Thread: The journey of a 1999 Silvermist Grand Prix

There we are, i forgot about him! Its kuntzie's (had the 5 speed manual turbo prix that put down 584hp). This is his new one he is building and the rims are sexy i think!

Originally Posted by xxpappas13xx

Figured someone could get a good laugh out of it as well haha

Yeah thanks for the laugh.

Originally Posted by rodguezsciii

car looks great...usually not the biggest fan of color wheel/chrome lip, but looks real nice as is...also a big fan of the bonne wheels on your brothers gp...

I have the 48s on my 04+ in black, got a really good deal on them at the time....

Thanks. The reason I'm looking for new wheels is because the chrome lip is startting to bubble underneath one of them. So it's time for a change. I was looking for some GXP bonneville wheels locally but no luck.

Originally Posted by xxpappas13xx

There we are, i forgot about him! Its kuntzie's (had the 5 speed manual turbo prix that put down 584hp). This is his new one he is building and the rims are sexy i think!

I'm not a fan of an all black wheels but the style is nice.

I like those. They would look good on your car.

So this past weekend I polished up my 99 Grand Prix, which just hit 98k miles on it. I bought this car off the show room floor from the Pontiac dealer back in 1999 with 12 miles on it. It has been my daily driver. It has some appearance modifications and some performance modifications that I have done throughout the years of owning it. The car had been previously wearing klasse. Which held up rather nicely. It was on the car for 7 months and I probably could have squeezed another 2 months out of it. The benefits of living in sunny Southern California and a dry fall/winter. Well I had the itch to do a little polishing and give the daily some love. So this time I reached for my tried and true Meguiar's products.

I got a late start on Saturday so I usually reach for M21 but I decided to go with ULW to take advantage of it's WOWO application. I went into the late night and I needed to get some sleep lol

Here is what I used on the car
Saturday
Wash - D111 Shampoo plus
Clay - Nanoskin autoscrub sponge with D155 last touch as clay lube
Compound - D300 on a 3" MF cutting disk for spot corrections
Polish - M205
Sealant - Ultimate Liquid wax
Tools & Pads - PC 7424XP, 5.5" Lake Country hydro tech tangerine polishing pads, 3" MF cutting pads, 3" Lake Country tangerine polishing pads

Sunday
Glaze - M7. I wanted to give M7 a try on my car even though it is silver. Another successful use of it with a thin application making it easy to remove.
Carnauba Wax - M26
Wheel Wells - D4510 plastic & vinyl coating
Exhaust tips - I repolished with DUB metal polish but this time I used 0000 steel wool to remove some of the built up carbon on the inside of the tip and repolished. Looks much better than the first time I used DUB.

I didn't get to many before photos since the car looked good and had minor swirling. Photos were taken with my iphone so not the best quality. Sequence of products used M205 > ULW > M7 > M26

After some M205.


After some ULW



After some M7 and M26 on top of ULW. (A little experimenting with different products)


2 area's of clear coat failure . No polishing on these areas. Don't want to make it worse.



Pulled the car outside


Some reflection shots




Metal flake got that extra pop.


Some gloss



Gloss and full view of the tips after repolishing with DUB metal polish


This was the after shot the first time I used the DUB metal polish on the passenger side tip


After some 0000 steel wool and some repolishing the passenger tip looks like this


Driver's side

Monday as I was heading out to work I was pulling out of the drive way and I noticed that unlike klasse which gives the car that glass like look, with ULW, M7 and M26 the silver color appeared brighter to me along with the glass like look.

Under direct sun



Stopped to get gas on my way home around 7pm. Check out the reflection shots.





I forgot to mention that I have ultimate black on the plastic cowl. On this plastic trim it's held up good and it is going on 3 weeks. On the trim around the windows ultimate black did not last one wash. I prepped it just like I did with the front cowl using D103 and wiping off any excess after it sat for a few minutes. It just didn't take. So for these trim pieces around all the windows I went with a non-meguiar's product, wolfgang exterior trim sealant. I can't comment on durability as this is the first time I used it.

How are you liking the D300 compared to 105.

This is just a clean ass ride


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by spazzz

Schweet
Now that is hyper-silver...excellent.
I was reading that Ultimate Polish would be a substitute for the show car glaze step.
But I'll tell ya I am absolutely sticking with the M26 after the M21/ Ultimate wax.

Noticed on MOL you also had the chance to do your dads Z28 and that blue was the bomb.

I used M7 show glaze just to give it a shot. It's pure polishing oils with no correction ability or protection ability. It is supposed to hide minor imperfections. It adds more gloss and gives that wet look. It's not really needed. UP/M205 will be all you need. UP has more polishing oils than M205 but M205 is more versatile. M205 is my got to. But if you are going to a car show put a coat of M7 and your car would look nice. It will also wash off after a couple washes unless you put a coat of wax over it like M26 to lock it in place. It's a little tricky to apply but I applied it so thin that it's worked out for me on 3 cars so far. M26 is awesome. It just adds that extra flair. I love it.

My 02 Camaro SS got some water spots and I have to repolish. Since this is my garage queen I can take my time. I think I'm going with M205/M21/M26 on this one. It has Adam's new liquid paint sealant and I wasn't too impressed with it.

Here's my dad's 02 Camaro Z28 that you were talking about. Navy blue is one one of my favorite colors. It looks so nice. It got the same treatment M205/Ultimate Liquid Wax/M7/M26.

Originally Posted by REDCOMPG

How are you liking the D300 compared to 105.

One of my biggest gripes with M105 is the short working time and of course dusting. I have learned how to use it but sometimes, probably because of the weather it frustrates me. D300 and the microfiber cutting pads are great. I can't say nothing but good things about it. D300 dusts very little if at all and has a nice working time. My camaro and my dad's camaro have very hard clear coat and an orange lake country pad with M105 would not make a dent in the deeper swirls and scratches. The microfiber pads cut through the hard clear coat like butter. D300 also finished LSP ready. If I do get haze because of how aggressive the combo is I just follow up with a white polishing pad and M205. It also takes less passes with D300+ microfiber cutting pads. I have not used D300 with foam pads but I read that it works really well.

M105 can also be used on the MF cutting pads. If I need more correction than D300, I will use M105.

I also just tried M101. So much better than M105 on foam pads. Worked really nice. Not a lot of dusting and a nice working time. It's the new kid on the block.

Originally Posted by Theaceofspades

This is just a clean ass ride

Thanks.

That's what I wanted to hear... I much as I love m105 the dusting just gets to much... And I wanted to try the d300 in the future and looks like you convinced me to give it a go. Heard nothing but good bungs about m101 but it's the price that keeps me away at this time. Same thing goes for the mf cutting disk.. Been having those saved in my cart but haven't pulled the trigger because I've heard you really want to have a compressor handy with them to constantly blow them off which isn't necessary a issue but I hate hearing my compressor going off not to mention another hose in the way.

Oh and I'm guessing d300 does better in the heat then 105?

Originally Posted by REDCOMPG

That's what I wanted to hear... I much as I love m105 the dusting just gets to much... And I wanted to try the d300 in the future and looks like you convinced me to give it a go. Heard nothing but good bungs about m101 but it's the price that keeps me away at this time. Same thing goes for the mf cutting disk.. Been having those saved in my cart but haven't pulled the trigger because I've heard you really want to have a compressor handy with them to constantly blow them off which isn't necessary a issue but I hate hearing my compressor going off not to mention another hose in the way.

You don't need a compressor to clean them with. A pad brush works just as good. I have used both. Check this place out you can get smaller sample sizes. Last time I check M101 was out of stock. I used code VIP10.

http://www.autodetailingsolutions.net/meguiars.html
Coupon Codes Currently Available:
VIP10 10% Off - Restrictions include but are not limited to BOGO Items, electric polishers, electric polisher kits, pad washers, Tornador Black, Meguiar's gallon and 5 gallon size items and other various bulk packaged items.
PADS15 15% Off All Pads & Backing Plates.
MENZERNA15 15% Off All Menzerna Products. Menzerna
MEGDASYSTEM15 15% Off Meguiar's Microfiber DA System Products. Gallon sizes not included. Meg’s DA Microfiber System
OPTIMUM15 15% Off All Optimum Products - BOGO Restriction: Optimum
CARPRO15 15% Off All CarPro Products: CarPro

MF sale
Take an Extra 15% - Use Coupon Code: megdasystem15

Originally Posted by REDCOMPG

Oh and I'm guessing d300 does better in the heat then 105?

Yeah it does. I'm in CA and it's been hot even during the winter when it was in the 80's and D300 worked good. The humidity might get you. It's not humid out here.

Awesome that's what I like to hear. Will bookmark them and order some samples in the future I hate getting big bottles of stuff that never gets used and just sits on the shelf. Samples will work just fine for me to try out before I commit.

Racepeel has gotten you too. Hah.

Originally Posted by Odi

Racepeel has gotten you too. Hah.

Yup. The CA sun is tough.

Originally Posted by spazzz

M101 16oz back in stock and on it's way to Wisco. Hoping it erases some of the more stubborn imperfections.

Any tips Mike?

If you use the same technique as you do with UC you will be fine. What I like to do is season the pad (new term instead of saying prime). Meaning apply M101 onto the foam pad and work into the foam using your fingers. I massage it onto the entire face of the pad. Then 3 pea sized drops and you are good to go. Then on the next panel 3-4 pea sized drops will be fine. Of course cleaning the pad after you finish one panel. For example say I work on half the hood and when I'm done, I clean the pad and work on the other half of the hood with 3-4 pea sized drops of compound. Same technique I do with M205.

Thanks to Sal (Silver2kgtp) for showing me this mod on his facebook page. I went ahead and copied him. I replaced the same 5 bulbs with white LEDs. I had some extras so I replaced the turn signal bulbs and the high beam indicator as well. The camera could not pick up the real color for these 3 lights. The high beam indicator is a crisp bright blue color and the turn signals lights are a lighter green color.

Before


After


Turn signal light comparison
Halogen left, LED right



LED's in daylight


High beam indicator at night. You can see the blue color reflecting off the dash.

Not at all. The longest part was removing the dash and removing the cluster. Once you have the cluster out, simply twist the bulb holders off, remove the bulb, replace with an LED and before you button everything up make sure all the LEDs come on. You may need to swap the bulbs 180 degrees if they don't come on.

Also polished up the plastic gauge cluster with mothers plastic polish inside and out to clean it up a bit.