View Full Version : Biggest Goof You Made Before Autopia?
markmando
10-10-2003, 01:03 PM
just curious,
2 weeks before i stumpled onto this website i dowsed my entire dashboard with full strength degreaser( what a mess!). everything fogged white, even the inside front windshield.
of course i accidently found autopia will trying to find a way to fix the damage i had done. ironic.
so may maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I dunno.
anyways, needless to say the advise i received here helped me fix it.
now the car looks like i just drove it off the lot. booya!
Oh yeah, shout out big thanks to everyone who gave input.
so getting back to the topic i was just wondering if anyone has similiar experiences before they found this website?
any real horror stories out there to tell around the camp fire?
Gonzo
10-10-2003, 01:58 PM
Applied touch up paint liberally with the "comes in the bottle" applicator. Last quote I got to fix the mess was $1800.00-ish. :shocked
Now here is my plan to fix the excesses of my pre-Autopian life
0) Use the Autopian paint touch up method to repair post blob paint dings and stone chips.
1) I have Micromesh sandpapers 1500-12000 grits. I also have various thicknesses of clear poly sheeting. Starting with 6 mil, cut out a home in it just a little wider than the area to be sanded then tape the poly to the vehicle.
2) Sand until the paint lump is down to the level of the poly - I figure since the poly is so slick, the sand paper won`t start grabbing it much until the paints blob is nealy to that level.
3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 until poly is about 1 mil, each time the poly gets changed, go down a grit level with the micromesh.
4) Hit what is left after 1 mil poly-sanding and Autopian touchups with Langka
5) Finish with hard rubber block and say 4000 grit.
6) Add a couple of thin coats of clearcoat, perhaps out to 12 inches on either side of the original blemishs.
7) after a couple of weeks, wash & clay entire vehicle
8) Fianlly DACP, Menzerna IP & FP all paint
Should only take about a month of weekends to do it.... By then my wife will probably divorce me .... But at least I`ll have saved $1800 and my ride will be beautiful again:D
jcdouglass
10-10-2003, 02:51 PM
I confess to you , my brothers and sisters that I have ...
Went to Meg`s web ( on que from golfing buddy) and saw all their cool stuff and paid $225 for $110 DA polisher!
GoodnClean
10-10-2003, 03:56 PM
Yeah I paid Meguiars for the PC also LOL
imported_rachelanne16
10-10-2003, 04:13 PM
This was a long time before Autopia. My very first car was a `69 Cutlass that my Dad got for me from somebody he knew in 1974. We lived in a neighborhood with a lot of big old Oak trees and about a month later, the car had quite a few tree stains all over the paint. I got them off with an SOS pad! The car had to be repainted. Even though I had treated it like crap, that car was very, very good to me. Then, my first year in college, my younger brother totalled it.
THERUSE
10-10-2003, 05:44 PM
meguiars 3 step process "you have to feed the paint"
used the yellow sponge to wash car
used only one bucket with that yellow sponge
BillNorth
10-10-2003, 07:22 PM
the biggest thing was improper wash technique. my new car has no new swirls from washing. while my older one required hours of buffing to repair the damage i did prior to finding this place.
fidelfs
10-10-2003, 08:51 PM
I did not make any mistake. I already knew everything. LOL.
Going to coin car wash and use the big brush they have.
I bought a big brush the kind u use for wash RV`s to wash my Avalanche. (1,000,000 swirls so far)
:nono
imported_Greg
10-10-2003, 09:30 PM
I guess mine was just that I didn`t care as much as I do today. I didn`t do anything too terribly wrong, crappy cotten towels- but everyone did this at one point. Now, if it doesn`t look perfect, I have to make it look perfect, doesn`t matter what else is going on.
NXT4now
10-11-2003, 12:16 AM
Originally posted by tomciob
meguiars 3 step process "you have to feed the paint"
^^you mean that`s not true?? Can someone explain that?
Biggest mistake I`ve ever made...Asked the dealer to buff away some scratches and my brand new car ended up covered in swirls :angry
YIELAR
10-11-2003, 02:04 PM
Yeah I asked the dealer to buff out some minor spider webbing.....TWICE !
Taxlady
10-11-2003, 02:17 PM
I found Autopia within a month of buying my present car. (The last cars I owned were beaters - 20 years ago.) So, I hadn`t done anything. Well, I guess going a month before washing it would be my mistake ;). I asked on the Volvo board what the manual meant by "Wax and polish your vehicle regularly." Someone pointed me here and I learned everything I know about automotive detailing.
F150BOB
10-14-2003, 01:58 PM
Some people think I`m still making it, occasionally applying Nu Finish to my truck.:scared :shocked :nono
BOB:D
allen aikens jr.
10-14-2003, 04:28 PM
Okay, people. Get ready to pick up yourselves off the floor.
Before becoming Autopia-ized, I once, used an SOS pad to remove bug splatters off the front of my `89 Ford F150. Talk about some scratches! :o
That one I`m not too proud of. The wife won`t let me live it down.
PhilStatic
10-14-2003, 05:34 PM
Heh, I have too many to choose from, but the 2 that stand out in my mind is I washed the bosses sc430 with glass cleaner. (he was a jerk anyway) And about a month after I bought my Olds Bravada I took it in for tiny rust specs in the paint. They then washed the thing in Acetone.