Clean Edge Detailed: Another trashed 350z!!!!

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You may think just because I got the lexus I will neglect the other cars. So today I cleaned the engine compartment on the mercedes. And boy did it need it. Here is the before pic. :eek:
 
this is the after pic. I washed it with car wash soap and an old mitt. I feel that degreasers are bad for the rubber components. then I dressed the trim with some meguiars. And I used AIO to clean up the radiator support paint.
 
ooooooooooooh!! ahhhhhhhhhhhh!! :D I love the look of a well detailed engine. You did an awesome job on that! Now post up that Lexus engine so we can drool over that too. :)
 
I couldn't believe how dirty an engine can get. I'm going to buff the engine compartment this weekend.
 
I have access to buffers at work. What should I use to buff it, rotary, orbital, or? It's just fairly swirly under there and I want it to look mint. Also is there anything i can do about the intake manifold (between the 2 pieces of plastic) to shine that up. Im pretty sure it is unpainted.
 
So I have always loved this Z and how aggressive it is, especially after the new wheels and for how SLAMMED it is. The one thing always hurting it was how incredibly swirled the paint was. It was another long detailing session because that darn black shows EVERYTHING!!! Here's the basic process....

Washed her up with Megs Gold class
Wheels were cleaned with Meguiar?s All Purpose Cleaner Plus
Clayed the car with Meguiars clay
polished car with Menzerna SIP, 106FF, and Meguiars M105
1 Layer of Danase Wet Glaze
Sealed the car with Ultima Paint Guard Plus
Waxed car with P21S
Wiped car down with Zaino Z-8

Engine was cleaned with Megs All Purpose Cleaner and CD2 Engine Detailer

Tires were finished off with Zaino Z-16
Spokes on wheels were done with Wheel Wax and wheels were polished with Meguiar?s NXT All Metal Polish.


So here's the pics!


Here's a pic of the carbon fiber hood. Hood was so marred up the suns reflection looked like a blob instead of a crisp circle.

carbonfiberhoodbefore.jpg


Polishing the hood wasn't easy because you couldn't use a lot of pressure or you'd crack it. Here it is after polishing, you can see how the suns reflection is much more crisp and pin pointed.

carbonhoodafter.jpg


Here's a half & half shot. Top half not polished, bottom polished

halfhoodpolished.jpg


Here's the hatch before...ouch!

trunkbefore-1.jpg


and after

trunkfinalafter.jpg


Here it is in the sun

morefinal2.jpg


Here's some half and half shots. Some of the scratches were down to the primer, fixed them as much as I could.

trunkhalf1.jpg


trunkhalf2.jpg


Here's the passenger side hatch before...more ouch

hatchbeforeblah.jpg


the after is BUTTER!!

hatchafter.jpg


Front fender before

frontfenderbefore.jpg


Front fender after

frontfenderafter.jpg


Rear bumper before

rearbumperbefore.jpg


Rear bumper after!!!

rearbumperafter.jpg


Exhaust before

exhaustbefore-1.jpg


Exhaust after

exhaustafter-1.jpg


Here's a pic of part of the carbon fiber front lip. Notice again how the reflection is more of a blob opposed to a crisp reflection.

lipbefore.jpg


Here it is after. We couldn't believe how all the carbon fiber totally came back to life after being polished.

carbonafter.jpg


another carbon part before

carbon2before-1.jpg


and after

carbon2after.jpg


Here is the engine before. It wasn't really bad. I just gave everything a good scrubbing, polished the carbon fiber pieces, waxed the intake and polished the strut bar with mothers metal polish.

enginebefore.jpg


Engine after

engineafter-2.jpg


Front Wheels before

wheelbefore2.jpg


Wheel after

passtireafter.jpg


Rear wheel before

wheelbefore-1.jpg


After

drivertireafter.jpg


Ok, here are the final car shots.

carafter2.jpg


carafter5.jpg


carafter6.jpg


carafter1.jpg


carafter4.jpg


morefinal3.jpg


morefinals1.jpg


morefinal6.jpg


morefinal4good.jpg


So there you have it. Thanks for looking and thanks to my friend Chris for lending a hand!!!!

Chad
 
Great job on the Z. That is one bad a$$ looking Z. My cousin has the same car in pearl white. I gotta show him all of the cool carbon fiber stuff he can add on his Z!
 
Uggghhhh, I hate when people use carbon just for the sake of carbon. I can deal with OEM body panels in carbon. I dig Z's, I'm a Nissan guy by nature, the Volks are legit, and I can tell he's thrown some time and money at it but the overall effect just seems inappropriate. Meh, enough of my "hatin'" I've never been much of a "Car Show Tuner" type of guy anyways.

The detail looks great though, that black looks deep.
 
Excellent work on the detail Chad, you really turned that thing around. It's a tough looking car.

-Kody-
 

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Very nice job on that Z Chad!!
The 50/50 shots really showed the quality of your work, and those reflections were sick.:hurray::hurray:
 
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