dsms detail - Black STi sticky correction

dsms · 10-13-09, 08:19

The STi was hit by a drunk driver ( on the drivers side, whole side was re-sprayed.... bodyshop in the end sanded the entire car.

Issues included sanding scratches left over, solvent pop and runs in the clear.

Car came in very clean, wheels almost immaculate.

Little EZ brush works very well in between calipers and the hub mounting face. P21s gel cleaned up the barrels quick too.

Paint was pressure washed and I pre-soaked the whole car with a biodegradable APC at 5:1, this helped remove most of the prior wax coating. The owner did his best to maintain the finish.

Some of the prior oils/glaze dripping off with the pre-soak (learned this trick from Bryan Bursnwroth)

Car was rinsed again and washed with lusso auto bathe then clayed with Sonus green

Correction work

The paint was very unreceptive to the rotary, lots of buffer skip. Swicthed over to the new PC for correction, a little improvement but still very very sticky. I have done 2 OPB colored STI's prior and although they have a little sticky paint issue they are easily corrected.

This car was absorbing polish like crazy and gumming up cutting pads with 15seconds or so. After a few phone calls to Bob and Ryan (Rydawg) I realized there wasnt a wright or wrong answer as to how to approach correction on this clear, it just was a problem child.

M105 was needed to take care of some of the deeper defects but it was too aggressive for the paint and gummed up the pads very quickly.

Ened up with

SIP w/ green polishing pad
106FA w/ green polishing pad again
PO87mc w/ blue finishing pad

Even PO85rd on the PC left minor holograms, I switched up to 87mc because it has a tiny bit less cut and a bit more lubrication

After the 106FA, holos

After 87mc

Hood 50/50, haziness on the bottom half, corrected upper half

Finished the hood and brough it outside to inspect my work

Uncorrected area, rids and holos from the bodyshop

Opposite side corrected

Some experimenting with the new cyan cutting pads

Some results after the experimenting with the new cyan cutting pads. I like these pads on certain paints. I need to use them on a few more cars to give a conclusive review on weather they are great or just good.

Back to the issues, with the sun out I could see what else was left on the rest of the cah

Sanding scratches left over on the trunk

Wing 50/50

Before

After

In the end I was very disappointed I couldn't get complete correction in every area. I'd say the car got to about 90% as a whole.

It got very messy during correction so I re-washed it with the FK1 shampoo/degreaser and gave it an IPA bath before LSP.

2 coats of blackfire wet diamond left to cure 2 hours each
wheel sealed with rejex for winter

dsms · 10-13-09, 08:20

Dusted off with "Zee" duster, used to make fun of it but now am a believer:thumb:

Finished product

Thanks for looking

artikxscout · 10-13-09, 09:14

That's a great detail. I expect nothing but the best from you. I believe sometimes humidity causes the polish to gum up too. That's what happened to me one time. Oh, how did you like the Little EZ brush? The big one keeps spraying brake dust at me when i pull it out.

What camera and lens did you use to take those shots?

bigjizzles · 10-13-09, 09:15

great work as always, but you can only correct so much. Don't be let down, you have awesome work!!!!

Whats your thoughts on the blackfire sealant on black?

RickRack · 10-14-09, 05:00

The Subie came out great, Dave!

Ryan and I detailed a newer one a couple months ago that was supposed to be a quick job, but ended up being more trouble than expected. It's weird because other Subies I've worked on were very easy to correct

.

Even though it's not completely up to your high standards, it's 1000X better than how the body shop left it.

As for the new cyan pads, don't give up on them yet. I find them to be awesome on harder paint like BMW's. Once you get some experience with them, you'll use them often. The only thing that stinks is that they don't last too long.

Great work!!

porta · 10-14-09, 09:04

Looks great, good job.

What about those cyan pads? They look like regular, european non reticulated foam to me?

GottaGTP · 10-14-09, 09:40

Excellent work!!

bufferbarry · 10-14-09, 03:49

Dave you may not think this, but I think this is some of your best work yet. Although from your words you say this was only a 90% correction. You have to realize not every car is gonna be perfect. When your fixing someone's mistake you can only do so much. Its how you handle it in the end is what makes a man. You handled this car nicely. Sometimes as a detailer we are our own worst enemy. Always trying to create a finish so flawless and unique it will be us to death. Always trying to never sacrifice quality. Dave I'm a big fan of your attention to detail and the work you perform. I love reading your write- ups. Keep up the great work!

Barry

P.S. were the sticky spots only on the Non Resprayed panels? Or were they on the Respreayed Panels? Or was it the whole car?

dsms · 10-14-09, 05:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufferbarry

Dave you may not think this, but I think this is some of your best work yet. Although from your words you say this was only a 90% correction. You have to realize not every car is gonna be perfect. When your fixing someone's mistake you can only do so much. Its how you handle it in the end is what makes a man. You handled this car nicely. Sometimes as a detailer we are our own worst enemy. Always trying to create a finish so flawless and unique it will be us to death. Always trying to never sacrifice quality. Dave I'm a big fan of your attention to detail and the work you perform. I love reading your write- ups. Keep up the great work!

Barry

P.S. were the sticky spots only on the Non Resprayed panels? Or were they on the Respreayed Panels? Or was it the whole car?

Always appreciate the words of encouragement Barry.

The re-sprayed drivers side (front half of the left front bumper all the way back to 1/2 the rear bumper was resprayed, PTG readings were from 500-800+ microns. Those areas were almost impossible to correct efficiently, my guess was that the clear was not given proper cure time or its just a poor respray altogether, judging from all the runs and solv. pop that would be my best guess.

Even the DA was getting taken for a ride with any sort of cutting foam, and the tufbuf scoured very bad but did not skip as much.

I did a few passes with loaded pressure using the green foam and SIP for the bulk of correction. M105 would have really helped but even with a little "polish extender" it gummed up way too fast.

The un-respayed sides were also sanded from the bodyshop hence the equal sanding scratches on both sides of the car, to match the OP I'd say. Even the residual dried clear and water was left at the bottom side skirts from when the car was sanded, you know like when you sand a car and some of that milky white clear and water/soap solution drips down the door... yea the whole car had that which shows the true quality of the bodyshop

I dont blame the subby sticky paint, the respray was just not quality at all. Ive done 2 OBP Sti's prior and although the finish was a bit finicky and you have to careful finishing down on the rotary its absolutely doable. This car was not, and it genuinely pissed me off. The owner really wanted his car back to 100% and I promised him just that, in the end he was still very happy but I ended up returning some of the money against his request... just didnt feel right charge full quote for 85-90%

Last OPB I worked on... no issues!

bufferbarry · 10-14-09, 05:20

The owner really wanted his car back to 100% and I promised him just that, in the end he was still very happy but I ended up returning some of the money against his request... just didnt feel right charge full quote for 85-90%

That right there shows your character Dave! You will go far at whatever your career path is in the future!!!!

GottaGTP · 10-14-09, 06:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufferbarry

That right there shows your character Dave! You will go far at whatever your career path is in the future!!!!

I second that, truly a trait you need to hang onto, Dave. Not many posses it.

dsms · 10-15-09, 03:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufferbarry

The owner really wanted his car back to 100% and I promised him just that, in the end he was still very happy but I ended up returning some of the money against his request... just didnt feel right charge full quote for 85-90%

That right there shows your character Dave! You will go far at whatever your career path is in the future!!!!

Its good business, take a hit now... make up for it later with trust and loyalty plus the positive word of mouth!