Driven To Death - Paint restoration & detail

LiquidFaction · 06-26-06, 11:29

A few months back i purchased a 2nd hand car that while in mechanicaly good shape, looks like its spent years rotting in a field (although with 270,000 km on it i doubt its ever sat still for a day in its life - hense the "driven to death"). I've spent the last few months fixing the interior trim, vinyl and plastic moldings and im about ready to start the outside - which is the ugly part.

The car is riddled with small scratches & rust damage, the clear-coat is pealing on the front fender and the rest of the body is very badly oxidized.

I can take care of the rust with the tried & true method - a grinder, filler and a few weeks of sanding till my arms fall off. But i've never been good with paint restoration. I'd love to get a gloss back to the paint, and especialy fix up the peel on the front fender - any suggestions for a perfectionist with little-to-no experiance ?

btw, the cars a 97' Pontiac Sunbird (mechanicaly the cars great, and drives well - can't ask for better in a first car)

mikebai1990 · 06-26-06, 11:33

Maybe a new paint job? I have no experience with body work, so I'm just throwing out some suggestions...

LiquidFaction · 06-26-06, 11:39

Unfortunatly a paint job is out of my budget. I've thought about it but i really don't think i can justify it. I would actualy settle for getting the paint to a "better" condition.

i dont think anythings ever really been done to the paint, maybe it could be buffed down to an even layer & given a new clear coat?

themightytimmah · 06-26-06, 11:49

You could buy the equipment and paint it yourself, single stage would be fine. My buddy Jamie painted his first car, and while I wouldn't try black on your first shot, his is pearl white and it looks great. If you paint several thin layers, then 2000grit sand and buff it out, it'll look good.

MrSelfDestruct · 06-26-06, 02:03

I can only imagine how ****** the paint must look on that car. Hell, most used Sunfires that are less than 5 years old look terrible to me (such cheap paint from the factory). I would almost think a cheap Maaco paintjob would be more worth it then spending all the time and money for supplies to try and polish such a beater..

Shelbrain · 06-26-06, 02:35

Are there any vocational programs in your area that teach auto body/painting. Some of these places will paint your car for material only.

LiquidFaction · 06-26-06, 09:38

I'm hesitant to do that because the last paint job i saw come out of my college (& before that highschool) was poor at best.

Taking a closer look at "the beast", it looks like the front and rear bumpers are the only places where the clear coat is peeling, and both parts being plastic i've decided to attempt to sand them down and re-apply a clear coat to both areas. I was thinking a good clean and a once over with a clay bar - then a wet sand with a 2000 grit sandpaper should get enough of the debris off so that i can mask off the entire section.

The rest of the body (outside the rust) is just oxidized, and hopefuly i can get that taken care of with a light abrasive polish, or maybe some Klasse AIO (i've been reading, and it seems to be highly recommended).

The black trim is faded too... Is it worth attempting a dye kit (some areas have gone a grey/white)? or should i pick up some matte black automotive paint and put my art skills to use?

velobard · 06-27-06, 05:13

If the paint under all that mess is still solid, which is certainly no guarantee, you should be able to bring it back. Check out the old Bug in this thread http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60499 There are plenty of other threads of people doing amazing things with old paint jobs, especially in the Click and Brag section.

From what you said, it sounds like the bumpers are the main problem and will need a repaint. Of course, they'll need a flex additive to the paint. I'm not the one to ask how to best deal with that, but I wish you luck.

Just so you know, some older GM paint can hang in there well enough. My old beater that my wife's been driving since she wrecked her car last winter is a '90 Olds Touring Sedan. I decided to polish it up a bit before she put it back on the road and it came out pretty well, even just working by hand. This car has never been garaged. BTW, this was my first real attempt at an exterior detail. It took a few hours, but I basically did a wash, clay (that made the biggest difference in my case), polish and wax.

From this

To this

If you can swing the purchase of a PC you'll be doing yourself a big favor.

Oh yeah, there are also several products out there to help restore black trim, such as Mother's Back to Black. I haven't used any of them, but there's no need to use paint or dye.

MrSelfDestruct · 06-27-06, 07:20

I'm getting AMAZING results from my 11year old paint on my Grand Prix.
Yes, it's taking alot of work and time (I'm doing 1 or 2 panels at a time,
cause I just can't find the time to work on my own car

) I've repainted the spoiler, and it turned out great.
Duplicolor+clearcoat, wetsanding and the one painter from the bodyshop didn't beleive that I did it myself! (he's pretty good to.. can spot imperfections that I can't).

As long as the clearcoat isn't totally fried, you'll likely be able to get some decent results out of GM paint, and it's a very rewarding feeling.

You might need to do some wetsanding (as I did) to get rid of scratches.. but no big deal.
Once you hit it with the rubbing compound it's like BAM! new paint!

Heres after some hard work... love it! There were some scratches on the decklid which came out nicely with the touchup paint.. can't even tell they were there!

Heres what it looked like before (your average un-maintained 10year old car)

LiquidFaction · 06-28-06, 02:46

Wow.

Considering my bumpers look exactly like your spoiler did, I suddenly feel better about this =)

I'll probably give the entire car a good clay first, I don't think i'll be repainting, because the paint is still looks decent, but i will definiately lay some new clear coat on the bumpers with a wet sanding between layers to get that nice shine.

Great job!!

MrSelfDestruct · 06-28-06, 07:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidFaction

Wow.

Considering my bumpers look exactly like your spoiler did, I suddenly feel better about this =)

I'll probably give the entire car a good clay first, I don't think i'll be repainting, because the paint is still looks decent, but i will definiately lay some new clear coat on the bumpers with a wet sanding between layers to get that nice shine.

Great job!!

Just to clarify- I REPAINTED the spoiler. Sanded it down to the primer and used 2 cans of Duplicolor color-match, and then clearcoat over top of that.

LiquidFaction · 06-28-06, 09:13

I know

I just said 'I' won't be repainting, besides the clear coat and some surface oxidation the paint is still in good condition... or at least there is enough left that it can be brought back to good condition.

Anyways. once i get into it i'll get a better picture - it may come down to repainting but i doubt it. Thanks for all the ideas guys.