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2015 Range Rover: Paint Correction and Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Application

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This vehicle was dropped off with us for a complete overhaul inside and out.  The majority of our time and effort would be spent on the exterior with extensive cleaning, and of course a thorough paint correction.  The paint was in poor shape, with a tremendous amount of swirls and scratches that left this gorgeous metallic paint job looking dull and faded despite the 2015 production stamp inside the door jam.  Thankfully we were able make a drastic improvement, check it out!  Don’t forget to reference our overview list at the end of the article for all of the tools and products used throughout this process.

As always, we began our project with the wheels and tires.  These wheels have clearly not been cleaned in a very long time given the amount of heavy buildup on them.  It may not appear too bad at first, but when you see the after photo, you’ll understand just how dirty they were.

ATD | Range Rover

The tires were vigorously scrubbed with Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tire Brush to remove old tire dressing, dirt, and road grime.  Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus was sprayed onto the wheel and allowed to dwell.  This wheel cleaner is completely clear, but turns purple as it reacts with brake dust.  It is extremely effective at loosening the dirt and grime, making deep cleaning very easy.  Check out this mess!

ATD | Range Rover

After allowing the wheel cleaner enough time to work, a pressure rinse removed the majority of dirt and grime, leaving a much lighter layer that needed to be removed manually.  I used some soap in our wash bucket, along with a variety of brushes to ensure every nook and cranny was touched.

Now this is how the wheels are supposed to look!  I think they’re about 10 times brighter than when we started.

ATD | Range Rover

With the wheels and tires taken care of, I turned my attention to the body of the vehicle.  The car was covered with a thick layer of foam, courtesy of Meguiar’s Hyper wash and my DI Foam Lance.  The foam was left to dwell while I used a 1″ Boars Hair Brush to clean in various cracks and crevices.  The car was then rinsed, hand washed, and decontaminated using our nanoskin mitt and nanoskin glide.

ATD | Range Rover

With the paint completely clean, it was finally time to get to work on restoring the paint.  A two-step correction process was used to level defects and then enhance gloss.  After a few test spots, I settled on Griot’s Fast Correcting Cream paired with a Lake Country Light Cutting pad followed by CarPro Essence on a Yellow Rupes pad.  This combo produced fantastic defect removal, and was able to leave a crystal clear finish that really enhanced the metallic flake.

ATD | Range Rover

Here is a look at the passenger door prior to correction.

ATD | Range Rover

After compounding, the majority of the defects have been removed, and marring was minimal.

ATD | Range Rover

The finishing polish removed the light marring, revealing an even darker finish, and greatly enhancing the metallic flake.

ATD | 2015 Range Rover

After the correction work was completed, the paint was then wiped down with CarPro Eraser and then coated with GTechniq Crystal Serum Light to protect the gorgeous finish and to provide even more gloss.  This coating leaves the paint feeling incredibly slick (I mean really slick!), and the gloss was fantastic.

ATD | 2015 Range Rover

ATD | 2015 Range Rover

ATD | 2015 Range Rover

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Zach McGovern
Attention To Detailing Peoria
Peoria, IL
DetailPeoria.com/

20 comments on 2015 Range Rover: Paint Correction and Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Application

  1. Paul says:

    Great job as you always do. Your work is always top notch

  2. Saul says:

    Very nice! Why You used Eraser after Essence?

    • Thank you…

      From the CarPro FAQ Page on Essence:

      2 – Do I have to use Eraser between Essence and CQuartz?

      If your using Essence by machine and you wait until the vehicle is finished then you can apply Reload or CQuartz after you finish the vehicle starting in the same direction you polished. **If you want to be ultra safe you can still Eraser but in our testings to date we have not seen any failure when we skipped Eraser.**

      … so we tend to always do an Eraser wipe down unless we are working on extremely soft paint where it may create marring. In that case, we will finish with Essence and then coat without a wipe down. In my own testing I have not seen any issues with coating directly over eraser, but we just like to be extra safe.

  3. Saul Munoz says:

    Is Essence then so good that you are using it rather than some other finishing polish?

  4. Mike (The Guz) says:

    Great job as always Zach. The gloss is amazing.

  5. Ed espinosa says:

    How is Crystal serum light to apply? I have been hearing great things about it.and what about the longevity of the coating?

  6. john gallardo says:

    hi zach….great job but how happy was the owner???? i hope he appreciated the transformation!!!!!

  7. Deepak says:

    Hello Zach – As always Great job!! How would you rate the paint soft or hard?

    • Hi – thanks! The paint on this vehicle was very easy to work with. It was a bit on the softer side as we only needed orange foam for the cutting process, but not so soft that it was challenging to polish.

  8. James says:

    Have you been able to see how the crystal serum light has been holding up durability wise? I am very curious about how this coating can be noticeably cheaper than a product such as 22ple HPC yet advertise durability from 3-5 years.

    • Hi James – yes, CSL has been holding up extremely well on my test vehicles (my car and my wife’s car). Pricing of any product can come down to many factors… 22ple is a smaller company. GTechniq is a larger company and produces considerably larger quantities of their products, which has a major factor on price. 22ple uses some costly, high end raw materials, this effects price. Time spent on R&D, testing, etc. also effects pricing (22ple does all of this in house as far as I know). You will notice that most coatings are cheaper than 22ple, so GTechniq’s pricing is more standard.

      Let me know if you’ve got any other questions.

  9. David Muramoto says:

    Hello Zach- How is the durability of CSL doing so far? I’ve waited until summer to apply CSL to my Nissan Versa and Titan, both of which live mostly outdoors. Prep and application were done indoors and I’ve tried to stay to the 24 hour rule for curing, but I’m somewhat skeptical about longevity.

    • Hi David – I have been testing CSL on my personal vehicle for over a year now with nothing negative to report about it. If you maintain the coating properly, it will perform as expected. To maintain maximum surface tension, you should consider using a topper (such as GTechniq C2 or similar) from time to time.

  10. Devin Kelly says:

    Hi Zach,

    I have read a ton of posts lately and decided on CSL and EXOv4 for my DD Chevy Cruze. I am really happy with the easy of application and so far the product works great. Is CSL still holding up after 2 years?

    • Hi Devin – I cannot say for sure. First, I no longer detail professionally and therefore do not get the chance to monitor formerly coated vehicles. Second, any vehicle I have that was coated with CSL has had so many toppers applied to it over the years that it is impossible to know how the underlying coating is truly performing without anything being added on top of it.

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