Should I even bother?

**bsdsys_x86** · 07-23-2005, 04:17 PM

Here is the deal. My girlfriend owns a 92 Firebird and she is selling it. I want to clean the cars paint up and make look alot better because it is in bad shap. I am just concerned about a couple things. There looks to be no clear coat on the car. It looks like a paint job done at home and didn`t turn out well. Swirl makrs from hell and water spots like crazy. What would you do? Should I just leave it alone or what?

What I have:

PC
LC 6" orange pad, white pads, and finishing pad
SSR2.5
SSR1
PwC
UPC
UPP
EX
EX-P
AIO
KSG

If I can get the scratches out (if you guys ok this on this paint) I want to do wash, clay, ssr steps, aio seal with ex and maybe top it with nattys. Just don`t want to waist my time if there is no hope for the paint with the tools and products I have. I`m just not sure about this paint. I also don`t want to do more damage than good. I just want to make it look alot better so she can get more out of the car. Thanks in advance guys!

**GregCavi** · 07-23-2005, 04:58 PM

Looks like it is just a little/alot oxidized. Here is the plan of attack.

Wash
Clay
AIO- to remove faded oxidized paint
2.5
1
pwc
EX or EXP

HTH

Greg

**CharlesW** · 07-23-2005, 05:01 PM

It`s difficult to tell the condition of the paint from the pictures, but it looks like you have enough to work with to make a big difference in the appearance.
If the white spots on the top, deck, and spoiler are water spots and not clearcoat failure, you can really help the appearance.
My suggestions:
SSR 2.5 -Polishing pad
SSR 1 - Polishing pad (Not the same one unless you wash the 2.5 out of it before using the SSR 1)
AIO - Polishing pad (Another one)
UPP - Finishing pad
You will probably need to spend some time, but the results should be worth it.
I would tackle the worst area first and see how the 2.5 cleans it up. If the spoiler. deck, and top polish up the rest should be a piece of cake.

Charles

**bsdsys_x86** · 07-23-2005, 05:13 PM

I am thinking they are just water spots and not clear coat failure. Atleast that`s what I`m hoping. I will deffinately be using the AIO in this case. It is in bad shape. I will make sure to take some after shots to show the results.

**bsdsys_x86** · 07-23-2005, 07:18 PM

Well, I started the detailing a little while ago and got half of the car done. The SSR steps went great. Removed alot but not all defects in the paint. I tried both AIO and PwC to see what was going on with the water spots on the car. They were deffinately not water spots. Charles, it was clear coat failure. It really sucked that I couldn`t do anything about it but the car is looking alot better than before. I still believe there wasn`t a clear coat on the car at all because there was no glow about the paint what so ever even after I cleaned things up with PwC and AIO. Further inspection let me to believe whoever the previous owner was did this paint job for sure at home because I seen a couple spots where they look like deep scratches but in reality they were just showing the "white" paint under the red. Are you seriou? lol.. Oh well. Started to get dark on me. I took some pics but no light to show the best results about the process but will finish in the morning and take some around lunch and post. Thanks for the input guys.

**CharlesW** · 07-23-2005, 07:55 PM

Don`t blame yourself for not being able to do anything about the clearcoat failure areas. When that happens, the correction is repainting.
The car probably had/has clearcoat, but it has been so neglected that the paint has gone dead or flat. I don`t know the reason for the paint losing its shine, but it happens fairly often with red cars. Hondas seem to do it the worst. We could polish and wax my son`s Honda Prelude and have it look great and after about a month, the paint would start to go dead again. GM`s seem to have a split personality about the red fading to pink on some, purple on others. I have two red cars right now and love the color, but they are almost as tempermental as black.
Keep in mind that it is a "used/old" car and whoever buys it probably won`t expect it to be perfect. The car you are giving it now needed to start in 1992.

At least it doesn`t appear to be a rust bucket. Some of the F bodies were pretty bad about that. (As were the Hondas)

Charles

**bsdsys_x86** · 07-23-2005, 08:41 PM

Nice to know about the GM`s red paint! The car has never been taken care of in a proper detailing manner. It set on a car lot for months before she bought it and you know how the lots take care of cars. Yes it is a 92 and your right, it should have been taken alot better care of. Lucky enough though she doesn`t have any rust at all on the car. Thanks for the support Charles. It just sucks that the car wasn`t taken care of "just enough" for me to correct things but oh well. It still came out alot better than before. So, not all a bad detail.

**hemin8r** · 08-07-2005, 10:02 PM

Any After pics?

**bsdsys_x86** · 08-07-2005, 11:15 PM

I actually had some after pics but I broke my camera. Will be getting another one as soon as I can and if the car isn`t sold already I will deffinately post them.