the panels look like they have a sheet of glass over it. love it!

Can definitely tell you've put a lot of hard hours into this and it's payed off!

crissy Explorer

crissy

Posted
Posted

Good write up with lots of pics, nice car! Its nice to see that your putting a lot of love into it even with the simplest things.

being a daily you'd want it to look nice not only for yourself but to catch eyes, one of my fav cars :worship:

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Haggerty
      RB25DE NEO with Haltech ECU

      By Haggerty · Posted

      I guess one thing that might be wrong is the manifold pressure.  It is a constant -5.9 and never moves even under 100% throttle and load.  I would expect it to atleast go to 0 correct?  It's doing this with the OEM MAP as well as the ECU vacuum sensor. When trying to tune the base map under load the crosshairs only climb vertically with RPM, but always in the -5.9 column.
    • CF.Panda
      R34 25GT Engine Light 21

      By CF.Panda · Posted

      AHHHH gotchaa, I'll do that once I am home again. I tried doing the harness with the multimeter but it seems the car needed a jump, there was no power when it was in the "ON" position. Not sure if I should use car battery jump starter or if its because the stuff that has been disconnect the car just does send power.
    • Haggerty
      RB25DE NEO with Haltech ECU

      By Haggerty · Posted

      As far as I can tell I have everything properly set in the Haltech software for engine size, injector data, all sensors seem to be reporting proper numbers.  If I change any injector details it doesnt run right.    Changing the base map is having the biggest change in response, im not sure how people are saying it doesnt really matter.  I'm guessing under normal conditions the ECU is able to self adjust and keep everything smooth.   Right now my best performance is happening by lowering the base map just enough to where the ECU us doing short term cut of about 45% to reach the target Lambda of 14.7.  That way when I start putting load on it still has high enough fuel map to not be so lean.  After 2500 rpm I raised the base map to what would be really rich at no load, but still helps with the lean spots on load.  I figure I don't have much reason to be above 2500rpm with no load.  When watching other videos it seems their target is reached much faster than mine.  Mine takes forever to adjust and reach the target. My next few days will be spent making sure timing is good, it was running fine before doing the ECU and DBW swap, but want to verify.  I'll also probably swap in the new injectors I bought as well as a walbro 255 pump.  
    • AnimalGarage
      spot the stagea

      By AnimalGarage · Posted

      It would be different if the sealant hadn't started to peel up with gaps in the glue about ~6cm and bigger in some areas. I would much prefer not having to do the work take them off the car . However, the filler the owner put in the roof rack mount cavities has shrunk and begun to crack on the rail delete panels. I cant trust that to hold off moisture ingress especially where I live. Not only that but I have faded paint on as well as on either side of these panels, so they would need to come off to give the roofline a proper respray. My goal is to get in there and put a healthy amount of epoxy instead of panel filler/bog and potentially skin with carbon fiber. I have 2 spare rolls from an old motorcycle fairing project from a few years back and I think it'd be a nice touch on a black stag.  I've seen some threads where people replace their roof rack delete with a welded in sheet metal part. But has anyone re-worked the roof rails themselves? It seems like there is a lot of volume there to add in some threads and maybe a keyway for a quick(er) release roof rack system. Not afraid to mill something out if I have to. It would be cool to have a cross bar only setup. That way I can keep the sleek roofline that would accept a couple bolts to gain back that extra utility  3D print some snazzy covers to hide the threaded section to be thorough and keep things covered when not using the rack. 
    • GTSBoy
      R34 Handbrake light saying ON and intermittently flashing

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Probably not. A workshop grade scantool is my go to for proper Consult interrogation. Any workshop grade tool should do it. Just go to a workshop.
×
×
  • Create New...