1990 vw jetta gl 198,000 miles

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 03:39 PM

i had the pleasure of doing a 1990 vw jetta, this thing was so oxidized it reminded me of a oldschool classroom chalkboard just red! anyway when approached by the owner he said he had this car from day one and still is his daily driver. he is 68 years old! he contacted me and said he never cleans the car anymore, he said he gave up about ten years ago! so after discussing what he wanted done we work a deal, and it was a full exterior detail! after 2 days it was completely finished. not sure but i almost positive he paid me as nearly as much as the car is worth. lol he was the funniest old man i met in a while. one of them old war veterens, we had talked about alot since im prior army. Now onto the write up on this write up ill go threw and label products with pictures for me this is a good way for me!

ok here are some shots of how the car arrived!

Now you can clearly see this car is a single stage paint! the condition was horrible everywhere you looked. so at this point even know i knew it was single stage i did a test result just to ensure my opionion so i took some meqiaurs m105 and a white terry cloth towel and rubbed some into the hood, if it came up red, i was right and it did. so here is a picture of the process!

at this point i completly sprayed the whole car down with a citrus based solvent in an aerosal can from ardex labs called "ardex citrus solvent" some images of this. nothing fancy but allowing this to saok in the paint for a few minutes remove alot of decontaminants on the paint. i then procedded to pressure wash it off at 1000psi using hot water!

not at this point it was time to hit the wheels, wheel wells, gas flap, and so on. so you various brushes i adjatated all areas to loosen and ground up dirt in those areas. ardex new wave degreaser was used mixed 50/50 a little stronger then normal but this thing was filthy!

at this point i decieded to use ardex`s attack metal cleaner. this is a hydrofloric based acid which is very potent but it did wonders for the tailpipe and metal wheels under those hubcaps! here is a picture of the acid working in!

here is a picture of the tail pipe before during and after! as stated earlier i used ardex attack acid and a metal bristle brush for the scrubbing.

now i switched nozels on my pressure washer to spray all the acid off as you can see this nozzle shoots in a tornado type effects to really beat into the surface

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 04:22 PM

at this point i washed the car again to ensure all chemicals were removed from any surface switching back to the normal nozzle

after drying the car i used mother qd and cloymore medium grade to remove any final contaminants on the paint. if you look closely you can see the heavy red oxidized paint on the clay! crazy huh!

at this point i decided to wash the car again to remove any clay residue, an to ensure a clean prepared car!

now here is a picture of the car wet. i like to look at a car wet this will show me the possibilities of how wet i can make the paint look! the water acts as a clear coat to see the shine!

not at this time i decided to dry the entire car using my glun from my air compressor! blow ing out the all the cracks. then letting the rest to air dry over night!

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 04:37 PM

now at this time i pulled the car into the detail bay and began to examine the paint! here are some before shots!

next i removed the wiper blades and liceanse plate

now at this point i decided to tape all moldings, adges and some boding lines. this is very crucial when dealing with 19 year old single stage paint. i took all precautions with this job! however in my opinion its all in the prep!

lol got tape???? now i layed down some tape to get a 50/50 at this point i used m105 with a blue edge wool polish pad! this is a softer pad with allowed me to work in the m105 while not leaving a haze or heavy wheel marks! if you look closely in the second picture you can see the oxidation removed onto the tape! also look at that pad after just the 50/50!

after the leveling i began to refine the finish with a blue edge foam pad and m105! during this i sprayed my pad lightly with some water to make the m105 more workable. i also remove some of the tape on the body lines and and edges to make sure all the paint had been refined!

now at this point i was finished with the rotary. i did a 50/50 wipe with rubbing alcohol and water before appling m205 with the portercable 7424! taking my time i slowly massage the polish into the paint to jewel the car out! this made the paint just shine! 2 hours later here are some pics!

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 04:47 PM

now at this point i layed down 3 coats of mequiars nxt paste wax. i allowed an hour of cure time here are some pics!

now at this point i replaced all hubcaps put on all wiper blades and liceanse plate and began to dress her up! for the tires i used mequiars insane tire dressing, all moldings were applied ardexs molding trim restorer which was applied by a foam paint brush! all wheels were resurfaced with back semigloss duplicolor paint along with the wipers!

now here are some reflections outside!!!

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 04:50 PM

well i hope you enjoyed my write up! this car was actaully was fun. im glad i had the chance to rejuvinate another old car. thanks for veiwing my write up! may god be with ya in all your adventures!

**slawek65** · 02-01-2009, 05:22 PM

WOW:woohoo::2thumbs:

**BigJimZ28** · 02-01-2009, 05:30 PM

that was a great recovery

SS is so much fun to polish

two quick questions

1) does NXT layer? I thought it had cleaners and would not layer

2) do you ask before you spraypaint items?

I would be not to happy with a rattle can job(even know what you did looks good)

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 05:41 PM

slawek65 thanks man

bigjim28 i tried to layer nxt for the first time on this one! wasn`t really sure but i thought it was worth a try. i had no problems with doing this as far as streaking or anythin like that. i recently used to use ardex products. im making the switch to all mequiars soon. slowly but surely im building the stock as i go and run out of ardex chemicals. i have yet to try one of them nice boutiqe waxes i see on here. thanks for the heads up on the cleaners on the nxt paste wax! the customer asked me about the wipers and i told what i would use and he was all about it! and to be honest he didn`t even notice after seeing the paint! yes a iusally do ask during the evaultion with the customer! again thanks for the heads up on the nxt but it did come out nice!

**P1et** · 02-01-2009, 06:41 PM

Now THAT`S a detail, love these!

**ghost28** · 02-01-2009, 06:53 PM

great job.....SS red is awesome when its properly polished.....

**scaswell27** · 02-01-2009, 07:30 PM

made that VW look better than new

**David703** · 02-01-2009, 07:33 PM

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AMAZING JOB!!!!!!!!!!!

You need a full "before" body shot and a full "after" body shot right together.. I had to scroll all the way up and down to do a side by side comparision.

**connorb850** · 02-01-2009, 07:47 PM

I love single stage restorations like these, nice job!

**Barry Theal** · 02-01-2009, 08:59 PM

thank you all for the kind words i really do put a lot into my work!

**D Tailor** · 02-02-2009, 04:51 AM

dude i had to check my calendar to make sure we didn`t go back in time to the release date of this car while reading this! great work! i love those kind of jobs. drrrrrippppping.

btw-we ever going to get to talk to each other or just play tag? :-)