Rob Tomlin
11-13-2009, 04:33 PM
My friend recently picked up a `66 Chevy II Nova SS. I`ve actually lost track of how many of these cars he has owned since high school, but it`s quite a few!
The prior owner, who is also a friend, had owned the car for a long time (10 years?), but he never buffed the car out. It appeared to be a lacquer paint job, and it was in very rough/bad shape. Lots of debris, scratches, etching, swirls and some oxidation.
Given how bad the paint was, we decided that we were going to need to wet sand the car. I did try compounding one area before doing so, and it was very obvious the car needed to be wet sanded. We started with 2000, but it wasn`t aggressive enough to get everything out of the paint, so we wound up using 1200 (1500 wasn`t enough either).
Since the paint was in such bad shape, we had nothing to lose, since it was really in need of a new paint job.
The first few pics are pretty self explanatory and show what we were dealing with, which is a lot of scratches, swirls, stains etc:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4091235053_e0304d69ea_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4091999554_c6315ee668_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/4091999652_6a75bdd3d8_o.jpg
This is the trunk. Pretty ugly. And no, this is not after wet sanding! ;)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/4091999718_9b9762157d_o.jpg
The hood isn`t any bettter than the trunk. Yes, someone put a can of soda on the hood and let it etch the paint:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2650/4091999764_0b06b31f0d_o.jpg
The door shows stains, and a lack of shine and reflection:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4091999834_93d5396ec7_o.jpg
Roof shot. Lots of deep scratches, pitting, etc:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2706/4091235233_7451b634a3_o.jpg
The prior owner, who is also a friend, had owned the car for a long time (10 years?), but he never buffed the car out. It appeared to be a lacquer paint job, and it was in very rough/bad shape. Lots of debris, scratches, etching, swirls and some oxidation.
Given how bad the paint was, we decided that we were going to need to wet sand the car. I did try compounding one area before doing so, and it was very obvious the car needed to be wet sanded. We started with 2000, but it wasn`t aggressive enough to get everything out of the paint, so we wound up using 1200 (1500 wasn`t enough either).
Since the paint was in such bad shape, we had nothing to lose, since it was really in need of a new paint job.
The first few pics are pretty self explanatory and show what we were dealing with, which is a lot of scratches, swirls, stains etc:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4091235053_e0304d69ea_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4091999554_c6315ee668_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2424/4091999652_6a75bdd3d8_o.jpg
This is the trunk. Pretty ugly. And no, this is not after wet sanding! ;)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/4091999718_9b9762157d_o.jpg
The hood isn`t any bettter than the trunk. Yes, someone put a can of soda on the hood and let it etch the paint:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2650/4091999764_0b06b31f0d_o.jpg
The door shows stains, and a lack of shine and reflection:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4091999834_93d5396ec7_o.jpg
Roof shot. Lots of deep scratches, pitting, etc:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2706/4091235233_7451b634a3_o.jpg