Even Out Clear Coat

[jasonrs2]

I have a 370Z that was just repainted after getting rear-ended. i dont believe they removed the bumper to paint since it was a little section so [i think] they covered the "370Z" emblems and did their thing. after buffing it, i noticed some compound around the emblems. i`m not a big fan of emblems so i planned to remove them anyway. when i did, you can see almost a clear outline of where the emblems were. like the paint under the emblem is perfect and the rest looks slightly duller. what can i do to give it an even shine so the emblem "shadow" isnt noticeable.



im thinking about having the bodyshop fix this, but if i can do it myself, thatd be fine too. i would be doing the work by hand and tend to lean towards meg`s products. any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BobD]

There really is nothing you can do or the body shop unless they paint the whole thing. The reason is because your paint has faded and the paint under the emblem is still like new. You can try and polish your paint to try and bring it back to the new color but this usually never works. Sometimes time and being out in the elements will help it match the faded color but not always.

[Mike_Phillips]

Some people call this Ghosting, or Shadowing, and Bob`s right, there`s not much you can do about it.



For the most part all you can affect are topical defects, that is defects that are on the outer surface. Any defect or appearance issue that is under the clear cannot be fixed without removing the clear layer of paint and that means re-painting.



I always say,



"You don`t know what you can do until you try"



Or the longer version,





"You don`t know what you can do until you go out into your garage and actually start doing some testing to the paint on your car"





Because the topical or surface paint under the emblem was protected while the surrounding paint was not, it could be that some light cleaning and polishing will help the area to look more clear and thus more even.



If you don`t have any, pick up some ScratchX or SwirlX and and use a clean, soft foam applicator pad and gently rub the area out and then apply your favorite wax or paint sealant and then inspect the results.



If you have a DA style polisher then polish out the area by machine which almost always produces better results than working by hand.





:)

[daviddear30]

arent 370s very new. 1-2 years. my emblems were never faded around that quick

[efnfast]

I removed badges from my dad`s 9yr old Q45 and had some ghosting, but it was quickly removed with a few passes of a white pad and 106.

[Mike_Phillips]

arent 370s very new. 1-2 years. my emblems were never faded around that quick





That`s why I suggested this,






Because the topical or surface paint under the emblem was protected while the surrounding paint was not, it could be that some light cleaning and polishing will help the area to look more clear and thus more even.





Usually it takes a few years of constant sun to create a faded appearance for automotive paints.





Again, he won`t know what he can do until he goes out into his garage and does some experimenting to see what he can do.





:)

[jasonrs2]

it`s almost new. it`s an 09 with 3k miles. it got rear ended though and when they repainted, they buffed around the emblem. i then took the emblems off and saw the ghosting. my mistake i guess was not telling them to leave the emblems off after they painted the bumper.



i took it to the bodyshop because i felt that if they were to fix it to a `like new` state, it shouldnt leave any ghosting the same way my car wouldnt have left ghosting if i removed the emblems before the accident. do i have a case here? either way, they called me and said they were able to fix most of it. i dont know what they mean by `most` but i`ll go check it out later.

[Mike_Phillips]

Besides fading, (ghosting), emblems attached to paint can often times leave an imprint in the paint, if this is the case then compounding, or sanding and compounding can usually flatten out the surface and thus remove the imprint.



Just remember, topical defects can be fixed if they`re not to deep. Defects under the clear cannot be fixed.



Pick up the car and take some pictures and post them and that will make it easier to offer suggestion.





:)