This 944 needed some LOVE [no 56k]

[trippinbillies4]

While continuing to grow my side-detailing business, next in line was this 1988 Porsche 944. The owner told me that it doesn`t get out much, as was evident by the thick layer of dust on the car. He definitely tagged a few bugs on the way down as well! I walked the car and saw that there was going to be some major correction needed, as there were swirls galore. Both the front and rear end were looking pretty torn up, as the previous owner didn`t take care of it at all, so I marked a few spots that I would have to be careful about, and shared with the owner that there were definitely some areas on the lower front spoiler and rear bumper I didn`t want to go near for fear of pulling paint off. Here`s my before pictures:



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Angle.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Bumper.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Dustyhood.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Sunroof.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Mirror.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_wheel.jpg



I started off by pulling each wheel off and cleaning them with Meguiars All Wheel agitated with my wheel brush. The outter wheel came out looking great, the inner wheel showed signs up being several years old and never cared for, but nevertheless they looked much better after getting the 4 feet of brake dust off of them. The wheel wells looked like the had NEVER been touched in this cars 20 years of life. I got a tad emotional as I sprayed out muck that came to existance when i was only 4 years old. :) I almost felt bad for ruining such history. You`ll see that I wasn`t able to get the rear fender wells perfect, again for fear of pulling paint off trying to get the remaining tar spots out. I tried everything in my arsenal, but they wouldn`t budge, so I said "meh, at least he`ll know that he had body colored wheel wells now!"



Before:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_fenderwell.jpg



After:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/A_fenderwell.jpg





Threw the wheels back on and cleaned out the engine bay. Simple green works wonders! Dressed it slightly with some aerospace and that was that.



Before:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Engine.jpg



After:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/A_Engine.jpg

[trippinbillies4]

Washed with two buckets, soap was Meguiars NXT. I love that stuff even if it is available at Meijer, hehe. After the wash, I was able to get a clear picture of the paint work that lay ahead. The only thing I could think was "at least the before and after photos will be dramatic..." I proceeded to get the rest of the bugs and tar off. The biggest disappointment with this project was the rock guard paint all over the bottom edge of this car. It`s the extremely textured silicone type, and nothing I tried phased it. The rest of the car came out looking great, and for the most part, it looked like I didnt even touch the bottom edge. I tried bug and tar remover, polish, etc, nothing worked. Suggestions are VERY much welcomed here. Clayed the car with Claymagic blue and lube, and was happy to feel paint that didn`t feel like fuzz anymore.



Time to start polishing.



Process ended up being PB SSR3 on a LC Wool pad, slow and meticulous. Got 95% out, but I didn`t have days to spend on this job, so it worked. Followed this with PB SSR1 on a LC white pad. Menzerna Final Touch Glaze on a white pad, then a couple coats of Menzerna FMJ on a black pad, then P21S carnauba by hand.



here`s a couple test shots that help show the difference:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Test1.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Test%202.jpg



Now some before and afters of swirls (sorry, ran out of sunlight, halogen will have to do):



Before:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_frontfender2.jpg



After:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/A_Frontfender2.jpg



Before:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_back_swirls.jpg



After:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/A_Backswirls.jpg



Before:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/B_Hoodswirls.jpg



After:

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/A_FrontFender.jpg

[trippinbillies4]

So the weather cut loose and I got a call from the owner asking if he could pick it up tomorrow instead of tonight since he didn`t want it to get dirty right away. I said sure, I`ll do the interior tomorrow then.

http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Rain.jpg



Anyways, here`s some cloudy shots of the final project, exterior at least. I`ll post sunny shots and some interior work tomorrow!



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Final_Front_Angle.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Final_FrontDown.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Final_Back.jpg



http://www.cincypics.com/944web/Final_Back_Angle.jpg



Hope you like it!

[GTFreddy]

Great recovery on the red paint!

[imported_madwax]

That is an awesome turn around. I can`t help but to get frustrated with a job like that.

How long did it take you?

[trippinbillies4]

Thanks guys. There`s about 12 hours of work in it so far

[David703]

Nice paint job!!! I mean detail!! :2thumbs: WOW! It looks like a NEW paint job seriously.. That must have been fun, although time consuming.

[pampos]

great work....You saved that car!!!!

[imported_shine]

Great job! It looks tons better. :up

[jimmie jam]

wow. amazing what the right products and technique will produce, excellent!!!:buffing:

[Evenflow]

Awesome job and write up! Looks like you worked very hard on the car!



Did you trying claying those inner fenderwells?

[trippinbillies4]

Awesome job and write up! Looks like you worked very hard on the car!



Did you trying claying those inner fenderwells?



Yeah, I tried claying them. Claying, along with agitating after bug&tar was pulling the paint off on some of the bigger chips, so I decided that it was in my best interest to let those go.



Ugh, it still bugs me to see that dirty paint at the bottom :(

[TSC17]

Nice job....