Detroit Modern Muscle: 2010 Camaro 2SS by AutoLavish featuring Mark Kerckaert
Cars less than a year old usually show minimal wear, but without a thorough new car prep, they can still have issues. Dealerships using their goons to "prep" new cars usually leave swirls, halograms, and of course; they always skip over must needed claying.
While we have 10+ cars still to post, we wanted to get this write-up out asap for multiple reasons: it's an awesome ride (a 6.2liter v8 kicking out 426 hp and 420 ft/lbs stock helps), it's "new" (we'd like to show how new cars can need love too!), and we had the chance to work with a great local photographer to truly capture the end result in a way that we could not.
We were introduced to this client after he had already seen some of our work. He had plans on getting it detailed properly to remove the light swirl marks already accumalating on the finish, and gave us a call to set up an appointment. Not much longer and we arrived ready to work.
First look: Clean? No doubt a well maintained vehicle that gets babied quite a bit. Once looking around further, we could see some of the areas we'd need to give a little more attention to.
Every vehicle has it's highs and lows. While this might only be less than a year old with less than 15,000 miles, it requires additional attention to detail to bring the rest of the car to a better-than-new state.
Exhaust tips:
Wheel faces weren't bad, but the wheel weights shouldn't cause someone to frown on your upkeep, nor should wheel wells:
Camaro badge with some gunky build-up:
Plate removal
In the sun, it was clear to see why our services were requested
Even some light etching was present in some areas.
Taking initial readings - even with a new car you never know if you may find something odd. Best to know prior to polishing and to alert the owner.
Starting with the wheels, wheel wells, brakes:
Wheel weights 50/50 - you can see the weights behind the spoke haven't been touched yet
For a realitively "clean" wheel - you can see how much nasty stuff was agitated that eventually got rinsed free.
Much cleaner!
Exhaust tips need love too!
After working on exhaust tips... Jacob's hands need love too! (why it pays to remember to wear gloves!)
Initial foaming to loosen grime
Then rinsed:
Followed by foam+wash
Rinsed off...
No beading!
Claying did yeild some nasty stuff that was stuck to the clear-coats. This is the norm for newer cars as they are often in huge parking lots for awhile waiting on shipping.
Lower portions were particularly grimey
Only the best and highest quality microfiber drying towels were used to dry in addtion to our blower.
Some tar specs got hit with bug and tar remover which quickly cleared-up the contamination
After taping, we experimented with a half a dozen combinations until we could achieve the desired result:
Other than the polishing dust specs, you can easily see the visual difference in finish of what has and has not been worked during the testing stage of polishing:
Smearing polish prior to starting to avoid start-up splatter, you can still see the area that hasn't been worked on
The four-suns of approval
Last step was 3M Ultrafina:
Final Foam Showdown
What it must feel like to be a make-up artist for Halle Berry
Final rinse means special attention should be paid to ensure no polish residue is left behind.
Sealant choice was simple: Menzerna Powerlock. Jacob works it on with a gold pad while I hit the wheel wells with Meg's All Season Dressing
I applied Optimum tire shine while Jacob finished applying Aquapel to the windshield:
Oh no!!! What's that?!??!
...oh nothing... Just clean wheel weights
David (of StreetDreams Detailing) gave some quality in-depth reviews of this new sealant and I have to give it to him; I really like it so far. What blew me away was he was actually right: it's so easy to use, you can use the blower to remove it!
High shine, very slick (not as much as BFWD), and less chance than most sealants to streak. A+ in our book so far, now to find out about durability.
The owner with Jacob: "So you're telling me you waxed the wheels?"
Yes... Opti-seal on the wheels, calipers, wheel barrels, and behind the spokes even.
A week later, we were lucky enough to have Mark Kerckaert come out and do a quick photoshoot. We take pride in all aspecs of our work, to include doing our own photography work, but sometimes leaving things to a professional has it's advantages. The skill, dedication, equipment, and passion for photography allows for pro's to do what they do best.
Originally Posted by Mark Kerckhaert
More of Mark's work can be seen on his flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avengermark
Thanks for taking a look, and special thanks to our guest photographer Mark, who helped bring the best out of this modern muscle car.
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to see that level of detail, well that and the car. 
I love reading these write-ups!
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