# 2008 Viper ACR Black w Red Stripe



## gmblack3 (Mar 14, 2008)

This started out back in early Sept when I was fortunate enough to accompany my good friend to pick up his new 2008 Viper ACR down in Houston.

We arrived at the dealership on Monday Sept 1 after our flight. After the paperwork was complete, Chris and I covered the front of the car for the drive back to Atlanta.










We where in a hurry to get on the road, as you may remember hurricane Gustav
was heading right for us. With Chris's busy work schedule this was the only time he had to pick up the car. Waiting another month was not an option.

The ACR comes with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. With a treadwear rating of 80 these barely legal street tires would not do well in hurricane type rains. Our plan was to head north to Little Rock, over to Memphis stay overnight and then to Atlanta.

A little more then 150 or so miles into the trip. We began to notice more then a few bugs hitting the windshield.










Yes for more then 30 mins lovebugs were on us with a reckless Kamikaze attack. Not wanting to use the wipers to smear the mess further, we finally had to pull off in some small town to clean the windshield. We found a small old skool parts store.




























Chris grabbed some glass cleaner by turtle wax (not the best selection available at this store) and some cotton towels for the glass, me some MFs and Mothers Showtime Instant Detailer.

I gentley tried to remove as many bugs as I could from the painted areas while Chris was not having much luck with the glass. He went back inside and picked up a bug sponge and that did the trick on the glass.










We where lucky to only run thru a small amount of rain on our way north to Little Rock.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I got to drive about a third of the trip. On/off ramps where our favorite part of the drive. After the 500 mile breakin was complete, some nice long stretch of roads where fun as well.  After 1050 miles we arrived back in Atlanta.


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## gmblack3 (Mar 14, 2008)

A few days later I was able to give the ACR a good wash.




























After applying some Z8:




























I was finally able to get the car out into the sun to see what I would be dealing with when the full detail was done.


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## gmblack3 (Mar 14, 2008)

Saleen actually paints all of the Vipers for Dodge. You can read all about it in this thread from the VCA forum.

The paint work is very nice and is wetsanded after, the level of orange peel is very low. Unfortunately the polishing work that is done after leaves much to be desired.

Finally 1 month later I was able to start working on the real detail.

I started with the Valugard ABC paint decontamination wash in hopes of removing the remaining lovebug etching, plus this always makes for the smoothest polishing.

Followed with a quick clay using zaino clay and Z6 as a lube.

All body panels except for the lower rockers are plastic/composite. I was getting paint thickness readings in the 4.1-4.3 range on the metal rocker panels.

I started out with SIP and a green german CCS on the rotary. This combo was getting the plastic panels too hot too quick, plus it was not removing the deeper defects from the wool polishing that Saleen did.

Rydawg suggested that I use 3M ECC with a white CCS pad. No more then 1300 he said. I tried that and it worked better then the SIP combo, but it taking forever to do a small area. Plus I still could not get the area 100% defect free.

I tried some edge blue wool with presta 1500. The edge blue wool is very soft, but this combo would really muck up the paint. I would follow with 3M ECC/white CCS at a low speed 4-5 applications to get it close to prefect. PFW with SIP was no better.

I had to detail a few other cars, so the ACR would sit in my garage for a while. I order a flex 3401 to give that a try with SIP and a white CCS. Again the panel would get way too hot. I tried my new flex with the P0203S that I received with my flex order and a white CCS. This did a very nice job, but I could still see wool marks in the paint upon close inspection. This was not going to be good enough for this car or my good friend.

Bret came down and joined in on the fun. Ryan then suggested that I try the Tufbuf black lambswool with P0203S on the rotary. I could not believe my eyes as this combo worked like it was made for this PITA paint.

Here is a good example of what I was dealing with.










Looks ugly, but in person in was worse as you could see the pigtails that where not removed by Saleen after the wetsand.

I taped off half of the pillar and did the following:

Black lambswool/menzerna P0203s rotary at 1500
White CCS/P0203s flex 3401 speed 5




























So the final combo we used on the car was:

Black lambswool/menzerna P0203s rotary at 1500
White CCS/P0203s flex 3401 speed 5
Green CCS/Zaino ZPC/Flex 3401 speed 5

Bug etching as talked about earlier was evident on many surfaces of this ACR:

Hood:










Rear deck area:










Here I am using Menzerna P0203s w/ black lambswool to remove the bug etching:



















Here is Bret using Menzerna P0203s by hand to remove any bug etching that was not accessible via machine polishing. I think Bret spent close to 2 hours removing the bug etching from those hard to reach areas.










The ACR was then foamed (Zaino Z7), rinsed, foamed w/ Z7 again, washed w 2BM and sheepskin mitts.

Wheels where cleaned with P21s wheel cleaning gel and various brushes.

Tires and wells cleaned with AM 777 APC 1:6.

All surfaces where dried with quality WW drying towels.

Bret started working on the wheels and tires. The wheels got prepped with Zaino AIO, that was followed with 2x of ZFX'd Z5pro. Tires got Zaino Z-16.

Exterior glass was polished with Zaino AIO by hand and had 2x of ZFX'd Z2pro applied.

Paint was prepped w/ Zaino AIO via PC5 and a blue CCS pad.

3x of Zaino ZFX'd Z5pro was applied to the paint.

Paint, glass, wheels got Zaino Z8.

Bret worked on the interior giving all the hard surfaces a wipedown with 1Z cockpit premium.

All leather surfaces where cleaned with Zaino Z9 and conditioned with Zaino Z10.

Carpet where vac'd and interior glass was cleaned with a quality MF and Stoners IG.


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## gmblack3 (Mar 14, 2008)

Final pics:


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## BmW745On19's (Aug 12, 2005)

Very cool car.

It is my experience that all Vipers have really crappy quality paint. No matter how much polishing you do, you can't make them perfect because they are imperfect from the factory with bubbles and unevenness.


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## gmblack3 (Mar 14, 2008)

BmW745On19's said:


> Very cool car.
> 
> It is my experience that all Vipers have really crappy quality paint. No matter how much polishing you do, you can't make them perfect because they are imperfect from the factory with bubbles and unevenness.


I am not sure when Saleen started painting the vipers, but the paint job is much higher in quality of any factory paint I have ever worked on. Read more about Saleen painting the vipers here.

Saleen also painted the Ford GTs.

Saleen wetsand's the car to remove 90% of the orange peel from the paint, but as with most "body shop's" The quality of paint polishing after the wetsand is subpar.

I have polished a few Ferrari's including 2 F430s, the level of OP is lower on this viper. Porsche comes close...

I have never polished one, but a Bentley might have the highest quality paint out there.


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## Goldman Sachs (Jan 5, 2009)

Nice job. I'm not a big Viper fan cuz I think there are better cars you could buy for that much money and they're too main stream. It's probably fun driving it though!


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## autogeek (Jul 24, 2008)

An ACR is definitely not mainstream. It's like saying a Corvette ZR1 is mainstream. Sure, a Vette is, but not a ZR1....completely different car.

Beautiful car and great work.


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## Excitmnt94 (Jun 6, 2006)

awesome car...good read.


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## Lanc3r (Sep 5, 2004)

No pics of engine?


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## BmW745On19's (Aug 12, 2005)

gmblack3 said:


> I am not sure when Saleen started painting the vipers, but the paint job is much higher in quality of any factory paint I have ever worked on. Read more about Saleen painting the vipers here.
> 
> Saleen also painted the Ford GTs.
> 
> ...


That may just be for ACR Vipers?

I had an '08 and the paint wasn't any better.


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## theshiznet2004 (Jan 15, 2008)

needs a drop


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## BmW745On19's (Aug 12, 2005)

One I just got in.


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## SoCaLE39 (Nov 19, 2004)

Nice detail job :thumbup:

Its probably just me but that viper just looks like a toy car especially with that wing. Not my style but I respect it for what it is.


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