Hammered Black 2011 LR4 Rover - Restored & Opti-Coated...

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Operation Paint Polish/Restore & Opti-Coat.


Subject: 2011 LR4 Rover


Color: Metallic Black


Condition: What do you think?


Process: Extensively clean, decontaminate, 2-step polish (compound/finial polish), Re-Wash, IPA Wipe-Down, Apply Opti-Coat to all paint, glass (except front windshield), hard plastic trim, lights and rims.




24 hours....yup...24 hours...thats how many man/woman hours Dani and I put into this one..and the next day we'd be dropping another 20+ hours into this Panamera: http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-b...-200k-car.html


BUT, thats another write up (feel free to check it out).


Point being, we had a long weekend lol....here's what we were working with:











Here she is, and yup, she's black (of course)! I've never been a big fan of Rovers but gotta say this one was pretty sweet especially once you got up on it. For now however, it was dirty, real dirty...covered in bugs and brake dust. It had been hit by one of our Arizona Dust storms that many of you I'm sure have seen on the news:


Phoenix Dust Storm: Video of Doomsday Scenes in Arizona - YouTube


Check the link...no its not the end of the world, but it damn sure does look like it.


You add a little bit of rain to that..not enough to actually rinse the dust off...but enough to muddy it up...well, here's what ya get:





Thats right folks, welcome to Arizona! A 50 mile wide dust storm, add a pinch of rain and let bake in 113 degree weather and you have what you see above!


The whole ride looked like that:















The rims were covered in brake dust as well. BMW's, new Camaros, Vettes...seems like big power = big brake dust...guess you gotta stop these things some how!







Closer?







Yum yum right?




Oh and yeah, there were bugs:







BUT, it's ok....we come prepared. We haven't dropped tons of money into all of these tools and supplies we have just so they can sit and look pretty. Oh no, they have to work just like we have to work. So first was cleaning up those nasty rims and tires...they took a good amount of time but...came out beautifully:







Stupid bug had to get in there and ruin my picture...




And as for the body of the vehicle, it was pressure washed to get rid of the bulk of the dirt..and then it was time to foam her up:









More please...







Snowing in Arizona:





I'm tall but hey, even i need a little help on these big guys:







My sister and i then circled around hand washing it...having to re-foam a couple of times...because even though it was early morning...it was still already in the 90's...so we had to keep the paint wet while we washed...this takes more coordination than you'd think but...we pull it off. Next we rinsed it, pulled it in the garage and dried it off. While the pressure washing and foaming took care of most of the grime...there are still some tight spots that need to be addressed directly:





The front had been covered in bugs...and they got all up in the grille area...had to use some ONR and a microfiber to clean each small hole one at a time...but hey, ya do what ya gotta do right?






Now i know what you're all wondering...what did the paint look like under all that dirt? Well...it looks about as bad as you'd expect, super swirls.





Our Halogens really lit these bad boys up:












There were not only 1000's of them but they were deep too:














Maybe millions????












Doesn't matter...millions of swirls vs. Windows & Wheels....2 of us working hard core non stop (literally we didn't even stop for lunch or bathroom break in 12 hours...we were SERIOUS people), I'd put my money on us...




The hood was exceptionally messed up:







Near door handle:












Wow! Wow wow wow!









Front Quarter Panel:







Rear Hatch:





Gas Chamber:









Lets be clear, this was not just swirled..this car was infested with these things! In direct sun light it of course was no better:

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Re: Hammered Black 2011 LR4 Rover - Restored & Opti-Coated...













So next we clayed it, finally got the paint to stop making noise when we'd run a towel over it. Then we broke out the polishers, pads and product. This was an Optimum day, Optimum Hyper-Compound, then followed up with Hyper-Polish, then the car was washed with Optimum No Rinse and finally had Optimum Opti-Coat applied. Wow, i sound like a commercial lol. Ok but seriously...this was our first crack at using Hyper-Compound & Polish. We had our old stand by with us too, Meguiars 105, D300 and 205 polish JUST incase...but gotta say the Optimum duo did the job.


We taped off the hood and compound ...and then polished on one side of the tape...we left the other side as it was before (washed and clayed but no polishing done).


Heres what we got:







Boo-yah! Yes, the metallic paint shines again! This was after IPA wipe downs so, no fillers in this paint, this was true correction.


Out in the sun she looked just as stunning on one side....and equally as hideous on the other:









Close up shot of the finished side:







Yeah, we couldn't believe this was the same paint...




One more 50/50 shot...the un-done side is INSANELY hazy...it actually has a grey hue to it...the finished side though...well, you know whats up:







Seeing this is always inspirational...this is why we do what we do. Time, sweat and fatigue aside, this kinda stuff keeps us going. The only problem was well, we had about 9 acres of paint left to polish!






One thing the owner questioned me about was the wavy look of the paint (this was during the time we bid the ride).







I explained to him that this was orange peel...unfortunately even extremely expensive SUV's like this still come from the factory with orange peel due to them being machine painted and not sanded down properly. There was even a very small run in one spot:







Unfortunately, nothing we could do...thought i AM looking forward to trying out the new Orange Peel Removal Pads sold by Corey at CarPro-Us.com To be able to remove orange peel without sanding would be a HUGE advancement in paint correction, you can bet we'll be trying these out soon.


Where my 5" pads were able to cut almost every swirl/scratch i came across, some were rather deep:





Ones like these i broke out my 3" pad and focused directly on a particular scratch. Yes it takes extra time to just focus on a small area but, to us, its well worth it...and surely paid off:









While i marched on doing the compounding, my sister was steadily staying behind me polishing the paint up to a super high gloss:












Look, another one of my beloved RIDS (Random Individual Deep Scratch):





Back to the 3" pad and:







As you can see the paint is slightly hazy. Using smaller pads up's the amount of cut so the polishing step is VERY important to be sure no haze/marring is left over.




Now while i was loving how Hyper-Compound was cutting and equally loved how Hyper-Polish finished the paint up...one thing we did notice is that the claim of 'No Dusting" well...just isn't really true lol:







Lets face it...compounds are composed of particles that are needed to cut the paint, once the liquid dries up and only the particles left, dust happens, until some super genius comes up with some way to get around it. Until then, you just live with it. While it was a little annoying, we didn't really care because the paint was coming out awesome.


Here i am about to start compounding behind the rear door:







The passenger side was nice and glossy after we both finished, we still had a long ways to go but, it sure looked promising:









Now back to our regularly scheduled programing:





Small pads are essential for reaching into tight areas, like underneath the emblems on the back hatch:







It was starting to get a bit dark but we were still working..our LED light really showed what the paint was looking like, still much work to be done:







LED lights, its a love hate relationship...they show EVERYTHING:







We finally came to the point of being done with the polishing. Luckily 80% of the roof was glass...no major swirl correction needed there...but it did all have to be opti-coated...and washed.


The awesome part about doing an ONR wash after using optimum polishes is that it is suppose to remove all polishing oils that may be left on the paint. The other great part is washing with ONR is pretty easy and much less chance of accidentally leaving water spots from a typical wash...dont wanna Opti-Coat over those.


My sis attacked the rims with Opti-Coat while i started on the paint. After she finished, she did the lights and trim and then dressed the tires (carefully, making sure to not get anything on coated rims since the coating was fresh) and wells.


After finishing...it was well past dark...about 9 p.m at this point, but even in the garage it looked awesome:







No swirls on this paint:
























Ready to rest in the garage for the rest of the night:

[Wills.WindowsAndWheels]

Re: Hammered Black 2011 LR4 Rover - Restored & Opti-Coated...

The rims, well they looked AWESOME:










Sweet reflection:












Yes, all was well in the world again:







Wait, what the hell is that?





What, no no no, thats not how this works...stop it...this is a story with a happy ending...stop









Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!


Good God, wake up...bad dream, must stop the bad dream!











Well at least there were no bird droppings:





****! (Literally!)






Well what happened here was, the owners and their family took a couple of trips since we had last seen them...from Az to Nevada...and then to Rocky Point! Yeahhhhh that'll do some damage! It had been exactly a month since we had finished it...and then they brought it back to us for a maintenance wash and THAT was what we were looking at! Talk about re-living a nightmare!


Fortunately something was a BIT different this time:







Oh yeah, it had been Opti-Coated. Mhm, the beading was awesome, on THAT dirty hood...the water still beaded up and sheeted right off.





We haven't even washed it yet, just rinsed!




The other awesome part about Opti-Coat, you can hit those bugs with a little APC to loosen them up and then they wash right off...and unlike wax or sealants, the APC won't wear down the Opti-Coat.


After washing well, she was back to new again:












I forgot to add that we used Opti-Bond on the wheel wells...which has made them extremely easy to clean.







Wheels were back to how they should be:






I'd say 80% of the brake dust just rinsed off...the other 20% came off with us just spraying a little APC and agitating with a brush....







No, i didn't just take a pic of a trash can...thats the reflection




See!





Still swirl free after a month:










Finally, a full sun beauty shot:





Along with a few others:














Finished:









So there you have it. We've been doing bi-weekly maintenance washes on this ride for the last 4 months or so...and thus far the water beads and sheets just as well as it did after the first wash.


Hope you all enjoyed the write up, the pictures and the review on Opti-Coat.


Thanks for reading.