I`ve pretty much settled on the fact that the car really needs a new paint job. I`ve owned this car since 2003, when it had 98k miles. It now has 218k miles, but it isn`t going away anytime soon. When the wheels fall off, I`ll get some used parts and put them back on.
But that in mind, I figure it`s a great time to learn techniques on a paint job that has seen better days, and can`t really be brought back to like new condition.
I attempted to clay the hood today. Didn`t have much luck. Don`t know if I did something wrong, but it wasn`t pulling off the crap that`s on there. And there`s a lot of it. Maybe I need a chemical way to remove this stuff? Not entirely sure what it is, but it seems to accumulate while the car sits, and it sits outside all the time. Doesn`t get driven much, since I take my bicycle around town most of the time now.
Any suggestions on how to proceed on any of the following is greatly welcome. Again, I figure the end result is a new paint job to keep the car going strong. But in the meantime, it`s learning time!
Rock chips:
Headlight bezel needs paint, as well as the peeling clearcoat from the bumper:
Seems like a good place to start practicing my touchup skills(2 and 3 are from a sideswipe while my car was parked on the street):
This is well, my own dumb fault from several years ago:
I have some rust to deal with:
Sunroof visor has worn away some paint:
And the fantastic Subaru factory paint:
I think someone/something hit me here, but I don`t actually know how it got there:
And this is what I was trying to clay off today, without any success:
So I`m open to any comments on any of this. Specifically why my claying wasn`t working would be an awesome start.
I should add, the car has essentially no wax on it anymore. I let it all slide when my right front fender was peeling pretty badly (car was in an accident before I got it, and someone did crap work). I replaced that with a used OEM fender, same color, from the junkyard. So now that that is fixed, I want to get back at it with repairing what I can, and practicing on the car.
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