ezatnova
09-24-2012, 10:56 AM
Hi all,
Hopefully this is ok in this forum, otherwise please feel free to move it.
I just aquired a 15 year old John Deere and I want to work on the cosmetics. The body panels are metal and either power coated (which I believe is true) or painted. The hood is a solid color injected poly.
The body panels are in pretty good shape. Just dirty with some surface scuffs that can be wiped off with elbow grease, but the overall sheen is just 15 years dull. For this, I was thinking about just starting with a random orbital and micro fiber pad with some Klasse all in one polish, and I imagine it may clean it and shine right up. Any different thoughts on that? I have a bunch of pro-line 3M polishes in my arsenal, so I can go more aggressive if needed.
On the hood, it is unfortunately cracked and repaired with the mesh fiberglass patch kit type material, in two places. The patching was a bit of an amateur job, and the "burlap" looking mesh of the patches can be clearly seen under the hack job spot spray painting. Also, where the patches were cut, the "frayed" fibers of the patch stick out a bit. I have no idea if these could possibly be sanded down first to smooth them out a bit? Otherwise, I was thinking of trying to build up a thin layer of body putty, to hide the burlap textures, and then sand that as smooth as possible to blend back into the body panel where the patches stop. Then sand, primer, sand, and spray the whole hood. The hood is $400 new, so I`d like to give this a shot at less than $100 and see if it can look at least pretty decent.
Would love to hear some thoughts on the body and/or the hood. I can attach pictures in a bit, if that`s necessary or helpful.
Thanks!
Hopefully this is ok in this forum, otherwise please feel free to move it.
I just aquired a 15 year old John Deere and I want to work on the cosmetics. The body panels are metal and either power coated (which I believe is true) or painted. The hood is a solid color injected poly.
The body panels are in pretty good shape. Just dirty with some surface scuffs that can be wiped off with elbow grease, but the overall sheen is just 15 years dull. For this, I was thinking about just starting with a random orbital and micro fiber pad with some Klasse all in one polish, and I imagine it may clean it and shine right up. Any different thoughts on that? I have a bunch of pro-line 3M polishes in my arsenal, so I can go more aggressive if needed.
On the hood, it is unfortunately cracked and repaired with the mesh fiberglass patch kit type material, in two places. The patching was a bit of an amateur job, and the "burlap" looking mesh of the patches can be clearly seen under the hack job spot spray painting. Also, where the patches were cut, the "frayed" fibers of the patch stick out a bit. I have no idea if these could possibly be sanded down first to smooth them out a bit? Otherwise, I was thinking of trying to build up a thin layer of body putty, to hide the burlap textures, and then sand that as smooth as possible to blend back into the body panel where the patches stop. Then sand, primer, sand, and spray the whole hood. The hood is $400 new, so I`d like to give this a shot at less than $100 and see if it can look at least pretty decent.
Would love to hear some thoughts on the body and/or the hood. I can attach pictures in a bit, if that`s necessary or helpful.
Thanks!