Mercury Marauder - black in the wrong hands

[cfd135]

Here's an example of what not to do. This car had gone into a body shop for some moderate collision repair, and the owner had a few extra panels beyond the damage repainted. The body and paint process seemed to go fairly well, I would say average for black. What followed was disastarous. The body shop attempted to do some buffin' and when that didn't work they sent it to the local detail shop, both of whom have never followed the teachings of Mike Phillips. Just some compound that the guy from the detail supply company says is "great stuff" and an old wool pad sitting around is all you need, right? Now that I think of it, the compound is probably also left over from 1993. And they must have made it snappy too, we need to get the next car in! I'm not bashing, as I know the guy at the body shop, and like I said the paint came out average, but if you don't know what you're doing, stay away.

Most of the major defects were present, swirls, holograms, RIDS, overspray, TOGW, etc.

The Marauder is a limited production modern muscle car, and I've always thought they were pretty cool. This one is a one owner daily driver, and at the point in time that it was in my care, there was no factory paint to be found, everything at different points had been repainted.

My process -

Two bucket wash in Dawn
Griot's clay, removed some of but not all overspray
Compounding -
M105 via LC purple foamed wool pads/Makita, IPA wipedowns
Polishing -
M205 via LC orange CCS/Makita, IPA wipedowns
Finishing -
M205 via LC white CCS/Makita, IPA wipedowns
LSP -
Griot's Garage One Step Sealant via GG orange pad/PC

Total time - 12+ hours, this is a HUGE car!
Sorry no full before pics, as I started it after dark, close ups only.

Leading edge of hood burned through, obviously nothing I could do, owner was informed before job began of what to expect

Serious TOGW, or compound residue actually

They just keep comin'

I did not capture any 'during' or 50/50 shots, so here we go right to the photo shoot.














Thanks for looking,
Jesse
Attention to Details
Carver MA

 

[cfd135]

Oops, getting the hang of posting, too many pics -

Thanks for looking
Jesse

 

[Mirror Detailing]

WOW o WOW! That was a GREAT turn around! I love those cars and you made that one look great!

 

[ScottB]

with Mercury now being disbanded, this is likely there last hurrah. Steep gears and a big motor. Nice work indeed !

 

[Mirror Detailing]

with Mercury now being disbanded, this is likely there last hurrah. Steep gears and a big motor. Nice work indeed !

Which sucks. i have been trying to get one of these vehicles but they hold there value quite well and with Mercury going away this car will probably raise in value some since its going to become a collector style cars for those in great condition!

 

[ScottB]

down in South Florida there is actually a Maurader club that meets weekly at TowerShops. Most have Diablosport tuning done, and alot are now being Supercharged. I think they are the best Mercury offering and did alot of what the GN's did for Buick.

 

[fancyfootwork]

Nice turn around man. A buddy of mine has one, too bad its plagued by '22s' and blacked out lights.

 

[mcpp66]

What's TOGW?

 

[Mirror Detailing]

What's TOGW?

The Other Guys Wax/Work

 

[rohnramirez]

Wonderful job on getting a flawless shine!

 

[Jenn1270]

I'm still trying to find a good body and paint shop here in Dallas to fix the mess that was made by the last one after he got clipped by a teeny bopper

 

[rwright]

Why did you use a purple wool pad? Hard paint? Just curious.

 

[cfd135]

Why did you use a purple wool pad? Hard paint? Just curious.

Unfortunately I don't yet have an expansive selection of pads. I have most of the LC CCS foam pads, various wool pads, and the purple foamed wool. After trying on test areas all the aggressive pads I had, including the yellow CCS, the purple had the best results with the least amount of marring. This car presented some difficulty due to at least three different areas that had been repainted, again no factory paint appeared to be intact. My wish list includes some HT and Surbuf pads for these exceptionally beaten jobs.

Any feedback out there on the purple foamed wool pads?

 

[rwright]

Cool. I haven't used the purple foamed wool pad yet. I have 2 SurBuf pads but haven't used them yet. As for the HT pads, you will love them! Life isn't the greatest for those pads but they cut and finish so well. I did a 3 step correction on a black SRT-4 Neon recently and at first the owner stated that the rear bumper and trunk had been repainted. Well as the time came for the actual correction I found out nearly every panel had been repainted! I understand your pain. Car looks great by the way!

 

[RTexasF]

I would call that one a miracle recovery. Your rotary skills are among the very best. Congratulations on such exceptional work. No doubt the owner walked around the car hardly believing how it looks now.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

What's TOGW?

TOGW = The Other Guy's Wax

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Excellent job on capturing how HORRIFIC the paint on the car was when you got to it. For the life of me I can't imagine how someone else could have inflicted so much damage and called themselves a "detailer"?

If there were an award for the worst buffing techniques this person would be in the running no problem... Maybe the owner could pass you name off to them and you could show them a few things... or share this forum with them?

Amazing restoration! Hopefully the owner will take care of the paint now or have you take care of it for them, did you sign them up for a maintenance plan?

Paint is thin, having someone destroy the paint removes a little paint and having a Pro such as yourself undo the damage removes a little paint, there does come a time when taking careful care of what's left becomes necessary as well as vitally important.

:dblthumb2:

 

[POPPAJ]

Nice work! What amazes me is that you did the correction in 12 hours. I've got two Marauders and it's a two day job with a polish and LSP for each. Lots of real estate to cover.

 

[5.4 Shelby]

Fantastic save on a beautiful car. I was crying out loud "please stop!" as I was scrolling through the befores. You definitely gave that car its youth back.

 

[cfd135]

I am thankful and humbled by everybody's kind words. This is only my second posting and I feel very welcomed! As somebody else recently pointed out, I can now check off my accomplishment list a commendation by the legendary Mr. Phillips. Thanks Mike, that is a huge confidence booster, and you are certainly held in very high regard on this site. I have many more pics of other jobs to share with everybody, so don't touch that browser.