Paint types

[falkirk]

I`m absolutely a newbie and have not started the detail on my car yet. But prior to that I have a couple of questions.

1. My car is a 2003 Hyundai Accent. Can anyone tell me whether hyundai paint of those days was soft or hard? I have severe oxidation on many panels, especially the front fenders and the boot lid.

2. there are a couple of areas where the paint has chipped off, sort of like the rock chip effect. If I do apply touch up paint (the car is jet black) then if the finish doesn`t look even at first, will compounding and polishing even out the look or will the difference in paint still be visible.

3. addition to point 1, should I wetsand areas of heavy oxidation or just compound them with M105 or Menzerna SIP?

Hope you guys can help me out.

[embolism]

Hyundai paint is fairly hard but do a test spot to know for sure. Some colours are difft than others. IMO, wetsanding is your last option and if you`ve never done it before, then you don`t want to practice on your black car.

how are you fixing the chips? If using Dr. Colourchip, then you should polish the car first. Sounds like you are using a dealer touchup pen though. After it has cured, compounding and polishing will not level it. You need to wetsand to do that but make sure to read up on it and be very careful.

[mjlinane]

My Carbon Blue 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT is actually rather soft. (My 2011 Sonata is like granite!) Embolism is right - always safest to do a test spot.

If it is just oxidation, compounding is likely sufficient.

Can you post some pics?

[mrclean81]

Gotta agree with the above posts. Many polishes and almost all compounds will remove oxidation. Wetsanding is definitely not something you want to do on your first detail..especially on black. If it comes down to that being the only option, do a LOT of homework on the subject, or pay someone to do it. Just my 2¢

[Todd@RUPES]

I`m absolutely a newbie and have not started the detail on my car yet. But prior to that I have a couple of questions.

1. My car is a 2003 Hyundai Accent. Can anyone tell me whether hyundai paint of those days was soft or hard? I have severe oxidation on many panels, especially the front fenders and the boot lid.

Oxidized paint is almost always soft, it`s damaged. Now the healthy paint underneath may be `harder` or `softer` but in most cases the damaged/oxidized paint comes off fairly quickly. I have probably polished 30-40 cars that had noticeable oxidation and cannot remember one time where it was difficult to remove.



2. there are a couple of areas where the paint has chipped off, sort of like the rock chip effect. If I do apply touch up paint (the car is jet black) then if the finish doesn`t look even at first, will compounding and polishing even out the look or will the difference in paint still be visible.


Assuming you can get an exact paint color match and have a lot of experience doing this, then you can get very very close to making it unnoticeable. Most rock chips are the result of large impacts and you will usually have low spot (dent) with a corrosiponding high-spot around the dent.

Just because it will always be `somewhat` noticable doesn`t mean you cannot do a great job. Polishing can even out the touch up and help blend it into the rest of the panel.


3. addition to point 1, should I wetsand areas of heavy oxidation or just compound them with M105 or Menzerna SIP?

Hope you guys can help me out.

Wet sanding oxidized paint can be a mess because it is so soft and will get gummy and clog up the paper. Removing oxidized paint usually only requires a polish (sometimes a compound) so start with the least aggressive method and work upwards until you find something that gives you the results you want in the time you need.

[Beemerboy]

Do you plan on doing this by hand or machine?

For a correction like this one, I would be using a rotary with a good cutting pad with a decent cut polish / compound. Then once I had the correction I wanted then I would start the polish stages using a PC and polishing pads. This could be one to two levels of polishing.

[falkirk]

wow. thanks a lot for your replies. I`ll answer them one by one.

@embolism - I`m not going to get Dr. Colourchip here in India. We have a dearth of good products here. My options would be either those pens you are talking about or (what I`ve thought off) is to get hold of some black paint and just touch it up with a soft thin paint brush. Now I`ve done that in my previous car, but I know for sure if one looks closely there will be a difference.

@mjlinane - thanks for the pointers there and I`m sure to do a test spot.

@mrclean81 & @Todd Helme - thanks for the tip on not to wetsand first. I`ll try with Menzerna`s 106FA first and then go for 105 if required.

@Beemerboy - I will be using a rotary and LC pads for sure. Thing is my car is in bad shape itself to be used as my show car, yes I`m starting a detailing business, so I want to get this extreme makeover done to show off. So whatever has to be done, I`ll have to do it myself.

I`ll post pics of my car in a while. But before that I want to post a pic of my friends car which on which a hater has left his signature with possibly a key.

Is it possible to correct this type of scratch. From what it seems, the scratch hasn`t gone into the primer as it is still milky white.

12272

Thanks

[mjlinane]

I`ll post pics of my car in a while. But before that I want to post a pic of my friends car which on which a hater has left his signature with possibly a key.

Is it possible to correct this type of scratch. From what it seems, the scratch hasn`t gone into the primer as it is still milky white.


If you catch a nail, you won`t be able to correct completely without additional paint.

[Todd@RUPES]

I don`t think you will be able to remove that scratch completely but you may be able to round out the edges slightly and make it less visible from 10-20 feet away.

If the `hater` left his signature it should be easy to find out who it is and hold them responsible.

[falkirk]

One question. If I had to use a 1 step polish to use as my starting product in the detailing business, which one these should I go for.

1. Menzerna Power Finish.
2. Optimum Hyper Spray Polish.

I had initially decided on Power Finish as my product to work with but I`ve read about Optimum`s HSP and it kind of interests me. Also it works out to half the cost than Power Finish, hence the question. I will use the 1 stepper with a variety of pads, even wool to clear those slightly difficult scratches.

[Todd@RUPES]

One question. If I had to use a 1 step polish to use as my starting product in the detailing business, which one these should I go for.

1. Menzerna Power Finish.
2. Optimum Hyper Spray Polish.

I had initially decided on Power Finish as my product to work with but I`ve read about Optimum`s HSP and it kind of interests me. Also it works out to half the cost than Power Finish, hence the question. I will use the 1 stepper with a variety of pads, even wool to clear those slightly difficult scratches.

Power Finish has more cutting power. I think it might go a little further for you and help you get the deep defects.