# HOUSE OF -RAVEN- PRESENTS! - The Holden Commodore SSV From Hell! [PIC HEAVY]



## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Here is my friends Holden Commodore VE SSV. You guys in the UK call them Vauxhall VXR8's. What ever you want call it, it is 6L of Australian muscle! :devil:

I had detailed this car previously last year, so I was thinking this was going to be just a simple finishing polish clean up and paint protection applied in the form of ArtDeShine 2K coating. Well this Holden Commodore SSV ended up turning into a massive detail!

I was told that there was some scratches on the bonnet from my friend's new puppy, the poor thing got scared from lightning and thunder and jumped on the car. I was hoping that these weren't deep, and was relieved when the car turned up and was inspected. There was a few scratches, but they only looked to be shallow.

This detail was quite rewarding for another reason too, I had my good friend Bob around again to help out and learn a bit more. Detailing is so much more fun with a good mate! Thanks Bob! 

How the car presented. Water spots, water spots, and more water spots! The paint besides the water spots and puppy scratches actually looked pretty good as I was expecting. However, I didn't think the water spots would be quite the problem they turned out to be later on! 




































































































The car was foamed with degreaser to get rid of anything left on the paint. 2BM was used with ArmorAll Heavy Duty Wash, the wheels were cleaned up with Sonax Extreme, and the tyres degreased. There wasn't much of a reaction from the Sonax, but they did look more dirty than contaminated.













































































































Rims were cleaned up with left over car shampoo and brushes.



















I like these EZ brushes, you can clean in behind the spokes nicely! Lets see you do that with your wheel woolies! 



















The car was then clayed with ArtDeShine medium clay and just water. Not much contamination at all.





































3M Wax And Grease Remover panel wipe was used to clean up the paint for inspection. The car was also taped up using 3M blue tape (the best there is!).




























The panel wipe allows a better inspection of the paintwork, and often hidden swirls and scratches will appear. Heres a better look at the scratches and water spots!


















































































On to the polishing stage. Test spot one was first tried with the DA and HD Polish. I was hoping that the water spost would be easily removed. The result was ok for a finishing polish, but it was obvious that something stronger was needed. I stepped up to HD UNO on the rotary. This worked much nicer, it got rid of the marks, but still needed refinement.









































































Test spot two was on the rear boot. This proved to be the hardest part of the whole car to polish! Rock hard water spots, on water spots, on water spots! :wall:

I tried HD UNO and HD Cut with wool pad on the rotary, but wasn't getting too far, so tried a different plan of attack. So out come the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound with Optimum microfiber pads on the DA. This combo was cutting very nicely, but more impressively, finishing absolutely pin sharp! Easily LSP ready just from compounding stage, on a DA no less, very impressive indeed! That didn't stop us chasing the compounding with HD Polish on the DA's to finish! 
































































These shots are after the DA compounding stage. You can see around the door handles are not done yet. My compounding was followed by Bob finishing with HD Polish by DA later on.





































The rear bumper cleaned up quite easily with the Optimum microfiber pads and Meguiars Ultimate Compound.





































The rear wing thankfully behaved the same as the rear bumper, and cleaned up nicely.





































Door pillars.



















The windows were very heavily water spotted. We couldn't get them totally cleaned up with what we had, but we still got a massive improvement out of the 3" Optimum microfiber pads and Meguiars Ultimate Compound. We trialed a few different combo's and this was the best we could come up with. I've organized to clean up all the windows at a later date when I've got some proper glass cutting pads and polish.
































































The mirrors were heavily water spotted like the rest of the car, but they cleaned up perfectly.



















The chrome wheels were given a clean up with Alushine.





































The exhaust tips were cleaned up with Alushine.





































Polishing finally finished! The sun was reflecting off the paintwork onto the roof, creating these funky reflections! It was a very nice feeling when Bob and I had finally finished the polishing! We had been at it for two days so far, with more still to do!














































The car was then taken outside for a quick wash with ArtDeShine Organic Car Shampoo to get rid of polishing dust and residue in preparation for coating. This product is a pure cleaner, it won't leave any residue behind.





































ArtDeShine 2K coating was used. This is a very nice two part coating, it's easy to use, and certainly gives great results! The strong base coat goes on nicely, I wait about 10 minutes in my climate, then easy wipe off for a nice glossy result. The top coat goes on two hours later, but this one is wipe on wipe off, no waiting. The finish seemed to gloss up even more with the top coat applied too. :thumb:









































































The plastics and trim were given a coat of CarPro DLUX. This brought them back to new condition with minimal effort. Just wipe on and you're done!








































































































































The interior was given a quick vacuum, and the trim was given a wipe over with Meguiar's Interior Cleaner. The leather seats were given a clean with ArtDeShine Organic Leather Cleaner.





































All finally finished and looking very much different to how she started! Scratch, swirl, and spot free! I love the look of this coating on black! :argie:


























































































































































Here's a few arty shots just to finish off! 


















































































Over all, I was glad this detail was over! Bob and I had a big three days detailing, an absolute massive second day especially (8am-11:30pm!!!), but it was really rewarding achieving such a great turn around! Thanks heaps for your help Bob, I'd still be polishing out this car now if it wasn't for you mate!

The ArtDeShine 2K coating certainly looks impressive on the black paint! :argie:

My Lexus IS-F better look out, it's very hard to resist coating it too! I got a few waxy things I want to try on it before going to ArtDeShine 1K hybrid coating I think. :thumb:

Questions and comments welcome! Thanks for looking! :wave:


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## Kotsos (May 7, 2011)

Thank you for posting I was waiting for that for a long time. 

Car looks amazing and i ll definately use the 2k on my black honda too. 

See you in Singapore


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## spiros (Mar 30, 2010)

Oh my god these are the most ungly water marks i have ever see..Maybe you should change the title to The house of shine :thumb:
2k on black great combo


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## Mad Ad (Feb 7, 2011)

Nice work Matty, Lovely deep rich finish to the body:thumb:


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## Wheelzntoys (Jan 28, 2012)

Great turnaround, they will need to find a new parking spot or start drying after a wash.


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Wheelzntoys said:


> Great turnaround, they will need to find a new parking spot or start drying after a wash.


Haha! Kids playing with the hose I was told!


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## Artdeshine (Aug 21, 2012)

Hi Matty i m touch by your hard day and tiger beside. And the long waiting for the showtime and your presentation of artdechem 2K. I will give a Lambo in SG when you come over in March and accompany by Kotsos. I m crying with tears. Thank you.


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Awesome lads very very nice work!!


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## B17BLG (Jun 26, 2012)

stunning turnaround


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Epic mate! Great work, seriously


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## shaunwistow (May 13, 2011)

Beautiful work, well done.


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## davo3587 (May 9, 2012)

Amazing turn around, car looks sublime.


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

alfred said:


> Hi Matty i m touch by your hard day and tiger beside. And the long waiting for the showtime and your presentation of artdechem 2K. I will give a Lambo in SG when you come over in March and accompany by Kotsos. I m crying with tears. Thank you.


Remember our deal Alfred. Kostas polish while we drink beer and tell him where he missed! :lol:


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Raven, stunning work, that Black is sooo deeep!!

Kev


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## Alex L (Oct 25, 2005)

-Raven- said:


> Haha! Kids playing with the hose I was told!


Awesome turnaround, especially as it looked alot like mine did after rain shows and NZ sun  although I found Megs Wheel brightner did a good job of removing them

Just need to restock up on polishes ready for when I polish mine again, although I'll be going back to wax as I didn't like the ceramic coatings in the end (did at 1st, but after 18 months didn't).

The rear diffusers on these suck for holding water and and dried water spots in the honeycomb bits. The GXP diffusers are much better.


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## Black.MB (Aug 22, 2012)

Fantastic turnaround, really nice finish:thumb:


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## Pedro92 (May 5, 2011)

Very impressive work !!!:thumb:


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## TopSport+ (Jul 22, 2012)

stunning work


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## Kotsos (May 7, 2011)

-Raven- said:


> Remember our deal Alfred. Kostas polish while we drink beer and tell him where he missed! :lol:


I never miss a spot 

Also you forget that i will have a sexy Asian helper


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## Jas16 (Jan 9, 2013)

my dream car to own one day

Great work too


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Kotsos said:


> I never miss a spot
> 
> Also you forget that i will have a sexy Asian helper


Haha! We all drink beer and watch then! :lol:


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## Kotsos (May 7, 2011)

I can't perform well when other watching me


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## lowejackson (Feb 23, 2006)

Very impressive

Never seen anyone work in bare feet before


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

lowejackson said:


> Very impressive
> 
> Never seen anyone work in bare feet before


Welcome to Australia! :lol:


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## DanHawkes (Feb 28, 2011)

very pretty


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## scratcher (Jul 20, 2010)

Brilliant results there buddy 

I never knew that mirrors fold both ways! Mind-blown!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

scratcher said:


> Brilliant results there buddy
> 
> I never knew that mirrors fold both ways! Mind-blown!


Haha! Cleaning them is going to be easier for you now!


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Soms stunning bare foot detailing. Can't believe I missed this.

A fantastic effort from both of you. Car came up a treat after all your problems.

Super sharp paint work from the sealant looks spot on.


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## sm81 (May 14, 2011)

Is it possible to get pics back? I have this 2k coating sample and would like to know more how to get most of it.


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## sm81 (May 14, 2011)

sm81 said:


> Is it possible to get pics back? I have this 2k coating sample and would like to know more how to get most of it.


We need pics back


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## giggs (May 20, 2011)

Raven, is there any way you could update your pics on first page?

Thank you!
G


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