`60 Impala, Full Wet Sand and Buff: Rasky`s Auto Detailing

[RaskyR1]

1960 Impala, Full Wet Sand and Buff.



So this is another car that my mentor recently picked up for resale at a local auction (yes it sold). The car appeared to have been repainted several years ago, but it was never actually wet sanded and buffed after the repaint. Overall the car was in very good shape, but the paint really needed to be leveled off to show it`s true potential. While I really wanted to level the paint as smooth as glass, the initial paint readings told me there was not a lot of paint of the car and the owner and I agreed not to go too crazy with the sanding, but it was still a huge improvement!





So lets take a look at how the car came in...



Here it is at the owners facility, where I did my initial inspection and test sanding/buffing.









Deck lid





Zoomed in





Top of the passenger door





Side of passengers door





Passenger fender





Dust nibs still in the paint









Drivers side fender









Looking down the side....those fins made for some challenging sanding and buffing.









This one shows some swirls, RIDS, and nasty orange peel.









The Sanding process was done by both hand and DA. Areas that were highly curved needed to be done by hand using Meguiars (Nikken) 1500/3000 grit sheets and a makeshift sanding block/pad. The flat panels were done using a combination on Mirka Soft 1000/2500 grit disks in both 3" and 6", followed by some Meguiar`s 3000 grit disks.



I must also give Kevin over at BuffyDaddy a huge thumbs up for helping me find the right sanding media for this rock solid paint and for getting them out to me in such a timely matter! This was by far the hardest paint I`ve ever laid a buffer too. The Mirka Soft discs worked flawlessly and will be added to my wet sanding arsenal! Thanks again Kevin!!!



Pics of the sanding in process





Hand sanding curved areas









DA sanding





Car all sanded ready to be buffed...notice that the 3000 grit almost leaves the paint with a slight gloss.





















Doing some more test spots trying to figure out best combo for scratch removal.





50/50 test spot

[RaskyR1]

This was on one of the late week nights, frustrated by how hard the paint was....Kevin asked how it was going so I thought I`d send him a pic showing how it was "really" going.







The actual sanding scratch removal was done with the below process:

-M105 on the rotary with various wool pads (KB`s method)

-M105 on the rotary with cyan LC foam pads

-M205 on the rotary with tangerine LC foam pads

-PO85RD on the rotary with black LC foam pads



LSP was Blackfire Wet-Diamond





The next day I decided to take a break from the paint and focus on the stainless trim and a few other items, which M105 actually polished up very nicely.



Before





After





Before





After





Change can be seen better in these ones



Before





After





While polishing the rear trim piece I also took off the tail light covers to better polish them. Plus they were a little dirty inside so I gave them a quick cleaning. This was actually a 50/50 shot of the rear trim and taillights...hard to see difference in the pic





Dirty housing





Quick cleaning





Tail lights













Both sides done





Another 50/50 shot

[RaskyR1]

This was as I finally finished at 1:00a.m. during a week night. I normally don`t take cars on during the week as I have a full time job, but the car had to get done as it was going to the auction the next day.

































Next day when the owner picked it up.....yea sun!

































I didn`t do anything with the motor or trunk but thought I add pics of them as well















As always, thank you for taking the time to view my work!



Rasky

[Barry Theal]

:pop2: Umm Yea that is how its done!! Rasky Great work man. That car looks incredible. Very nice attention to detail. Man I would love to tag team up with you on a sanding job. I have a feeling we are a lot of like as detailers. Freaken awesome work. Loved it!

[RaskyR1]

:pop2: Umm Yea that is how its done!! Rasky Great work man. That car looks incredible. Very nice attention to detail. Man I would love to tag team up with you on a sanding job. I have a feeling we are a lot of like as detailers. Freaken awesome work. Loved it!

Thanks Barry!



Anytime bro...and I`ve always thought our detailing careers sort of mirrored each other...up until you opened the new shop anyway.

[Jrichards4]

Awesome car and even better work!!

[JohnKleven]

Amazing work. You just added $10K to the value of the car, and your attention to detail is exceptional.





John

[C. Charles Hahn]

Excellent work on that massive machine! Gives me some inspiration for the similar project I have coming up in two weeks on an old red chevy

[gmblack3]

Stunning work Chad! How many hours do you think?

[DeanSweet]

now that`s doubling, if not tripling the value of that car at auction!

Amazing results. Very well done.

[imported_Picus]

Dang. Excellent turnout. Very. very nice.

[japjoe7]

I didn`t know that kind of work is possible, there is still some hope in this world!

[Pats300zx]

Beautiful work Chad. What a classic...1:1: Your hard work definitely shows on this one...

[RaskyR1]

Awesome car and even better work!!

Thank you! I really like the lines of this car too. The shape of the front glass and rear quarters are just awesome. It has something that today`s cars lack IMO.

Amazing work. You just added $10K to the value of the car, and your attention to detail is exceptional.





John

Thanks John!

Excellent work on that massive machine! Gives me some inspiration for the similar project I have coming up in two weeks on an old red chevy

Thanks Charlie! I`ll have to keep an eye out for that one.

Stunning work Chad! How many hours do you think?

Thanks Bryan! I had a lot more time in it than it should have taken...but given how hard the paint was I`d say 50-60hrs.

now that`s doubling, if not tripling the value of that car at auction!

Amazing results. Very well done.

Thanks Dean!

Dang. Excellent turnout. Very. very nice.

Thanks Kevin!

I didn`t know that kind of work is possible, there is still some hope in this world!

Thank you!

Beautiful work Chad. What a classic...1:1: Your hard work definitely shows on this one...

Thanks Pat!

[kingofsorrow]

woohoo. way to give that grand ole lady her beauty back.