I want to make my car look not quite so ugly.

[Trekracer20]

Hello,



I`ve been doing a lot of reading on the boards, and have been trying to clean up my current 2005 Corolla in advance of getting a new car in a few months. I`ve learned not to wash with Dawn, so I got some Meguiar`s soap and used that with a microfiber/chenille glove. There are TONS of swirl makes on the car, in addition to some other interesting marks on the hood where the paint is lighter, some other strange scratches, etc.



After washing the car (in the sun at noon, unfortunately), I started to apply a coating of Meguiar`s Ultimate Liquid Wax (synthetic) with the sponge applicator. This didn`t seem to be working out that well in the hot sun, and was hard to remove with a towel and didn`t seem to be having much effect. I decided to wait until evening when it was cooler.



I picked up some Meguiar`s Ultimate Compound later that day, in addition to some of their Water Spot Remover. I thought the Ultimate Compound might be a little better suited to addressing some of the swirl marked and other blemishes on the hood. In the evening I tried using some of the Water Spot Remover, but it didn`t seem to be having much effect. So I thought I`d move on to the Ultimate Compound, which I applied with microfiber-covered pads. After the compound dried, and rubbed the material off with a microfiber rag, and it seemed to look okay. Not great, mind you--there were still plenty of visible scratches and some discolored spots, but they were at least all roughly the same color as the hood.



After school today the hood was looking pretty shabby--all the scratches were white, the spots were all SUPER visible, and it just generally looked bad. I`m trying to figure out my next steps. I`m thinking that maybe the blemishes are being highlighted by the compound that was pushed into them and today dried to a white after my terrible hand-polishing attempt. I`m not opposed to getting a PC and doing it right, but I`d like to do some more reading to make sure that I don`t end up doing more harm than good. I`m thankful for any advice you can give, and the pics are below!



On the plus side, I also used Meguiar`s headlight restoration kit, which worked beautifully. However terrible the hood looks right now, and headlights look great.



http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz231/trekracer20/IMG_1991_zps1b531fee.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/user/trekracer20/media/IMG_1991_zps1b531fee.jpg.html)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz231/trekracer20/IMG_1992_zps2ea689ba.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/user/trekracer20/media/IMG_1992_zps2ea689ba.jpg.html)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz231/trekracer20/IMG_1993_zpsbe10ff10.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/user/trekracer20/media/IMG_1993_zpsbe10ff10.jpg.html)

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz231/trekracer20/IMG_1994_zps0cdc2fc1.jpg (http://s831.photobucket.com/user/trekracer20/media/IMG_1994_zps0cdc2fc1.jpg.html)

[Jpostal]

Time for a re-paint of the hood. Possibly wet sanding it might help a little bit probably not.

[tom p.]

After school today the hood was looking pretty shabby--all the scratches were white, the spots were all SUPER visible, and it just generally looked bad. On the plus side, I also used Meguiar`s headlight restoration kit, which worked beautifully. However terrible the hood looks right now, and headlights look great.





Trek, you`re at the point of no return. I think the best thing at this point is to figure out how this level of damage occurred and how you`re going to be able to prevent it from happening again.



No potions you purchase are going to correct this.

[Dan]

You`re trying to cross the Atlantic on an inflatable mattress.

[Trekracer20]

Well that`s nice.



I`m reasonably sure that this isn`t something I did to it with my cleaning/polishing, but it was far less noticeable before I put any products on the top--do you think that if I just washed it with Dawn or something to remove all this that it would at least look less obvious? Is there anything at all I could put on after washing to make it look...as good as it`s going to?

[tom p.]

Trek, have you owned this car since new? Did you buy it used?

[Trekracer20]

No no, I bought it used about five years ago, and haven`t put a lot of effort into maintaining the finish other than washing it a couple times a year. This has usually been either wish a big sponge and dish soap, or at one of those self-service car wash places where multiple soaps, etc are disbursed through a large brush. It looks like the scratches on the hood would have to have come from bad washing or something, but I honestly can`t remember a time when I could have done it. I`d also say that I intentionally photographed this to capture as much of the poor appearance as I could, and that giant web of white scratches that almost looks like cracks weren`t as obvious before I put the two Meguiar`s products on yesterday. I`m sure they were there and I`ve seen them before, but I really think the not-completely-polished-away compound is just making them stand out more than they have previously. The strangest spots on the hood outside of the long straight scratches were the fuzzy lighter spots (not the water spots, though those look bad too) that, to me, looked like some finish had been worn away or something.



When I get a new car, I plan on parking it in a garage at work, under a carport at home, and washing it...more frequently.

[tom p.]

..haven`t put a lot of effort into maintaining the finish other than washing it a couple times a year.





I think you need to have certain expectations on what can be done for this car going forward. Also, how much are you willing to spend to correct the issue with this car? Would you spend $200 to get a junk yard hood in good and matching condition?



It`s a bit unfortunate, but keeping a car looking like new requires time and dedication. A light bulb can`t suddenly go off one day and you decide, "I`m going to start to maintain my car as of today and I want it to look great". I see it as a long-term commitment of time which would include weekly washing, etc. That`s 90% of the battle. If you decide to polish/seal the car once a year, more better :) It all comes down to allocating time, using proper techniques and proven products. It`s not particularly difficult, but you have to keep at it, week after week.