I just had my 04 rx8 detailed today, it was actually yesterday and today but anyways. He really did a terrific job, he washes to strip wax, clays the whole car, does a 3 stage polish with the high speed buffer (Removes all swirls and imperfections), waxes and washes again.. Overall the results speak for themselfs.

He is located around the Tampa, FL area incase anyone else is interested in his work, I would HIGHLY recomend it

http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/presidential-automotive-detailing/532642-presidential-detailed-2004-mazda-rx-8-a.html

looks awesome

WOW, how much did that cost if you dont mind me asking?

nice work. I would try doing it myself, but I always worry about screwing up the paint or taking off too much clearcoat.

^with silver it's a bit more forgiving, can't notice most imperfections on light colors...black is a different story

i have a friend in tampa with a black m3. just emailed him to go get this guy to do his car. he only has 15k miles on it but the paint is trashed. he can't wash his car to save his life.

Wow, now THAT's brilliant black!!!

i have a friend in tampa with a black m3. just emailed him to go get this guy to do his car. he only has 15k miles on it but the paint is trashed. he can't wash his car to save his life.
I would say most people don't know how to wash cars....or drive for that matter...just about every car I get at work are low mileage cars that people trash. Guess that's why I have a job tho.

looks like glass. wow. i need someone like this in the central jersey area.

Your car looks amazing.

Thanks everyone. I was EXTREAMILY happy with the job he did

mysql. if your friend wants his contact info it can either be found on that link I posted or just pm me and ill get it for you.

Im not going to post a price i paid because I got a little bit of a deal since were getting several cars done by him. I think he typically charges somewhere in the neighborehood of 350-400 for this job. He also offers a 1 stage where he gets it looking better, just not quite this good and its quite a bit cheaper (still does the wash, clay, 1 stage polish and wax)

Awesome paint correction! I love seeing the side by side 50/50 shots.

My PC 7424 should be here tomorrow, I cant wait!

I am Tim's detailer, thanks for the compliments everyone! I think both myself and Tim were surprised at the outcome of this one! haha!

Nice job. Looks great, where'd you get those black rims btw? They look nice as well.

That looks amazing! I am planning on getting this done eventually for mine as well to remove the swirls from the previous owner.

That looks amazing! I am planning on getting this done eventually for mine as well to remove the swirls from the previous owner.

I know a gyuy in Cali I can refer you to! LMK if you want his info.

Wow that looks like a mirror now! Execellent job.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b238/TheTwanksta94/2004%20Mazda%20RX-8/IMG_5472.jpg


DAMMM

gotta be one the cleanest car's I've ever seen.

I know a gyuy in Cali I can refer you to! LMK if you want his info.

Is he located in the SF Bay Area? Preferably near Pleasanton.

Abso-fucking-lutely BEEEEYOOOOOOTIFUL.

I know a gyuy in Cali I can refer you to! LMK if you want his info.If he's in So Cal somewhere, I'd be interested.

Abso-fucking-lutely BEEEEYOOOOOOTIFUL.

Thanks!

If he's in So Cal somewhere, I'd be interested.

PM Sent.

Nice job. Looks great, where'd you get those black rims btw? They look nice as well.

The rims are actually just stock rims painted black. While they were out, I paited the rotor hubs and calipers the same color as the rim to keep it all a nice semi-gloss sort of black.. Took a while but I think the rims turned out pretty decent.

The rims look great TIM, ever though of painting the entire car? :D I Kid I kid!

holy cr@p!!! wash my car, please!

holy cr@p!!! wash my car, please!

Its a little more than a wash per say.. :)

The rims look great TIM, ever though of painting the entire car? :D I Kid I kid!

yeah then I saw how good you detail and let you work your magic.. sure looks better then a can of spray paint and my hand would have made it look haha :lol:

*removes his glasses dramatically*
My god....


Where did all the orange peel go?

DAMN!!!! That is remarkable.. Awesome job, I need to find someone in MD that does that?

looks great Tim... thanks for not giving the BB's a bad rep anymore!! I kid...

Presidential_Detail - Have you ever tried Zaino's products? You can achieve that shine but with a lot less effort. Although you did start out with pretty crappy paint :(

Sweeet. Can you suggest a good paint brand/type to do this with? Do you actually brush it on or spray? Was thinking of powder coating before I saw those babies.

WOW....shocked! my car needs some treatment like this....how much does this run??

its like...one big black mirror. niiiice

I am scared to go look at my car now

looks great Tim... thanks for not giving the BB's a bad rep anymore!! I kid...

Presidential_Detail - Have you ever tried Zaino's products? You can achieve that shine but with a lot less effort. Although you did start out with pretty crappy paint :(

Having just spent 6 hours zainoing my car the other week, I can tell you right now what Pres is doing is WAY nicer then anything it can do. Zaino cannot do anything for orange peel. shiny yes, but not mirror smooth like that.

Having just spent 6 hours zainoing my car the other week, I can tell you right now what Pres is doing is WAY nicer then anything it can do. Zaino cannot do anything for orange peel. shiny yes, but not mirror smooth like that.

Well this is just 2 coats of Z5 w/ Z6 on top: (even after having been driven on a gravel road (tires))
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u257/joeltross/DSCN0581.jpg

the zaino is a nice wax but this car got completely stripped, buffed and waxed.. Yeah it can shine like that (assuming your paint isnt as bad as mine was) but you will still have swirls and imperfections (Which mine had alot)

for painting the wheels. Duplicolor makes a paint actually made for rims. down here its sold at any autoparts store. Its just called duplicolor wheel coating. There are a few basic colors, silver, gunmetal, black etc. I used a duplicolor "self etching" primer.

My process was sand down the edges where I had some minor rash, very light sanding over the rest of the wheel just to scratch it up a bit, 3 coats of the primer, 5 coats of paint and then 3 coats of clear. It sounds like alot but its really not when your into it. I used 2 cans of pimer, 4 cans of wheel paint and 1 can of clear. When applying the paint, the thicker you go the glossier itll get BUT the thicker you go the more chance you get for a run so its a fine line you DONT want to cross.

I will try to get some pictures of the wheels close up tomorrow for a better look at them. Its a spray paint too btw.

Well this is just 2 coats of Z5 w/ Z6 on top: (even after having been driven on a gravel road (tires))


yup. Thats pretty much what my VR looks like on a P&S digicam. Orange peel is still there though when you look closely.

Take some close up shots with a quality DSLR and a prime lens and you'll start to pick up orange peel on photos.

Then again, some cars have it worse then others. The only way to get rid of orange peel is to buff it off and remove material from your clear coat zaino just isnt designed for that

If he's in So Cal somewhere, I'd be interested.

+1 for socal

OP- now you need to clean up the plastic piece on the back bumper! Lol, your car looking like glass makes it look gray now :p

Looks incredible, I used to detail back in the day and this is one of the nicest turn outs Ive ever seen, especially for black!!

WOW! That is gorgeous! So, who's down for a caravan to tampa? lol

thats looks better than new.....im jealous

I just received mine from detailer. Its been nano detailed.Paint,glasses,rims,leather.
BTW looking good mate.

really good job. What an difference. that is some skills!

yeah I think i want to get the plastic painted black.. not sure though

looks great Tim... thanks for not giving the BB's a bad rep anymore!! I kid...

Presidential_Detail - Have you ever tried Zaino's products? You can achieve that shine but with a lot less effort. Although you did start out with pretty crappy paint

Zaino is a great product, but as others have said it is not designed for this kind of correction work. It contains fillers, which will in the short term leave your car looking great, but in a couple months the defects will show up again. My polishes are designed to remove the defects in the paint permanently, of course you can put them back in with improper wash techniques, etc.

WOW! That is gorgeous! So, who's down for a caravan to tampa? lol

Need the address? :D

yeah I think i want to get the plastic painted black.. not sure though

Tim, those peices would look great painted black! Theres not much you can do to bring those back besides paint..

price?!

roughly in the 350-400 range I beleive

I got a little bit of a stiffy looking at those pictures. I had mine parked outside for just one night and the sprinklers turned on in the morning, and it baked in the 90 deg sun. That was this past summer, and I still cringe when looking at my paint.

Were there any reccomendations for a detailer in the Bay Area?

man you guys would cry if you saw the car right now.. been snowing like crazy here in sandy, utah and unfortunatly its the only car I have right now. I have washed it 3 times in 2 weeks and by the time I even get it home from the car wash it looks just as bad as it did when it went in.

We've actually had decent weather here in the bay area the past couple days. My car has been in the garage since Thanksgiving, so its gotten a few coats of NXT.

Sorry to hear about the shitty weather. I lived in Colorado a few yrs ago and I always hated seeing all of that salt on my car.

I got a little bit of a stiffy looking at those pictures. I had mine parked outside for just one night and the sprinklers turned on in the morning, and it baked in the 90 deg sun. That was this past summer, and I still cringe when looking at my paint.

Were there any reccomendations for a detailer in the Bay Area?

+1. I would really like to know as well since I am looking for one who can do just swirl removal. Approximately how much would this cost? My local bodyshop wants around $200 is this adequate? Thanks.

200 is not bad at all if there going to do a good job. check some of there other work first though

Yeah they do great work so I thought this was reasonable. I just wanted to see if it was really a good deal or not.

yeah I got a good deal and paid a little more then that so i would go for it

That's pretty amazing! For comparison, what would it cost for a decent repaint?

well here, to get a whole car repainted and done right im going to guess anywhere from 2-4k.

i need some one like this around ma...i got a BB and it does not look like ur after picture but not as bad as the before either....but w.e u paid u are very lucky

I think i am going to get into doing this here.. wonder if there is a market in utah

not a big fan of the black on black but i do like ur results... wut products did u use?

step by steop. I did 2 wheels at a time (2 different days). Take of the wheels, clean them really good. I used dish soap and water and scubbed, then gave them a light sanding and did some hard sanding on areas of rash that I had to clean it up.

I then used a duplicolor self etching primer and put about 2-3 decently thick coats (DONT go too thick, runs are a pain to fix). Ensure that you put even coats as well, any un eaven spots in this step WILL Show up on the final step.

After the primer has about an hour or so to dry, start applying the black duplicolor rim paint. I did about 5 coats of this on each wheel. Again, be VERY carefull not to get runs, this paint was easy to work with but it can still happen and will cost you alot of time.

about 30 minutes after the coats of paint, I used the duplicolor rim clear coat. I Did about 2 on each rim pretty thick. Let it sit for a few hours and put them on the car (the paint is dry to touch but you still need to be really easy with it for the next few days untill it completely sets).

Overall the results are great, I think they came out 99% perfect espessially for using spray paint. I highly recomend hte same set up i did.


Your times may be different depending on your climate, I was doing this in tampa florida in about 80 degree weather. If you going to split them up and do them seperate days, make sure to do the painting in the same weather conditions (shade being the best as I found, doing them in the sun caused it to dry to fast and it was a grey color and not smooth either.)

i was actually asking about the products u used on the car itself, not the rims

the car looks amazing...def need someone like this in the north jersey area so i could get mine done too...the difference is like day and nightt

Wish you were up here in Canada to do this. Unfortunately there are very few people i would trust to leave to detail my car. The ones i do trust dont come cheap. So im stuck doing it my self :(

it says the products and tools used on the link provided up top before the pictures

it says the products and tools used on the link provided up top before the pictures

i didn't even think to read the top of that thread, i just wanted to see the pics. that guy is good. i wish there was somebody around here that could do mine.

yeah im going to get the products and start learning on my other cars. I now moved from florida to utah so I cant have him do my other car now :(. I got to watch him so I got alot of the ways to do it, now just actually doing it haha. Unfortunatly he was doing my parents vehicles and they didnt have such a great experience. the car looked great when done but it took him 5 days to do her car, she was told it would take 2. Then they got it home and there was left over wax in all the door jams and everything I guess, i didnt get a chance to look at it though.

Damn that looked good Tim. And yes there are a couple places that do this around here. OCDetails is great from all the pics and rave reviews,and he comes to your house. I don't have any of his contact info with me. Or there is polished image on state and 5600 south, who do a damn good job as well.

I actually enjoy detailing my 8 all by myself on a weekend morning, if the weather is nice. Listen to some good tunes while going over every inch of her.

Quality time. :)

HOLY CRAP!!!!!....Rediculously stupid shiny.....i wouldnt open the door for fear of leaving a fingerprint :) I dont think i have ever seen anything so drastic in change, even from body shops

WOW! that is one hell of a nice tranformation.

Nice!!

This is just amazing guys....

wow, absolutely great job! :)

can you come over to LA to do mine too? :lol: once it stops raining and i have a day off, i'll need to detail mine too. i hate how it takes all day to do this stuff...