Thread: The journey of a 1999 Silvermist Grand Prix

Haven't done much to the car lately. I decided to try a couple new detailing products on it after doing a rinseless wash using Meguiar's D114 Rinse Free Wash. Great stuff.

Last week I used Adams H20 Guard & Gloss which is a great product by the way. It's a water activated sealant. I went 2 1/2 months before I reapplied another coat. Durability is 3-5 months. This weekend I decided to top it with Adams Brilliant Glaze and Adams Patriot Wax. Patriot wax is Adams show car wax and is not intended to last that long. 2 months at most.

I also polished off the Meguiar's Paint Protect 365 paint sealant that was on the hood. I was testing it and it did well within the 4 months I had it. It's supposed to last an entire year. I clayed it after a rinseless wash and then polished it using my DA, a polishing pad and some HD Polish. Another great product. Very impressed with this polish. I then removed any polishing oils and sealed it with Adams Liquid Paint Sealant. Waited an hour as stated on the label and topped it with Adams Brilliant Glaze and Adams Patriot Wax.

This will be the last time I polish or wax it. Other than routine washes. I have decided to repaint the entire car as I saw some small areas on a couple doors where the clear is stating to fade. Most likely in the September time frame I will take it to get painted.

For those non-detailers I rinseless washed the car and waxed it lol.

Originally Posted by Efrain55

Where did you get that hood bro? I have the same color gtp and that looks badass


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It's an MPD F1 hood. I bought it awhile back from a local member.

Picked up a set of seat belt loops from Reptile.



On top of that my dad decided to do some painting and there was overspray all over the car's paint, glass and trim. Took out the clay bar and got to work.



It pulled up all the white paint overspray.



I was looking for something quick to seal the paint and went with Adams H20 Guard & Gloss. Topped it the next day with some Adams Brilliant Glaze and Adams Americana Paste Wax

Guard and Gloss



Topped the day after. Great reflection.

Give me your car, please lol. Where did you get those wheels?

Originally Posted by SubwayGirl

Give me your car, please lol. Where did you get those wheels?

Lol. I had them ordered at my local America's Tire.

Received my order the other day to rebuild the LCA's and replace the front strut mounts.

Woo Hoo. car parts.

As always Guz, your ride is easy on the eyes.

Originally Posted by spazzz

I didn't even think of adding extra grease to the mount bearings until after I had mine in and they groaned.
So.....maybe you already know?

I thought you only have 20,000 miles or so on your car

Lol I have way more miles than that.

The drivers side mount has been making some noise lately and it need to be replaced.

I have never been happy with the Moog problem solver LCA's. Those creek on me all the time. So I'm going to rebuild them.

Originally Posted by TexasTanker19kilo20

Woo Hoo. car parts.

As always Guz, your ride is easy on the eyes.

Thanks.

I will be asking my uncle to press fit these in for me. Will also be getting the tint re-done in the next couple of weeks.

The good thing is I will have more time as I am taking more time off to use my vacation time.

For those always asking about the Moog LCA's, here they are. These are the CK series. They come with the rubber bushings. I noticed the bushings were installed differently on them.





I replaced the bushing with these. Hopefully these solve the issues I was having with clunking noises in the front.




The LCA's are on the car now. I opted not to install the blue Moog bushings for the others. I left those as is. I will be replacing the front strut mounts on Saturday.

Converted all the exterior lights to LED's. See the review here.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...-194-HP5-LED-s

Man good thread very detailed. Are the struts stock or lowering one's

They are GMPP Koni's and GMPP Lowering Springs.

Have not really done much lately. Over the weekend I took the wheels off and decided to recoat them with another glass coating.

I was previously running Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Wheel Coating. I had it for 10 months and there was still signs of it on the wheels. Great product. Makes cleaning the wheels even easier and lasts much longer than a wax or sealant.

This time around I polished the wheels with some Meguiar's M205 and a 3" polishing pad on the PC7424XP. This was to remove any remnants of the previous coating. I followed that up with a CarPro Eraser wipedown which removes any polishing oils from the surface. This allows the glass coating to bond to the surface.

This time around I used some remaining Ameriarmour that I have left. Each wheel received 2 coats of the glass coating. This coating is estimated to last up to 2 years.



The coating gives a glassy appearance





Also gave the car a rinseless wash and used a new product that I was sent to review. This is a great detail spray. It leaves the surface feeling very slick and glossy.

Originally Posted by spazzz

Looking good Mike.
I was just going to do my summer wheels with some GlossCoat I picked up.
Didnt know if i should use the 3 inch or just do everything by hand. There is too many tight spaces with ten spokes except for the drum.
Did you iron-x first?
You must have done parts by hand I would imagine.

I did do some areas by hand. I didn't feel like turning on the compressor to run the 2" polisher.

Coatings are the way to go for wheels. It's so easy to clean it's ridiculous. All I use is car wash soap with a Meguiar's D114 if I do a rinseless wash (pre-soak + microfiber wipe). Trust me it's well worth it to do.

I used the new Meguiar's Mirror Bright Wheel Cleaner that is a color changing wheel cleaner. There wasn't that much color change as there shouldn't be since I am running ceramic pads. Ironx would work as well.

I need to recoat the tires with some more DP Tire Coating once the coating has fully cured in 7-10 days.

Durability is about the same. DP goes on clear versus TW which goes on black. DP has a little more working time.

The only thing is that DP needs the DP tire cleaner prior to application as it pulls out more stuff from the tire than a typical tire cleaner. So a little more prep. I personally like DP just for the fact that it goes on clear so no need to worry about black stains.

I took the time yesterday to apply some fresh tire coating. I have been very happy with this product. I called it at 2 months in terms of durability. I had topped it off with a water based tire gel for the last 2 months. So at 4 months there was still some coating left on the tires which I noticed when I was cleaning them.

These are the tools I used. I use the sidekick to speed up the drying time in between coats. That way I don't have to wait 30 min in between coats.



Before after cleaning the tires



After with 2 coats of the tire coating



Up close. There is still some faint signs of the previous coating application.



After with 2 coats



Here's the appearance on the passenger side which was in the shade. It has a real nice finish to it.





Best of all I don't need to do anything more than wash them with car wash soap, water and a Mothers tire brush. It will gradually lose it's gloss over time but that is accepted. For those interested in this product it has now been consolidated into the new McKee's 37 line at Autogeek and Autopia.