black '07 Saab 9-3 restored

[MuttGrunt]

This vehicle's new owner scheduled me for work on the car before it was even purchased. Buying this 2007 Saab 9-3 that was formally leased, the owner wanted to refresh and renew the vehicle.

Of course - dirty on arrival, and before anything else, P21S wheel cleaner gel was applied to let dwell



paint is dirty



It was easy to see the paint was quite beat on without any prep or washing



Gas cap area had surely never seen a cleaning... until me. Here is before:



As usual, I started with the wheels. Started by letting P21S gel dwell for 10 minutes



Then, it was time for a good agitation on the tires and wheels. Here is the tire after a good brushing



followed by the wheel face, lug nuts, and between each spoke



the heroes of the wheel cleaning:



No... that's not BBQ sauce



but it cleaned up pretty sweet



and last (for the wheels), why I, and why you SHOULD wear gloves. No need for this stuff being all over your skin each time you clean dirty rims



I had to move locations once the rims were done (only to down the street though), and once I arrived at the final location, I began by foaming down the poor Saab and its engine bay (and wheel wells, etc)





Couldn't take the way this sucker looked. Now it's nice and clean!



Once foamed, it was clay time. I was looking forward to trying my new mystery clay



My quick review of this stuff: was VERY soft, easy to mold, and stayed pliable food a decent amount of time. With the heavy contamination of this car, the clay was hurting quite quickly. I used around 90-100 grams of it, and once each bit started getting heavily soiled, it became tougher and tougher until starting to fall apart. Upon that time I got rid of it and grabbed a fresh piece.

LOTS of contamination. I should have brought my Meg's aggressive clay too



Even the painted portion of the mirrors was bad



Falling apart... I then tried to use just water (clay's direction state water is all is needed). But got no better



Upon being rinsed and dried, the car got pulled inside to be worked on under the lights. This was bad. Hide the women and children, and prepare the life-boats

[MuttGrunt]

The plan of attack was a single-step that would get rid of all the light swirls and scratches, but would finish down fine. Menzerna 106 + Lake Country Black got called to duty once more. Overall correction is around 60%. This vehicle was likely never waxed, and many of the swirls were surprisingly deep. Even still, the swirls, light scratches, and Random Isolated Deep Scratches were so bad, the transformation was amazing. I love the 106+black combo, but feel like an idiot for not investing in / trying out M205 yet.

Everyone likes before and afters, and 50/50's!

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


50/50 collection:





And my favorite 50/50 shows the problems the corrected (left) side still has, but how much better it looks compared to the side that is untouched:



I got 75% done with the light paint correction before it was late and time to shut down for the day.



The next morning, I finished polishing then gave the car its standard post polish, pre-wax wash. This flushed the loose dust, and got rid of any polish splatter while allowing a final in-the-sun inspection.



Post-drying, the clarity was looking much better



Back inside the garage, the windshield and front windows received a coating of Aquapel, while the paint received a coat of Dodo Juice Supernatural. I love the look of this wax on black.



With the tires and wheel wells dressed, it was picture time









Happy with my work, I set off to deliver the vehicle to the client. Right before I take off, there's a knock at my door.... I wonder who that is......






Oh! Irony! Hello! I should have been expecting you....






ONR and a eurow shag towel made quick and easy work on that





and final delivery shots:





Still to come: I'm scheduled for more work on this one - magic eraser to all the plastic trim, deep clean the leather, and shin-etsu grease to all rubber trim / weather stripping. I'll probably throw in another layer of wax as well - likely to try either Dodo Juice Blue Velvet or Purple Haze. I'll try to keep you guys posted!

[LSCto300C]

So what does a full detail run? I'd kill a man to get your hands on my car.

[MuttGrunt]

^ i appreciate the kind words