4 hours with the clay/polish/wax - Pics

[FastRedPonyCar]

spent the better part of this afternoon in the garage giving my GT "The Works"

- Wash
- Claybar (pinnacle clay and sonus Glyde clay lubricant)
- Griot's garage stage 3 machine polish for light swirl mark removal using the griot's orbital buffer (I got lucky. The paint was in really good shape so I only had to hit it with the stage 3 polish to take care of the light swirl marks)
- Claybar the wheels (removes TONS of junk)
- Werkstat "jet trigger" acrylic sealant (let cure for 30 minutes after application and immediate wipe down)
- Griot's garage best of show wax

- Inspect with high powered shop lamp (also helps you spot the left over wax on the paint)

I'll get some better pictures after work this afternoon as those of you who own or have seen candy red in direct sunlight know it looks it's best then so I'll update this post later tonight.

For now, some garage pics from last night. Zero swirls and a nice clean mirror shine.

Man I'm glad I only have to do this 3 times a year. Working that buffer is exhausting... especially in a 100+*F garage I think I pounded at least a gallon and a half of water.

*EDIT*

New pics

 

[04Mach1Blurr]

Looks super clean bud!

 

[T0RCH3D]

Came out great from what I can see! Great job, well worth the time!

 

[FastRedPonyCar]

bump for some new pics in the first post.

 

[whitedevil95]

Haha love the plate!

 

[Beerdog80]

What lens are you using for the wide angle shots?

 

[FastRedPonyCar]

What lens are you using for the wide angle shots?

Sigma 8~16mm on a T2i. I absolutely LOVE the lens. I've yet to find a better lens for shooting cars.

It doesn't have much barrel distortion in the center so it doesn't have much of that ultra wide fish eye.

Only real drawback is that at 8mm, it requires a TON of light. Hand held shooting indoors is more or less impossible without a flash.

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens 203101 B&H

 

[42RCODE]

That looks awesome. :beer:

 

[Beerdog80]

Sigma 8~16mm on a T2i. I absolutely LOVE the lens. I've yet to find a better lens for shooting cars.

It doesn't have much barrel distortion in the center so it doesn't have much of that ultra wide fish eye.

Only real drawback is that at 8mm, it requires a TON of light. Hand held shooting indoors is more or less impossible without a flash.

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens 203101 B&H

Nice choice. I almost bought that lens but I went with this instead.

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens ATX116PRODXC

Nice work though. Usually people jack wide angle shots all to hell but you put some nice finishing touches on them.

 

[Taylor_SVT]

that color looks awesome

 

[va boy]

Wow, looks great man!
I like your plate, I shouldn't, but I have to admit, it's pretty clever.

 

[Brutal Metal]

NICE but why all the labor THREE times a year for a 2012 that's garaged? I thought I was anal, haha!

 

[FastRedPonyCar]

Nice choice. I almost bought that lens but I went with this instead.

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens ATX116PRODXC

Nice work though. Usually people jack wide angle shots all to hell but you put some nice finishing touches on them.

HA! I actually tried that lens out side by side with the Sigma and the Canon 10-22 when trying to decide which one to buy.

All 3 are great. The Tokina you have is nice because of the wider aperture/less light requirements and image quality was about same as the canon. Tough to tell a major difference between the tokina and canon (image quality wise but the canon had quicker/more accurate focus) but the wider view of the sigma @ 8mm just seemed to open up so much more possiblites with subject framing and playing the angles.

It's a double edge sword though; a lot of guys that use these huge wide lenses will use it to see how much of the scene they can capture (which is fine if you're shooting like mountains or something for example) when there is an object that is clearly the point of focus like a car or what not. They don't realize that when the lens is that wide, the subject has been pushed so far away, it's hard to really appreciate it unless it's set against a stunning massive back drop.

I tend to use the lens for getting close vs reaching farther back. With the lens at 8mm, it yields much cooler shots if you play the angles right. The barrel distortion on the edges can make a shot either really cool or warp the subject disastrously.