Lotus Elise "60th Anniversary" Paint Correction

[RaskyR1]

This one was just in for a quick pre-sale polish and full correction was not the goal. I did put in a little more work than I was being paid for on this one as a 1-step just wasn’t getting the paint to a point where I was happy with it.

Before

Bugs from the previous summer



Rear hatch had some deep scratches that I tried to improve a little…






Front panel had some wicked scratches in it….not sure what happened here but I was able to remove most of them.








50/50 with the Brinkmann




After pics










Some RIDS remained
















Thanks for looking,

Rasky

 

[loudog2]

Always a job well done.

 

[Tato]

Wonderful work on that Lotus... This car is gorgeous!

I liked your write up and your attitude to place scratches pictures on the afters, that's very comforting for us who many times have to decide what to leave behind in order to maintain paint integrity.

On face of the before situation, you achieved pretty decent correction.

Even with the small details (which are part of the job), car went out gorgeous.

Have I said your signature is one of the best ever wrote?

Wait! I say this to myself everyday while working, who kicked swirls' ass!!? Who!? Who!? ahahah

Thanks for that.

Kind Regards.

 

[Evan.J]

Nice Job Chad!

Just did a Lotus V6 Cup Car not too long ago

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful pictures Chad. That black Lotus looks great now. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RaskyR1]

Always a job well done.

Thank you!

Wonderful work on that Lotus... This car is gorgeous!

I liked your write up and your attitude to place scratches pictures on the afters, that's very comforting for us who many times have to decide what to leave behind in order to maintain paint integrity.

On face of the before situation, you achieved pretty decent correction.

Even with the small details (which are part of the job), car went out gorgeous.

Have I said your signature is one of the best ever wrote?

Wait! I say this to myself everyday while working, who kicked swirls' ass!!? Who!? Who!? ahahah

Thanks for that.

Kind Regards.

Thank you for the kind words! :dblthumb2:

Nice Job Chad!

Just did a Lotus V6 Cup Car not too long ago

Thanks Evan. I recall seeing that one (much nicer car IMO) on FB and thought I liked your post. I was actually just finish this one up when you posted those too if I recall correctly....I just hadn't gotten around to posting these yet.

Beautiful pictures Chad. That black Lotus looks great now. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mike!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Beautiful car and nice work as always Chad.


:dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Some RIDS remained

When it comes to RIDS it's always a judgment call each person has to make as far as your comfort level to abrading the paint in an effort to remove 100% of the RIDS.

The last thing anyone wants to see when working on a basecoat/clearcoat car is the color of the basecoat on the face of the buffing pad.

Or in the case of a single stage paint, burning through to expose the primer or even the body panel.


I like to hedge on the side of caution, especially if the car in question is a daily driver.

 

[The Enforcer]

nice work! what was your process here and how soft/hard is this paint? I have a Lotus Elise I am doing tomorrow and would like to get an idea of what to expect. Also how many hours were spent here?

 

[RaskyR1]

Beautiful car and nice work as always Chad.

Thanks Mike!


:dblthumb2:

nice work! what was your process here and how soft/hard is this paint? I have a Lotus Elise I am doing tomorrow and would like to get an idea of what to expect. Also how many hours were spent here?

Thank you!

I guess I'd say it was on the harder side, but each persons view on how hard/soft paint is will be different. The paint was in bad enough shape that I personally wasn't happy with the results I was seeing after a few different 1-step test spots, so I chose to do a 2-step on the majority of the car, even though I didn't charge the owner for a full 2-steps.

My initial correction was done using the Rupes LHR21 with a 5" BP and Kevin Brown's M205 method. (KBM205) :dblthumb2:

This made quick work of the defects and I followed that up with HD Polish on a finishing pad. I did have to bust out the LHR75 and TA50 for work in some of the tighter areas.


I didn't really keep track of the time on this one as I worked on it Mon - Thurs evening after my FT job, but if I had to guess it was around 10-12hrs.


Rasky