Fixing unmaintained paint

[Ryoken0367]

Hi all,


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I joined these forums about 2 years ago, when I bought my new car (Camaro SS), and learned a lot about maintaining a new car. Since that time, life has gotten in the way (met the woman of my dreams and spent some time falling in love with her and her kids), and I haven`t been active in detailing my car or on these forums really. Now, summer`s coming, and I`m in the mood for some detailing! I want to start with the fiance`s car, and it`s in bad shape, so I come looking for advice. I appologize in advance for the lengthy post, but I thought as much background as I can give would help you, help me!


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Her car is a 2002 Jeep Liberty, she bought it used from the dealership in 2007, and it has been a daily driver since then. Since she`s owned it, it`s been... neglected. Really only ever gets washed when it`s filthy and that`s at a car wash (most of the ones around here are touchless, but still). I`m not sure it ever got waxed during the time she has owned it, and we all know what being a dealership can do to a car. It`s spent most of it`s life outside, but has transitioned to be garaged (at night) for the last 3 or so years. It sits outside all day while she is at work, and living in Nevada, that means some nice hot sun beating on it for hours on end, all year round (even when it`s cold, the sun can bake out here). The hood and roof were/are in bad condition (see pictures, car is a little dirty, we just had some rain, but you can still see it pretty clearly) because of this.


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Last summer, I bought my first DA (Harbor Freight 6" with the pads they sell), and worked on her hood some (I started here because it wasn`t as bad as the roof, and I was learning/testing). Didn`t know what I was doing with the machine, and wasn`t using the right products (Meg`s Ultimate compound)... I got very little in the way of results, but I managed to bring out a little shine. This year, using a more aggressive product (Meg`s #2), I`ve been able to bring out a lot more shine in her hood. The hood looks a thousand percent better, though still not great... I`m not sure if there`s anything more I can do to it, though maybe with some advice, I can get rid of the remaining defects.


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What I really would like some advice on is the roof. If I learn enough working on the roof, maybe I can go back and do some more to the hood. I`m not entirely sure what to call this, but I`ve been using the term "Oxidation". Basically the roof has *NO* shine, and looks "milky/cloudy" (this is a blue vehicle). Attached are a couple pictures that I think capture it pretty well.


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As mentioned, I have a Harbor Freight DA, with their pads and backing plate (orange cutting, blue polish and black finishing). I do want to replace the backing plate and pads at some point (was thinking 3D/HD 5" backing plate with 5.5" pads)... but we just had to buy a new washer and dryer, so I am limited to working with what I currently have (I may have some budget for new toys around the end of summer). I have Meg`s #2 and Meg`s Ultimate compound. I have a bottle of HD Adapt on the way (along with a bottle of HD Poxy, HD Express, and free bottle of HD Touch; I was able to place a small order before we knew we needed the new washer/dryer), and a bottle of HD Polish and HD Speed that I got through this forum a couple years ago.


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The ultimate compound didn`t seem to do a whole lot... with a *lot* of effort and time, I was able to get some minor results last year. With the Meg`s #2 this year I was able to get a better result, quicker, but still not quite as good as I`d like. I`m hoping that the HD Adapt will cut the amount of work and time required down, and give me a better result, but I`m not sure if the combination will be aggressive enough. So my question is: What do you think? Should I wait until I can afford a better backing plate/pads (and maybe a stronger compound)? Or do you think I`ll be able to acheive the desired results with what I have available to me. Desired results being: bring back the shine, cut out as much of the cloudy/milkyness as possible for a weekend warrior. I would be happy if it looked like the hood, ecstatic if it looked better (partly because I could apply what I learned to the hood and make it look just as good!).


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Thank you in advance for any advice, tips, etc. you can provide me!


~Will

[C. Charles Hahn]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that looks like clearcoat failure to me; unfortunately that means your only fix for this will be to have the roof of the vehicle refinished -- no amount of compounding/polishing will fix it.

[Ryoken0367]

That`s what I was afraid of. I noticed when I was working on the hood that any product I put on the hood itself (instead of on a pad first) would "stain" or "spot", and I didn`t think that was a good sign.


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At this point, we are looking into a new car for her, so anything I would be doing is just a learning experience, and would just be to make the vehicle look "better" for selling/trading in purposes. Would it hurt anything to go ahead with my plan to compound it? Would I just be bringing out the paint underneath the clearcoat, or does it look like it`s bad enough that I could potentially be stripping it down to bare metal? From my experience with the hood, it seems there is plenty of paint under the clearcoat yet to work with, but an experienced eye may be able to see that is too far gone to even worry about.


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Thanks again for any advice you may have!


~Will

[C. Charles Hahn]

That`s what I was afraid of. I noticed when I was working on the hood that any product I put on the hood itself (instead of on a pad first) would "stain" or "spot", and I didn`t think that was a good sign.


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At this point, we are looking into a new car for her, so anything I would be doing is just a learning experience, and would just be to make the vehicle look "better" for selling/trading in purposes. Would it hurt anything to go ahead with my plan to compound it? Would I just be bringing out the paint underneath the clearcoat, or does it look like it`s bad enough that I could potentially be stripping it down to bare metal? From my experience with the hood, it seems there is plenty of paint under the clearcoat yet to work with, but an experienced eye may be able to see that is too far gone to even worry about.


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Thanks again for any advice you may have!


~Will



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Will,


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I doubt compounding it would cause you any major additional problems; you certainly wouldn`t be likely to go down to bare metal, as there is still some clear, as well as the base coat and primer present on the vehicle. That said, I also highly doubt you`ll see a major improvement. Any short lived "shine" that you see after compounding failed clear is more than likely due to the carrier oils in the compound, and not due to "exposing good paint" since anything you expose will either be more damaged clear, or base coat which won`t have any shine or gloss to it on its own.


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Personally, if all you`re trying to do at this point is maximize your trade-in value, what I`d recommend is using an oil-heavy glaze like Meguiar`s #7 to make it look as good as it can while shopping it around -- dealers will probably still be able to tell it`s not in the best shape though. If you`re planning to sell the car privately you might be better off getting a low cost repaint on the hood and roof as opposed to hiding and not disclosing the damage to a buyer.

[tom p.]

Is this a case of long-term car wash damage?` Strange area to see that ... longs like abrasion.


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Charlie makes a good recommendation to have someone re-spray those panels.` Cost probably wouldn`t be too high.


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We`ve seen forum brother K.C. (??) OptiCoat clearcoat failure with some success.` In fact, it made a huge improvement on the deck lid of the car he showed in his fotos.