Cricket
New member
- Aug 20, 2013
- 24
- 0
Hello, and thank you, Mike, and everyone else for all you share on here and in videos -
I've read loads of articles and watched the videos, am reading your book, and have practiced on cars we have that "don't matter" or are for parts, and so far, pretty good.
I recently found a good deal on a '99 Miata with 200K miles - runs great, had serious road rash and severe clear coat failure across the hood. The deck lid was also wrinkled mildly.
My Questions:
I've attached a photo composite of the hood, showing tiny (really tiny) insect tracks. Some have a slight depression around them with a slight ridge around the depression. There are about 5 instances of this on the hood only, and then there are 4 or so tiny pinprick dimples or depressions in the clear coat.
1) 2-stage Emerald Mica metallic 18J paint. '99 Miata MX-5: Can these blemishes be fixed with a DA polisher properly? Or is repainting required?
Is this something "worth worrying about" when yes, I DO care how the car looks, I'm a visual person, an artist and photographer, so things like this jump out at me.
Will they be "noticeable" by others, say at an auto-related gathering?
2) This is the 2nd time the hood has been painted in the past month. The person doing the paint is very particular, he's affordable for me compared to those who do a lot of insurance paint and body work, and HE is the one who told me straight up that the hood would have to be repainted after the first time. He had to attend to emergency personal business while my car was with him, and his help painted the hood, leaving some slightly lighter areas on the corners/edges. He also repainted a front fender and a rear fender due to very minor issues that were below the clear. I didn't have to ask him, he just did it, and I was very happy about that and respect his decision without having to be asked. And yes, I noticed all three panels had issues, especially the hood.
3) HE is the one who brought these insect tracks to my attention on the phone before I came to get the car. It was dark and rainy when I picked it up, he said take it home, look at it in the sunlight, let him know. I know he isn't excited to paint the hood _again_ (3rd time), neither am I, but then, DOWN THE ROAD, am I going to regret not having this done right? Is this something that anyone with some experience (or me, after I practice more, and so far, the Intrepid is looking great, including doing some wet-sanding on scratches)
4) His business is paint, body, and mechanical work. He's meticulous and has vintage cars, muscle cars, etc there having paint/body work done, BUT he does not have a state-of-the-art paint booth with the downdraft and all that. It is completely enclosed. He was straight up about that, and I knew it when I first visited his shop. He doesn't do the careful jeweling/wetsanding etc - the paint has swirls throughout that I can see when I use a bright flash on it. Otherwise, it looks tremendous. And, you can't tell the deck lid was ever damaged!
The three examples in the photo are the worst ones, and the yellow tape is 3/4" wide. The photo is way smaller after uploading it than I made it, so if you can't see it well enough, I'll upload them as separate images.
Thank you, Mike, and anyone else with opinions on any or all of my questions.
~Cricket
I've read loads of articles and watched the videos, am reading your book, and have practiced on cars we have that "don't matter" or are for parts, and so far, pretty good.
I recently found a good deal on a '99 Miata with 200K miles - runs great, had serious road rash and severe clear coat failure across the hood. The deck lid was also wrinkled mildly.
My Questions:
I've attached a photo composite of the hood, showing tiny (really tiny) insect tracks. Some have a slight depression around them with a slight ridge around the depression. There are about 5 instances of this on the hood only, and then there are 4 or so tiny pinprick dimples or depressions in the clear coat.
1) 2-stage Emerald Mica metallic 18J paint. '99 Miata MX-5: Can these blemishes be fixed with a DA polisher properly? Or is repainting required?
Is this something "worth worrying about" when yes, I DO care how the car looks, I'm a visual person, an artist and photographer, so things like this jump out at me.
Will they be "noticeable" by others, say at an auto-related gathering?
2) This is the 2nd time the hood has been painted in the past month. The person doing the paint is very particular, he's affordable for me compared to those who do a lot of insurance paint and body work, and HE is the one who told me straight up that the hood would have to be repainted after the first time. He had to attend to emergency personal business while my car was with him, and his help painted the hood, leaving some slightly lighter areas on the corners/edges. He also repainted a front fender and a rear fender due to very minor issues that were below the clear. I didn't have to ask him, he just did it, and I was very happy about that and respect his decision without having to be asked. And yes, I noticed all three panels had issues, especially the hood.
3) HE is the one who brought these insect tracks to my attention on the phone before I came to get the car. It was dark and rainy when I picked it up, he said take it home, look at it in the sunlight, let him know. I know he isn't excited to paint the hood _again_ (3rd time), neither am I, but then, DOWN THE ROAD, am I going to regret not having this done right? Is this something that anyone with some experience (or me, after I practice more, and so far, the Intrepid is looking great, including doing some wet-sanding on scratches)
4) His business is paint, body, and mechanical work. He's meticulous and has vintage cars, muscle cars, etc there having paint/body work done, BUT he does not have a state-of-the-art paint booth with the downdraft and all that. It is completely enclosed. He was straight up about that, and I knew it when I first visited his shop. He doesn't do the careful jeweling/wetsanding etc - the paint has swirls throughout that I can see when I use a bright flash on it. Otherwise, it looks tremendous. And, you can't tell the deck lid was ever damaged!
The three examples in the photo are the worst ones, and the yellow tape is 3/4" wide. The photo is way smaller after uploading it than I made it, so if you can't see it well enough, I'll upload them as separate images.
Thank you, Mike, and anyone else with opinions on any or all of my questions.
~Cricket
rops:
I'm afraid to take anymore off until I see the shop-owner. I haven't sanded through the clearcoat, but even though I have excellent photo documentation, I don't want to risk compromising getting it done right. He'll repaint it, but what the heck are they gong to mess up next?? This car was painted in late September the first time, then the hood and three quarter panels were repainted in October, then lo and behold, they screwed up the hood again (22+ fish-eyes "bug tracks"), the rear quarter panel wheel well edge peeled due to bad taping/painting, and a front quarter panel had fish-eyes. These panels were repainted just before Christmas closing. Shop owner has been a jewel, wants it done right, and has had unexpected serious health problems - he wants this to be as good as he promised it would be, but his help does the prepping, sanding, compounding, buffing.... They don't speak English and my Spanish is not body shop / paint shop Spanish; I've no idea how the owner trains them - I haven't heard him speak any Spanish. Beautiful wall photos of classic cars he's painted, plus his personal cars at his business do not equal same work by the help who may not have been there very long or been properly trained/experienced. His customer recommendations were excellent, but their cars weren't painted within the past couple three months.... My brother's hobby paint booth in his 4-car garage is cleaner and better-sealed against contamination.
