Operation beater overhaul!

Sizzle Chest

Sizzle Chest

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I had the pleasure of working on this beauty today! LOL. 1999 Nissan Xterra. 157,500 miles on the clock. Has lived outside in the Florida sun/weather since new! 16 years out in the elements and I do not think it has ever been washed, besides being rained on, nor waxed EVER!

My challenge:I had one morning to attempt to get this thing at least somewhat presentable.The car belongs to someone who lives in a condo and their neighbors have been complaining to the association about the condition of the car and how it has become an eyesore.


***There were no guarantees, warranties, neither expressed nor implied to the owners!I said I would see what I could do for them and they agreed to let me have a shot…however I was under a time crunch.One morning, a few hours was all I had to work with!***


The trim on this vehicle was just…well…beat. That describes it. The last time I saw something black turn white was Michael Jackson! It looked like someone spray painted the trim a silver/white color. The paint was just hammered as well. Deep key marks and scratches, clear failing, rust spots, heavy tree/pine sap, etc.It was just a mess. And someone was kind enough to key in the work F*$& on the tailgate.How nice!


Process:UWW’d car down.I did NOT clay it. Didn’t have the time, nor did the paint’s condition warrant it. I used Mothers Back to Black Heavy Duty Trim Cleaner on my PC with a cyclo brush. Worked out pretty well as I thought it would. I had done another vehicle with this product, albeit, not as bad as this one and had very good results. I wiped off the excess cleaner with a clean utility microfiber. Solution Finish was used on the exterior trim.


I broke out the Flex 3401, green hex logic (BAP) big ass pad (7”) and used M205 in an attempt to bring some shine back to the lifeless, extremely dirty paint. M205 did the trick, it brought some life back into the paint and I was satisfied with the results.I used M205 on the headlights, marker lights and tail lights as well. I used CP Erasure after polishing. I hit all the exterior glass with Duragloss 755 and it really cleaned it up very nicely. HD glass cleaner and glass microfiber towel followed on the inside and out.


I waxed the vehicle with Megs Paint Protect. This was my 2nd time using this product. It has a very strange odor. It’s a very watery liquid. A little goes a LONG way.I wanted to put something on that would give maximum durability with as little ‘work’ as possible and I did not have to worry about how the paint ‘looked’ afterwards. It did add a bit of shine to the finish as well as slickness. Overall a good product for ‘details’ such as these!


Blackfire Total Eclipse Tire Gel was the tire dressing of choice for this chariot.


I gave the interior a quick vacuum, aired up the tires, smacked it on the ass and let her go!


Pics:




































Before:




After:





















Had to take pics out in the street...this thing was leaking power steering fluid like it was going out of style!










Thanks for looking!
 
Wow I didn't know black plastic could turn white!!! Great save and if you had a few more days I bet you could have really done a full number on it but for the amount of time you had, that was a turnaround worthy of quoting!

"remember when Michael Jackson pulled a Sizzle Chest and turned black again?"

Ok I tried.
 
Nice job. That trim looked the same color as the paint.

I have to agree it was an eyesore.
 
I was sure that mud flap was supposed to be paint! WOW! That had to be an experience for ya!
 
Thanks everyone!!!

LOL Jae!! You gave it a shot man... Haha!
 
I can imagine many nice things that people can achieve when restoring cars in such condition like this one, but your results are beyond my imagination.
The worst thing is that when the owners came to receive it they either needed a blood pressure lowering drugs or they lost their speech.
If I would have do something crazy like this, I would make a serious looking face & say them: Look, I ###### up your car but don't worry here is the better one I bought as a compensation. :laughing:
 
The Guz said:
Nice job. That trim looked the same color as the paint.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's crazy, almost looks color matched. I did a double take on the bumper pics thinking they where just a poor paint job.

Nice work!
 
Nice Job!

But what really gets me about this thread is why would anyone ever want to live in a place where the neighbor's can complain about the condition of my car and force me to change it? Just because they feel the need to "keep up with the Jones" doesn't mean I have to. Snobs! A neighborhood full of snobs... Just where I want to live... Right!
 
Shark Politur said:
I can imagine many nice things that people can achieve when restoring cars in such condition like this one, but your results are beyond my imagination.
The worst thing is that when the owners came to receive it they either needed a blood pressure lowering drugs or they lost their speech.
If I would have do something crazy like this, I would make a serious looking face & say them: Look, I ###### up your car but don't worry here is the better one I bought as a compensation. :laughing:
Click to expand...


Thanks Shark!!! LOL, that is funny! I should have told them that!!!!




Thanks for all the responses everyone. Yes, it really did look like it was painted!


:xyxthumbs:
 
How did you end up polishing without claying? I feel like that defeats the purpose.. but it obviously worked so I'm curious.
 
WOW that car was hammered, the bumpers even more so - never seen them that bad before.

What an awesome turnaround.

Thanks for sharing
 
OTSDetail said:
How did you end up polishing without claying? I feel like that defeats the purpose.. but it obviously worked so I'm curious.
Click to expand...



Just polish it! LOL I was under strict time constraints and didn't want to spend my time claying. Also the paint surface was very damaged: heavy scratches, clear failure, tons of heavy tree/pine sap, etc; so I felt like it was not necessary.

I wanted to polish it some to bring a little shine back to the 'good' surface that was left as well as knock down some of those scratches.

In some instances, in my opinion, claying is not necessary prior to polishing.

Hope this answers your question!
 
OTSDetail said:
How did you end up polishing without claying? I feel like that defeats the purpose.. but it obviously worked so I'm curious.
Click to expand...

On Meguiar's Paint Protect picture I see that it's not a modern 2K clear coat paint but 1K metallic basecoat paint & clear coat, most cars made before year 2000 had such paints, same you can see about the headlights which are not clear coated with 2K clear coat & made from modern polycarbonate as well, that's why ask Sizzle Chest how long it took him to restore it, few seconds & they look like new.
I noticed that older cars don't have the same holograms, swirls as modern cars, they can be damaged only by sun & weather, have scratches, clear coat peeling off.
Also their clear coat is much less glossy than new metallic paints, completely different things.
It looks like this 1999 Nissan Xterra clear coat was cracked & broken.
Regarding the clay bar, in this situation with this paint the results if using clay bar or not would be the same, because polishing by machine cleans all the defects, contamination, oxidation better than clay bar would, only pads got more dirty, that's it.
This week I'll do a classic car, it got Original Single Stage Metallic paint, so also depending on time I'll think if to use clay bar or not, from experience I noticed such older simple paints doesn't require clay, same as Single Stage Paint is perfectly cleaned with professional polish & machine, wool or white foam pads.

But all modern cars require clay bar as without it the polishing process will be much longer & smoothing out defects like swirls & holograms will take much longer, but even here clay bar only helps to prepare for polishing & finish. In general polish & clay bar are the very same things, try to divide the panel like hood in two similar cubes, the first one polish by hand without clay then wax, the 2nd clay only.
You'll see that if you go over 1st panel with a clay bar there will be 0 dirt to extract, while 2nd panel without polish & wax will look clean but dead to the touch. So polish & wax are the only things that make the job, clay bar only cleans, that's the purpose, you can't clay the paint & deliver it to the customer, even if they are blind they will feel by touch paint is dead.

Also not everybody knows how to work on modern paint systems with a clay bar, because some clay bars can leave you with marred surface & even scratches then instead of making your job easier & shorter you'll get in trouble, then only polish & wax can bring the situation back to normal.
I like to work with clay bar even if I understand it's not always necessary, you might ask why?
Because I use one piece of clay bar for 1 work, even if manufacturers say you can use it 2-3 times.
I think this is wrong, dirty clay bar even if used only once on a new car is an enemy of any common sense logic seeking car care expert to use it second time on a new car.
The only exception is when I do use same clay bar 3 times maximum, 1st new on new car, then up to 2 times on a single stage paint or ss metallic paint, also glass, wheels because such restorations anyway I do with a machine so little dirty clay bar is OK, but imagine if you use it second time on new car & the tiny oxidation, rust, dust, dirt, sand collected from the first time move to new car again. This is disaster, never do it.
There is one car wash in Tel Aviv (all car washes here do it, I think USA, Europe, Asia is the same ####), I have seen guy there has such a huge clay bar ball that he "detailed" at least 50 cars before then naive customers come & he simply kills their paint.
Look at this car wash, sometimes their brushes fall during wash & metal that holds the brush hits the roof peeling off the paint, I have seen myself there how water enters headlights, mirrors fall out.
This is the most ###### up place in Tel Aviv (all car washes here use only old equipment) but people who wash their cars there are dumb asses that's for sure) even hand washes kill the paint fast, their microfibers are so ####### dirty, they fall on the ground & guys pick it up full of sand & small stones & start to move it over the paint to dry! This is how we live here :laughing: & the people in "detailing" & car wash business I mean employees are mostly illegal workers & losers who can't find any other job, they steal from customers cars anything they find inside: pens, pencils, sunglasses, electronics, small change, lighters...even juice or mineral water, chewing gum, sandwich... it makes me sick when I see it & explain to all my customers: Never enter a car wash if you want to live. Would you enter here?

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P.S. It doesn't matter the details of the detailing, the most important question is: Do you trust the person?
 
WOW! GOOD JOB. That xterra was brought back from the graveyard.
 
Nice work brother! I will keep those trim restore tips in mind.
 
I enjoy the ocassional beater car every once in a while because you can make more of a visual improvement and the customer is usually amazed. Given the time constraints you had to deal with along with the condition, i'm sure it bugged you to do far less than what you're capable of but that's all the customer wanted and paid for. You did much more than they expected i'm sure. Just the trim and headlight work were phenomenal!

No complaints from the HOA now!
 
That trim cleaner with the brush did a great job! I may have to try that on my dads 2008 Frontier! The bumper step and plastic around the windshield wipers has turned very light despite it being a very well cared for truck. Usually I use 303 but it doesn't last long.
 
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