Just a little fun I had over the course of Friday and Saturday. I did a paint correction for the first time ever. The outside detail took me almost 16hrs to complete.
Stuffs Used
Harbor Freight Dual Action Polisher
Astro Pneumatic 5" backing plate
Chemical Guys Hexlogic Pads (2x orange, 2x white, 2x black)
Meguiars M105
Meguiars M205
Chemical Guys Blacklight
Collonite Insulator Wax #845
I had purchased the car used in January knowing that there was problems with the paint. There was a couple spots where bird poop (at least I presumed it to be bird poop) etched into the clear coat pretty deep. The trunk had some ghosting and deep paint chip damage where the previous owner debadged the car, and of course some RIDS and swirl marks.
I looked at detailers pricing for a paint correction and it was $300+ and I figured I could learn it, buy the materials and have plenty of materials left over to do my car several times over and other family/friends cars if I wanted.
Some shots of the problem area's on the trunk and other spots.
Of course I did a 2 bucket wash and decon'd the paint using a nanoskin mitt. Then went to work.
Here are some finished shots of the car. Not quite 95% but I believe it to be over 90% corrected. Some of the problem area's were too deep and would probably need wet sanding to correct them. However the swirl marks are gone and most of the RIDS are barely noticeable.
These shots match up with the damage shots from above.
Finished shots of different parts of the car.
And some full car shots. I treated the trim and tires, cleaned the glass, and touched up my trunk emblem with plastidip (the polisher took off some of the plastidip from the emblem)
The trunk I am going to need to touch up the paint where the previous owner chipped the paint. I will also probably need to wet sand the etchings on the hood as well as 1 of the area's on the trunk.
I also need to work on my technique. The backing plate was getting really hot when I was working with the orange pads. At first I thought it was normal, but noticed that the velcro in the middle of the backing plate started melting. The orange pads were pretty much starting to fall apart on me towards the end. The foam was tearing around the felt on the back of the pad. I might be putting too much pressure on the pad when compounding and I am probably not cleaning the pad enough times. I figure with a little bit more time behind the polisher, I will refine my technique.
Thanks for looking. Friday and Saturday left me tired and sore, but when I came out Sunday and saw the car in the morning light..... The feeling of satisfaction was great. Also 3 of my neighbors came out while I was cleaning my garage today and complimented the looks of my car. They noticed a huge difference in its appearance, which is saying a lot since I had been taking care of it since I got it with a weekly 2 bucket wash regiment and waxing.
Stuffs Used
Harbor Freight Dual Action Polisher
Astro Pneumatic 5" backing plate
Chemical Guys Hexlogic Pads (2x orange, 2x white, 2x black)
Meguiars M105
Meguiars M205
Chemical Guys Blacklight
Collonite Insulator Wax #845
I had purchased the car used in January knowing that there was problems with the paint. There was a couple spots where bird poop (at least I presumed it to be bird poop) etched into the clear coat pretty deep. The trunk had some ghosting and deep paint chip damage where the previous owner debadged the car, and of course some RIDS and swirl marks.
I looked at detailers pricing for a paint correction and it was $300+ and I figured I could learn it, buy the materials and have plenty of materials left over to do my car several times over and other family/friends cars if I wanted.
Some shots of the problem area's on the trunk and other spots.
Of course I did a 2 bucket wash and decon'd the paint using a nanoskin mitt. Then went to work.
Here are some finished shots of the car. Not quite 95% but I believe it to be over 90% corrected. Some of the problem area's were too deep and would probably need wet sanding to correct them. However the swirl marks are gone and most of the RIDS are barely noticeable.
These shots match up with the damage shots from above.
Finished shots of different parts of the car.
And some full car shots. I treated the trim and tires, cleaned the glass, and touched up my trunk emblem with plastidip (the polisher took off some of the plastidip from the emblem)
The trunk I am going to need to touch up the paint where the previous owner chipped the paint. I will also probably need to wet sand the etchings on the hood as well as 1 of the area's on the trunk.
I also need to work on my technique. The backing plate was getting really hot when I was working with the orange pads. At first I thought it was normal, but noticed that the velcro in the middle of the backing plate started melting. The orange pads were pretty much starting to fall apart on me towards the end. The foam was tearing around the felt on the back of the pad. I might be putting too much pressure on the pad when compounding and I am probably not cleaning the pad enough times. I figure with a little bit more time behind the polisher, I will refine my technique.
Thanks for looking. Friday and Saturday left me tired and sore, but when I came out Sunday and saw the car in the morning light..... The feeling of satisfaction was great. Also 3 of my neighbors came out while I was cleaning my garage today and complimented the looks of my car. They noticed a huge difference in its appearance, which is saying a lot since I had been taking care of it since I got it with a weekly 2 bucket wash regiment and waxing.
