With the extreme boredom brought on by COVID-19 I have had lots of free time on my hands. So on Saturday I spent a good 8 hours doing some work revitalizing the exterior of the car.

All of the products I used were from Adam’s polishes

Products used:
1) 15mm swirl killer orbital polisher
2) Blue compound/white polish included with polisher
3) Blue compound pad, white polish pad, and blue microfiber cutting pad
4) Ceramic Spray Coating
5) Premium microfiber drying towels
6) Car wash (blue)
7) Deep wheel cleaner
8) Tire and rubber cleaner
8) Tire shine
9) Clay bar
10) All of my body’s posterior muscles


Prep is essential, so I spent a bit of time doing a thorough washing and clay car. I followed it up by attacking the hood with the swirl killer and a tough cutting microfiber pad on the highest speed setting. This really did a great job at getting rid of most of the scratches. I spent probably an entire hour on the hood testing different speeds and it took the highest speed and the most aggressive pad to get out the scratches. I finished up by coming behind it with a polish on a medium speed setting, and repeated the procedure on the rest of the car. I topped it off with a ceramic coating. This was my third attempt over the years using a polisher and the results came out GREAT! I honestly feel the car looks brand new.

Only problem is a little ceramic coating got on the plastic trim there that I need to buff out

 

May be add a list of products and tools used. And if you are looking for further adventure maybe work on the wheels.

 

Thanks Dodo.

I would love to do some work in the wheels but I don’t know where to begin. I will add my tools to the list.

 

Is it any better than wax?

 

What I had was very easy to apply. But you don't want to apply it unless you have already done all the prep work- wash and dry, clay, compound (if necessary), polish, and seal. It's the final finish to lock in all you've done. So I wouldn't say it's better than wax, I think wax is something you do more regularly to keep the exterior in good shape while sealant is supposed to be done much less frequently.

 

There are a few YouTube videos on diy refinishing wheels, I probably won't go that far myself. But if you want to make your car a little quicker then swap out the wheels for 18" , your Speedo will be a little off, which might be fixable using a speedohealer, not sure though.

 

Honestly I’m very fond of the stock 19s, but if this ever becomes a track car I would definitely purchase a set of dedicated track tires and some smaller/lighter wheels like RPF1s.

I am going to do some extensive research to see how hard it would be to refinish the wheels. It’s been on my to do list after getting new tires- which may be a while yet since I drive about 5k miles a year max. It would be a fun project and save a lot of money as a good refinish ain’t cheap.

 

You could always have them stripped and powder coated. I paid $320 to have a set of RPF1's stripped and re-powder coated a few years ago. They had dozens of colors, you could probably get one that matches the original rim paint color pretty closely. On the flip side you can paint wheels yourself at home really cheaply, however I think the powder coat job I got done was way worth the price.

 

Just look for a major wheel repair shop in Savannah or Charleston. They’re going to provide a more durable, quality finish than you’re likely to achieve on your own. They’ll have the right equipment and the experience.

 

I found one before who was going to do my GTOs wheels in Charleston, Alloy Wheel Repair or something. They wanted like $200 per wheel and I couldn't justify dropping $800 :/

 

Wheels look so clean! Mine R3 has rust on all the wheels and one of them even have paintings peeling off...