A pair of Hellcats---soft, med or hard paint?

TMQ

TMQ

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Will be coating a couple Hellcats in next 2 weeks.

To save me time during testing phase, what was your experience re paint?

These cars are in great shape--babied, few swirls and if there is such a thing, passed baggie test.

I`m thinking I can get away with just doing a polish. And then coat.

My initial thoughts:

Rinse-less wash
Clay
ultra fine or fine polish
coating prep
Coat

Tom
 
I have found on my Challenger that the paint is very soft. It'll scratch even with the softest MF. However, being soft means it corrects with very little effort using a fine polish. I've had the best luck using a perfecting pad instead of a correcting pad. Starting with the least aggressive approach has usually ended up being all I needed. Good luck! Take some pics of those monsters!
 
We’ve done 4 hellcats... all black, all brand new, all with considerable defects from the factory.

1 metallic black 2015 model - medium, easy to work with paint.

3 jet black 2016 models - very soft paint.
 
1. Rinseless wash with your preferred product. I primarily use N-914, D114 and ONR.

2. Decontaminate with Pinnacle ultra fine clay. This does a great job on Mopars that are well maintained.

3. Polish with M205 and a white polishing pad. This will remove minor defects, especially with the color that is named "Pitch Black" because it is so soft. On pearlescent paint, like Phantom Black, Redline Red and Granite Crystal Metallic, you may need something a bit more aggressive like a medium cutting pad. I always get a fantastic result by using M205 on Mopars. When deeper defects need to be removed I find myself using Griot's Fast Correcting Cream more often than not.

4. Remove oils with preferred product. I like to use a mixture of N-914, IPA and distilled water during the compounding and polishing steps. When the abrasive work is complete I use Optimum Paint Prep to remove whatever else remains on the paintwork just to be safe.

5. Coat with preferred product. This year I used CQuartz, the new McKee's coating and CSL on a number of different Mopars and they worked perfectly, matte vinyl graphics and all.
 
Perfect...! Thank you very much...

This weekend will be the lime green with matte hood.
The following weekend will be the plum crazy purple with matte hood...

Will be using:

McKee's rinesless wash N-914
Clay with Pinnacle clay and McKee's lube
Polish using Rupes white pad and white ultra fine polish. If too soft--will bump up to yellow-fine polish (That's game plan for moment)
Paint prep for coating---McKee's N-914 diluted to paint prep ratio 1 to 8
McKee's new coating

Wheels coated using Pinnacle Black Label wheel coating
Tires will be coated using McKee's tire coating

Thank you very much for the "mind prep and insight " before diving into the Hellcats!

Tom
 
TMQ said:
Perfect...! Thank you very much...

This weekend will be the lime green with matte hood.
The following weekend will be the plum crazy purple with matte hood...

Will be using:

McKee's rinesless wash N-914
Clay with Pinnacle clay and McKee's lube
Polish using Rupes white pad and white ultra fine polish. If too soft--will bump up to yellow-fine polish (That's game plan for moment)
Paint prep for coating---McKee's N-914 diluted to paint prep ratio 1 to 8
McKee's new coating

Wheels coated using Pinnacle Black Label wheel coating
Tires will be coated using McKee's tire coating

Thank you very much for the "mind prep and insight " before diving into the Hellcats!

Tom
Click to expand...

Sublime Green and Plumb Crazy Purple are not soft. They're medium hardness. You may need to work a at any sort of defects just a bit more than on something as soft as Pitch Black. If the Rupes polish doesn't do the deed don't be worried about stepping up the aggressiveness.
 
osiapstndp said:
Sublime Green and Plumb Crazy Purple are not soft. They're medium hardness. You may need to work a at any sort of defects just a bit more than on something as soft as Pitch Black. If the Rupes polish doesn't do the deed don't be worried about stepping up the aggressiveness.
Click to expand...

This is good to know!

Thanks...

Tom
 
I never trust threads like this. I have seen paint systems change rather often on factory finishes. Best bet is to go in with an open mind and make your own conclusion when you get a hold of the vehicle.
 
Dr Oldz said:
I never trust threads like this. I have seen paint systems change rather often on factory finishes. Best bet is to go in with an open mind and make your own conclusion when you get a hold of the vehicle.
Click to expand...

I agree...Will do series of tests to get what I'm looking for. But you are correct.

Tom
 
Evening all,

Just got home tonight from working on the sublime green HellCat.
Did the full wash, performed chemical and mechanical decontamination. And pulled in shop to towel dry.

The car IS Perfect! There`s no scratches and swirls at all! Shocked by this. Checked and checked outside, in dark with lights etc etc.----Nothing! It is perfect! Paint has pop and flakes showing through big time. After drying, checked and double checked paint---told owner that paint is too good to cut. Lets just leave it alone and put down a nice paint sealant. Lets allow the car to age a more years before cutting the paint...

Tomorrow we`ll pull the wheels off to clean and coat the rim and tires.

Then will lay down some new Blackfire sealant and call it a day.

Ethically I could not justify polishing the car. It was that nice---pristine really.

Tom

View attachment 61126View attachment 61122View attachment 61123View attachment 61124View attachment 61125
 
Thanks Eldo!
I'm really happy how it turned out. Was planning to polish/slight cut and coat. After the wash and clay---was very surprised how nice the paint was. I just could not cut it.
I did not polish this at all. Clayed and went straight to sealant. That's how good the paint was!
Told the owner just to leave it alone for now and go with the sealant. Coat later when we need to polish out swirls.

I lost $$$ by not coating this but felt it was the right thing to do. As of now---the car hasn't been buffed out and is 100 % paint original from factory.

Tom
 
Holy Moly, Tom. What beautiful work my man!! Those things look amazing! :dblthumb2:
 
PaulMys said:
Holy Moly, Tom. What beautiful work my man!! Those things look amazing! :dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

Thank You. Really enjoyed sealing this. The paint was so nice to work with and so pretty to look at too. The day went by in a snap. Was bummed out that I was done. Grin...

Tom
 
IMO if the paint is already perfect, then there’s no need to polish it prior to applying any lsp including a coating.
 
Eldorado2k said:
IMO if the paint is already perfect, then there’s no need to polish it prior to applying any lsp including a coating.
Click to expand...

Correct and that's just what I did...

Tom
 
TMQ said:
Told the owner just to leave it alone for now and go with the sealant. Coat later when we need to polish out swirls.
Click to expand...

I thought you said you passed up on coating it?
 
Sorry for the confusion---

Original plan was to coat it. To do that I would need to use a fine or med fine polish to "cut" the paint to correct swirls and to remove whatever product was on the car.

Well once I got the car nice and clean, chem. decontaminated and clayed---Lo and behold, I could not fine any swirls nor scratches! Looked everywhere---under lights, outside, inside with lights out and using led light---nada! Hummm....Ok. As I was drying the car, noticed paint was factory perfect. It had the "factory" new car paint look. With it's slight orange peel etc. It also had that full look as well. As if it wasn't wet sanded. It was really neat to look at and very beautiful as it is. Then I decided at that point---no polish nor any abrasives of any kind. In order to coat---one needs to at least polish just to remove whatever product that was on there. Since I wasn't going to polish, coating idea was tossed out.

Next best thing was to go with a sealant.

I love sealant, nice to work with, not abrasive and it gives the paint a nice look, a bit of a wax and a bit of a coating look with a touch of buttery feel. Slick as heck too...

So once the car gives me a reason to cut the paint with a polish, we'll coat the car at that point. It could be next year or could be five years out.

As of now, the car has never been cut with a polish. (I checked with the owner) It is 100 % factory paint. Best to leave it alone for now.

Sorry for long post! Hope I made some sense here.

Tom
 
Makes sense... Except what could've been on the paint? Especially after decon & clay? I'd bet nothing. I mean it's not like they hook up some protection unless they brag/charge/or offer to upsell it to you? But protection from the dealer just cuz without you knowing about it? I dunno about that..

To me, it sounded like the perfect virgin canvas. No swirls, smooth, new and ready to accept protection for the 1st time.
 
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