Maserati GT coated with C1 by AutoLavish featuring Steven Pham

Marc@AutoLavish

Club Sponsor
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The owner of this vehicle is someone we've done previous work for on other cars, but came to us this time to have his daily driver refreshed. With over 32k miles, I was surprised by the overall nice condition of the vehicle. The interior was in over-all good shape aside from the leather needing extra attention, and a few Random Isolated Deep Scratches; the paint looked better than average as a whole.
We completed the work on this vehicle over two days, with the first day focusing on the vehicle's exterior. The biggest concern we had on day one was to restore clarity in the finish: marring, swirls, and some hack-quality buffing meant that the true color and brilliance wasn't showing through.

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A dirty engine bay shouldn't affect performance, but we all know a clean car rides smoother and pulls harder ;)

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Dirty exhaust tips take away from a clean appearance, especially when they're highly visible.

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The wheels were what I would first start on. As normal with guys that love their cars; the faces weren't all too bad, but the inside of the wheel and calipers hadn't been properly cleaned likely ever.

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P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel paired with a Swissvax wheel brush (for lug nuts, center caps, and the calipers), an EZ Detail brush (for the inside of the wheel and behind the spokes), and a soft brush for the wheel faces and spokes worked very well to eliminate brake dust and grime.

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In the mean time, Jacob began on the engine bay using Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner Plus and a boar's hair brush.

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Rinse and flush!

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Prior to being washed, the license plate was removed. There was an unexpected amount of grime build up around the screws and plate that would later be cleaned using All Purpose Cleaner and Klasse All In One.

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A mixture of Chemical Guy's Citrus Wash and Chemical Guy's Grime Reaper was foamed onto the car and allowed to dwell to remove loose contamination and to soften any remaining grime. It was then rinsed off, and finally re-foamed for the actual wash.

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After being washed, the vehicle was clayed to remove surface contamination. Typical contamination problems on the lower portions, behind the wheels, and the rear-end were encountered and removed.

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Before we got began rinsing and drying the vehicle, I wanted to attend to the nasty looking key holes. If left untouched, they'd be a sore spot that would stick out. P21S Total Auto Wash, Q-Tips, and a tooth-brush worked wonders.

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It's important to be cautious with those dangerous bristles around the paint, but nothing else will effectively clean the contact patch that the key touches.

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With that speed bump out of the way, the Maserati could be rinsed and dried, and then taped off for paint correction.
After testing a few combinations, we settled on an amazing combo that allowed 95% correction with optimal clarity in two steps.

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With white balance corrected on the camera:

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Brinkmann Dual LED:

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Even the paint protection film would get some light polishing to add clarity.

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The engine received Meguiar's Hyper Dressing, while the engine bay cover would get a light coat of 303 Aerospace Protectant.

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Final wash, rinse, and dry to prep the car for the Last Step Product to be used.

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Ready to go!

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Normal sealant wouldn't give the owner the type of durability he was seeking, and as we explained his options, the choice became clear: a nano-coating with durability that would be measured in seasons or years - not months like others. Having Optimum Opti-Coat , C-Quartz, and the GTechniq line-up allowed for multiple choices, and we were excited to have the opportunity to use GTechniq's C1 coating.

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Application went smoothly; we took our time to make sure everything was covered correctly and completely buffed off. Because we didn't have any lacquer thinner on hand to remove the coating if we made a mistake, we had to make sure things it was applied correctly the first time. All exterior painted surfaces received the coating, though we chose Aquapel for the windshield to have something to compare beading on in the future.

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Finished with the exterior portion of the detail, the Maserati sat tight in the heated garage allowing the coating to cure.

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Now she looks beautiful down to the exhaust tips.

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Several days later, we came back to finish the Gran Turismo's interior. The work began with a vacuuming of the entire interior, and because most of the hard surfaces were lightly dirty, 1Z Cockpit Premium was used to clean, dress, and protect the majority of the interior surfaces. The leather was cleaned with Leather Master Strong Cleaner and protected with Leather Master Protection Creme. Interior windows were cleaned with Klasse All In One. Cup holder inserts were cleaned with All Purpose Cleaner before being wiped down with 1Z Cockpit Premium. Painted portions surrounding the doors were wiped down and protected with Sonus Acrylic Glanz.

Dusty.
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Ready to begin vacuuming.
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Klasse AIO on the inside of the windows.
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Wiped Clean.
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Leather shouldn't be shiny or oily looking.
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50/50 on the leather:
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You can see the majority of the seat is cleaned, but the upper right portion of the area that is sat on is still shiny from dirt and oil build-up.

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As we put the finishing touches on the interior, photographer Steven Pham showed up to lend us his artistic talents. The video he took captured the final exterior wash in prep for the photo shoot, as well as the beading and water sheeting capabilities of the C1 coating. Although it was a very cloudy 40 degree day, he did an outstanding job capturing the beauty that this car has.

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We'd like to give a big thank you to Steven Pham for taking the time on an ugly day to work his magic once again with us, and to the owner for allowing us to take this project to this level.
Thanks for taking a look at our work and we will post updates on this coating in the future :)
-AutoLavish Detailing: Jacob Bunyan and Marc Harris

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whats the process like for applying the C1?

Slow going. It would be like applying a thin layer of sealant, but you have to switch applicators often as the product begins to dry. The C1 must be removed right away from the surface after application, so this means you'll be sacrificing many microfiber towels gently buffing off the residue that can never be used again because they'll have the C1 coating on them which could potentially scratch another vehicle. You also have to take your time because any residue not completely wiped clean won't be able to be removed without lacquer thinner (mineral spirits won't even touch this stuff).
If the product performs half as good as it is supposed to, it'll be worth the extra hour or so by far.
 
Wasnt It Joe Walsh that said....My Masarati does 185....I lost my license....Now I dont drive ! SWEET CAR & SWEETER DETAILING JOB !!!!!

Thank you :)

Beautiful work and pics! I really have the detailing itch.

I know what that's like! Luckily we still have some nice up-and-coming stuff.

Pham's pictures are so baller! Love his work!
Autolavish, never disappointing, like always. Sick work on a sick ride.

Thanks a lot for the continued support. I'm hopeful you'll be able to come take pics for us sooner than later as well.

Your work always amazes me. Great job on the Maserati!

Thank you very much! We try hard to exceed standards.

When I get a Maserati, youll be the first stop on my list

;)

Wow! Great work Marc and awesome pictures as well!

Never seen anyone use KAIO for window cleaning.

You've got to think outside the box :)

Take it the C1 kit is very exspensive?

Actually, it's really not all too bad. Cheaper than a lot of waxes we have lol.
G Techniq isn't allowing it to be purchases by just anyone it seems though; they want to make it exclusive to detailers it seems. Time will tell how good it is; we all know how some car-related items are all hype. I'm hopeful this isn't one, but we'll see.
 
Awesome job as always. I love reading these threads and watching the vehicle progress. Half the time I think to myself "That car doesn't look too bad". Then I see the after pics and am blown away! OK so it wasn't as good as I thought. :lol:
Actually, it's really not all too bad. Cheaper than a lot of waxes we have lol.
G Techniq isn't allowing it to be purchases by just anyone it seems though; they want to make it exclusive to detailers it seems. Time will tell how good it is; we all know how some car-related items are all hype. I'm hopeful this isn't one, but we'll see.

That is cool. I used Zaino on all of my cars and it seems to keep them nice & clean through the winter mess too. I will be interested to see a follow-up on this car after it's been used a while in all weather. That is an interesting polish option there. Sounds like you gotta work fast though. Sucks it destroys the towels, etc. Thankfully they aren't too expensive at Costco. :lol:
 
Yeah, that C1 stuff sounds awesome for anything that gets driven regularly if it actually works.
Oh, and it goes without saying but, excellent work. :)

I agree, and so far, the technology is pretty proven. We've had a competing product on our work truck for over 6 months now without change. Hope all is well!

Great thread, the car looks badass. The photography work is sick!!!! The car looks great in all photos.

Much appreciated. The photography work really is amazing. I wasn't expecting such good results with such ugly weather.

Awesome job as always. I love reading these threads and watching the vehicle progress. Half the time I think to myself "That car doesn't look too bad". Then I see the after pics and am blown away! OK so it wasn't as good as I thought. :lol:
That is cool. I used Zaino on all of my cars and it seems to keep them nice & clean through the winter mess too. I will be interested to see a follow-up on this car after it's been used a while in all weather. That is an interesting polish option there. Sounds like you gotta work fast though. Sucks it destroys the towels, etc. Thankfully they aren't too expensive at Costco. :lol:

Thanks a lot. This car wasn't as bad as it could have been, which it why it only needed two polishing steps to come back perfectly. Most cars need 3 or more.
Zaino has a great following and makes some great products. There are some real good competing sealants to Zaino's that I'd highly recommend as well. If your interested in any recommendations, please let me know :)
It's too bad we have to throw away of towels that are used on this stuff, but It's worth it if it works half as good as it is supposed to. The Costco style microfiber towels aren't too bad when they're brand new, but we find they degrade rapidly, and thus they're what we use on interiors and such. Not all towels are created equal, nor are inexpensive...

http://www.detailedimage.com/DI-Microfiber-M13/reTHICKulous-Towel-P318/16-x-16-S1/

http://autogeek.net/cobra-supreme-530-large.html

http://www.detailersdomain.com/thenewnonameubersuperplushtowel.aspx

Awesome work, thanks for sharing :)

Thanks for taking a look and commenting

I'm sure the owner is very happy.
Great job and thanks for sharing.
When I have something worthy of your talent I'll bring it by.

He sure is. Best thing about this work is watching someone fall in love with their car all over again.
We'd love to earn your business, and we work on all car types. Give me a call if you need anything.

I don't know who's better... you guys or Pham, but the combo is awesome!

Steven is surely a talented guy. There's no way I thought the photos taken on this ugly day would turn out so amazing.
 
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