2002 black RSX-S; need some advice/opinions. Very pic heavy.

**imported_Picus** · 07-20-2006, 01:05 PM

Hey folks; today I was visited by forum member SkeptiKal who has a 2002 NBP RSX-S. Since Nik knows a thing or three about detailing the car was already in good shape, he brought it to me with questions about a couple issues. I think most of them were addressed but there was one that left me sort of stumped (well, maybe).

Over the drivers side rear fender there is an area that has obviously been re-painted badly. The orange peel in this area is very pronouced to the point that the area looks dull. My initial thought when I saw it was that the re-paint had been sprayed on much too thick. This was confirmed when I found some cracking under the fender and saw a chip in the repaint that showed the area was very thick with paint. There are also very obvsiouly color sanding marks under the clear in the base coat.

I decided to polish the area to get an idea how hard/soft the paint was in preperation for wetsanding to reduce the OP and kind of blend it with the rest of the car. I initially polished with Menz FPII on a white; to my surprise all marring in the area (light swirls) were removed easily. This lead me to believe the paint in that area was soft. I grabbed some unigrit 3000 and sanded a small area under the gas cap. Now anyone who has used 3k knows that it`s incredibly fine and usually requires a bit of time to remove much paint; however in this case the paint marred almost instantly, and quite a bit. I polished the area to remove the marring and needed 3 passes of IP/orange then 1 pass of FPII/white to clean it up.

So my conclusion was that this re-painted area is painfully soft, and that it would not be worth risking further damage to level it out and blend it with the rest of the car. I think that since 3k grit marred so quickly it would be a nightmare to wetsand then polish out the entire area. *However* I am open to suggestions. Nik came to me with the hope of fixing this issue, so I`d like to exhaust all options.

Here are pictures of the effected area:

The area with the bad paint job.

Right besides it, normal amount of op

Closeup of bad area:

The rest of the detail is coming...

**imported_Picus** · 07-20-2006, 01:08 PM

Aside from that issue the paint was in good shape. Some swirling and impact scratches - lots of stone chips; typical of an 80k km black car. Nik is selling the car so we didn`t go to town on it, so to speak. Basically quickly polished the areas that needed it, glazed it, then souveran`d it. Souveran looks so good sometimes I can hardly stand it.

Process was:

Menz FPII / white

Clearkote VM/RMG mix/grey pad

Souveran by hand

**stilez** · 07-20-2006, 03:08 PM

Looks damn good, Picus.

Regarding your wetsanding question, here`s my take...

For me to *fix* that area, which would include sanding it smooth, compounding, and polishing, I would charge in the area of $100 just for the spot. However, like you said, some of it might be *under* the clear. In this case, the best bet (for as close to OEM as possible) would to have it sanded down and resprayed.

I get a lot of shoddy bodywork jobs, and with standard compounding/polishing, the average consumer could really care less.

**imported_Picus** · 07-20-2006, 03:50 PM

Thanks for the reply Sean. Ya, I think most people wouldn`t even notice the spot but as mentioned the owner of this car is an Autopian, and as such...cares (like we would!)

It isn`t the charging I`m worried about so much as it is the actual possibilty of getting good results. The clear they`ve sprayed is so insanely soft that it seems like polishing out the marring from even 3k grit would either take forever, or be impossible - that is if the 3k doesn`t completely remove the clear. I mentioned a re-spray, but since he`s selling it obviously that`s not an option.

As you mentioned most people won`t even see it, or won`t care if they do. I think he will have no trouble selling it (exterior and interior are both in great shape for the age/mileage) and good RSX-Ss are kind of hard to find around here... we`ll see. Thanks again for the reply.

**imported_Bence** · 07-20-2006, 06:47 PM

Use higher grit papers like 6-8-12.000 grit, if you think that a 3000 is too aggressive. Try the Micro Mesh Sanding Kit from woodcraft.com.

**imported_Picus** · 07-20-2006, 07:09 PM

Ok thanks for the suggestion; I didn`t even realize you could get that high a grit.

On a somewhat related note; I`ve been putting souveran on my car every night this week and it`s looking pretty good. I`m really liking this stuff!

**Scottwax** · 07-20-2006, 11:29 PM

I`m with Sean, it is very risky trying to correct a lousy paint job. Not only is the paint apparently very soft but you have no idea how thick the clear is and how much you can safely remove without compromising the durability of the paint.

Otherwise, the RSX is absolutely beautiful! Really deep.

**imported_Picus** · 07-21-2006, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Scottwax

I`m with Sean, it is very risky trying to correct a lousy paint job. Not only is the paint apparently very soft but you have no idea how thick the clear is and how much you can safely remove without compromising the durability of the paint.

Otherwise, the RSX is absolutely beautiful! Really deep.

Thanks for the reply Scott. I figured you guys would agree with my assessment, but I wanted to kind of confirm I wasn`t missing something obvious.

Thanks re: the detail too. It was a quick one but the car came out looking really nice. Souveran is so