Dan's Garage - 2007 Mazda RX8 - Red - Opti-Coat
I have something a little bit out of the ordinary in terms of a write up for this one. The owner, a keen photographer, stayed for the full day to observe and take pics of his baby being detailed.
A lot of people aren't keen on this sort of thing going on while they're working, but I quite enjoyed it. It's not often you get an owner taking such a keen interest in this sort of thing, so it was quite refreshing to have someone watching. It also meant I had someone else to take photos along the way, which left me to get on with the job of making cars prettier :)
I also had the opportunity to play with my new glossmeter, which I'll include pics of below. This is already proving to be a handy tool to be able to show incremental improvements in gloss as the detail progresses.
For those unfamiliar with how a gloss meter works, here's a quick 101. Gloss meters basically measure reflected light off a surface. In basic terms, the more light that is reflected, the higher the level of gloss. The measurement for this is in Gloss Units (GU). Though GU goes up well over 100 units, the standard measurement/calibration is black glass with a defined refractive index which is normally between 90 and 100 GU at 20 degrees light angle. The 100+ measurements are normally reserved for highly reflective metals etc. For gloss-painted surfaces, the standard range is from 70GU to about 95GU (90+ GU is considered to be extremely glossy for painted surfaces)
Your average gloss meter normally has three light sources at three different angles. 20 degrees, 60 degrees, and 85 degrees.
60 degrees is the midrange measurement for medium gloss levels. Normally the 60 degree reading is the one that should be used when it reads between 10 and 70 GU
85 degrees is for low gloss levels. If the 60 degree measurement reads below 10 GU, then the 85 degree figure is the one that is used for highest accuracy.
20 degrees is for high gloss levels and the measurement that we as detailers would generally pay the most attention to. If the 60 degree measurement is higher than 70GU, then the 20 degree figure is the one that is used for highest accuracy
So in this example:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4169.jpg
The 60 degree figure is 85.5GU. As this is above the 10-70GU range for 60 degrees, we use the 20 degree figure for highest accuracy. So in this case the reading for this panel that we pay attention to is 73.3GU (which as a gloss level is ok, but not great and definitely not as good as it could be as you'll see later)
Anyway, on with the write up
Here is the car as presented. The current owner has owned it from new and has taken exception care of it as you can tell from the photos below.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4096.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4101.jpg
The wheels had minimal oxidation on them
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4107.jpg
There were however some tar spots that were welded onto the paint near the arches
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4108.jpg
These had to be removed extremely carefully with a metal razor blade as several spots resisted the standard removal methods (TarX, Citrus cleaner, plastic razor, mineral turpentine). Fortunately the metal razor popped them off with zero damage to the clearcoat
APC soak of the wheels
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4115.jpg
Before
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4121.jpg
After (with the help of some brush agitation)
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4120.jpg
Foam soak
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4126.jpg
Getting into the side vents also. These can get pretty manky on some RX8s over time
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4127.jpg
After a two bucket was and clay you can really see how well the car has been cared for
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4136.jpg
In under the lights, the car showed some minor swirling. Very little when you consider the car is six years old. As I said to the owner as we were going over it,
year for year, this is one of the best kept RX8s I've ever seen.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4137.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4138.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4139.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4140.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4142.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4228.jpg
Paint depths across most of the car ranged between 130 and 160 microns:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4143.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4147.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4149.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4150.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4151.jpg
With the exception of parts of the boot which registered in the high 90s.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4144.jpg
And the bonnet which was resprayed
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4155.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4156.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...t/IMG_4158.jpg
So some awesome paint levels to work with, meaning a high level of correction would be achievable. Something quite rare these days for a Mazda RX8
