Hi all,
Mike Phillips suggested I posted this in the forum.
A couple of years ago, I had a 1997 Toyota repainted – the clear coat had started “chalking” in several areas. It was a car I was giving to my son, good shape but didn’t want to spend a ton of money. I took it to one of the chain auto painting shops (1Day in California). I don’t want to use the wrong terminology (as I have read here on the forum, so I don’t want to call it a “one stage” paint, but it is a single coat catalyzed paint system (Sherwin Williams urethane) that had “some” glossiness to it. There was an extra-cost option at the time to add color sanding and clear-coat to the paint job, but I chose not to do it at that time, and I don't know for sure if it would have involved a different type of paint.
When delivered, the finish on the car had a reasonable gloss – not great, but reasonable. There was a slight mottling or “orange peel” surface (i.e. tiny pits) that, for example caught the polish that I applied 30 days after the paint job.
Now, it’s 2+ years later. The car has been parked outdoors for that period of time near the California Coast (Santa Barbara) while my son has been away at school.
Now, the car’s finish is quite dull. I tried taking an automatic buffer and some light polishing compound, was very careful in a test area, but could not get much improvement after 10 minutes or so of careful buffing and then applying a high quality polish – hardly any improvement at all.
So I'm looking for a place or a person I can take the car to for evaluation to see if the car can be "buffed out", or possibly color-sanded now and clear-coated. I'm looking for some approximate dollar estimates. If it's more than $400 or so I probably won't do anything, so based on my description, if any of you pros out there know that a typical restoral like this would be more than that, I'd appreciate you letting me know. But if you think either a buff-out or wetsand/clearcoat is possible for that kind of money, let me know. I won't waste anyone's time, either. Just looking for some advice here. But if you think it's possible within my budget, let me know and we can arrange to communicate. Car is still in Santa Barbara until the end of the school year, so no rush. Sorry I can't post pictures for another couple of weeks.
Thanks,
Ron
Mike Phillips suggested I posted this in the forum.
A couple of years ago, I had a 1997 Toyota repainted – the clear coat had started “chalking” in several areas. It was a car I was giving to my son, good shape but didn’t want to spend a ton of money. I took it to one of the chain auto painting shops (1Day in California). I don’t want to use the wrong terminology (as I have read here on the forum, so I don’t want to call it a “one stage” paint, but it is a single coat catalyzed paint system (Sherwin Williams urethane) that had “some” glossiness to it. There was an extra-cost option at the time to add color sanding and clear-coat to the paint job, but I chose not to do it at that time, and I don't know for sure if it would have involved a different type of paint.
When delivered, the finish on the car had a reasonable gloss – not great, but reasonable. There was a slight mottling or “orange peel” surface (i.e. tiny pits) that, for example caught the polish that I applied 30 days after the paint job.
Now, it’s 2+ years later. The car has been parked outdoors for that period of time near the California Coast (Santa Barbara) while my son has been away at school.
Now, the car’s finish is quite dull. I tried taking an automatic buffer and some light polishing compound, was very careful in a test area, but could not get much improvement after 10 minutes or so of careful buffing and then applying a high quality polish – hardly any improvement at all.
So I'm looking for a place or a person I can take the car to for evaluation to see if the car can be "buffed out", or possibly color-sanded now and clear-coated. I'm looking for some approximate dollar estimates. If it's more than $400 or so I probably won't do anything, so based on my description, if any of you pros out there know that a typical restoral like this would be more than that, I'd appreciate you letting me know. But if you think either a buff-out or wetsand/clearcoat is possible for that kind of money, let me know. I won't waste anyone's time, either. Just looking for some advice here. But if you think it's possible within my budget, let me know and we can arrange to communicate. Car is still in Santa Barbara until the end of the school year, so no rush. Sorry I can't post pictures for another couple of weeks.
Thanks,
Ron
