Its been a cracking day of detailing, the main focus of which was MissyR's white Astra Sporthatch, writeup to follow in the next couple of days when I sort through the piccies...
But one things caught my eye today, and that was the bonnet on Gordon's (caldeonia) car... It had just been resprayed to repair some acid damage, and the finish was, to put it mildly, rather dull!
The cause was poorly finished spray work, with fine OP:
No real reflection from the Sun Gun...
So we started off with a little experimenting to wet sand this bonnet, to flat it back they way it should have been done in the bodyshop! Starting off on the left side of the bonnet, we used 2000 Grit Abralon pad on a Dual Action polisher, speed 4 with steady passes and only light pressure until the finish looked to be restored in terms of the levels of peel. This was followed with 4000 Grit Abralon pad. The hazing was then corrected using Fast Cut Plus, and then finished and refined using
Meguiars #205 Ultra Finishing Polish. Quarter of an hour gave this small section on the left...
Delighted with this, Gordon and I went on to wetsand the whole bonnet... I went round with 2000 Grit, Gordon followed with 4000 grit. Left hand side of the bonnet done first here, followed by Fast Cut. Some pics, shown pre refining with #205...
Note the difference in clarity and reflection, on the left clear and sharp and on the right it was just dull...
Clarity...
Onto the right hand side, here's Gordon working away with the 4000 grit...
Technique here is to work until you are happy with the finish, or until you have removed paint up to the safe limit. Use only light pressure with the DA otherwise you can inflict difficult to remove pigtailing - keep the pressure light and this is not a problem I find. Move the machine slowly, as you would when polishing. Using
Shampoo Plus here as a lubricant for the sanding discs.
The end results on the bonnet, after sanding, correction, and refining. Reflection and clarity returned under the gun...
And the overall finish pics
Not half bad for a couple of hours effort between us while we enjoyed a natter and a coffee (and the cakes left over from the earlier detail)
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