Need Help Restoring a 7 year old finish

A

A32Drew

New member
I have a 1996 Infiniti I30, and I want to bring it back as close to its original shine as possible. The clear coat looks to be swirled pretty bad and the car also has ugly pin stripes that have been painted on. The car is a really dark blue, like a midnight blue color. I am not the original owner and I dont think the paint was really well maintained. I was looking for some advice on the best way to bring the paint back to its original shine. I am determined to remove the pin stripes, they are like an ugly tan and brown color on a dark blue car and it looks hideous in my opinion. From what I have read, I was thinking of using a strong polish/cleaner to get the swirl marks out and then a clay bar to clean the contaminents to really get the car to shine. I have a friend who buffs cars all day long and he's going to buff it out for me, so it will be done professionally. I just want some advice as to which products I should buy. I plan on keeping this car at least another 5 years and getting another 100,000 out of it, so I want to keep it looking as nice as possible. I know the clearcoat is really thick, is it possible to cut into the clear coat a little bit to really bring the finish back, if I become religious about keeping the car waxed for as long as I own it? What about 2500 grit sandpaper? Sorry for such a long post, I really appreciate any advice from you guys!!

Regards,
Drew Farrar
 
2500 grit eh? Wetsanding is a big step, and I would try doing some work with normal chemicals first, because trust me, its not as bad as it looks.

1. Wash the car with a good neutral wash (Your choice of products here)

2. Clay the car with a good QD as lube

3. Time to assess the paint, using half of the hood is a good place to test. Try starting out with a SMR, I use Megs #9. Apply it briskly in overlapping strokes. Buff it out and see what kind of results you get. If you are satisfied go on to the rest of the car and use the #9, if not your going to need to go deeper. Megs #2 Fine Cut is a good product, and is still okay to do by hand. This should be all means give you the finish you want.

4. If did not need the Megs #2, skip this step. Since you applied the #2, you need to clean it up, so follow it up by using Megs #9 over the entire car.

5. Here is the time to apply a good glaze to the car. 3M Hand Glaze is a good product, just a bit difficult to work with. But the results are undeniable. You could also use Klasse AIO here.

6. Next I would recommend using either UPP or EX to seal the paint up.

7. For a little extra depth, go ahead and use another coat of UPP or EX, switching between the two also gives nice results. And after that P21S Paste Wax is good stuff to use to give that final depth to the finish.

8. Step back and admire.

Thats nearly 2 days of work there if you want to do it properly, but the results are undeniable.

Good luck,
Daniel
 
wow, thanks for such a fast and thorough reply! Sounds like a good plan. When you say two days of work, how many hours do ya think it'll be? I am planning on my friend doing all the polishing with a buffer. I was going to do the work at the detail bay at work, so I guess it'd be best to leave the car there after the first day and not drive 25 miles back home, eh? I was hoping to use the same thing to remove the pin stripes on the rest of the car as well. Otherwise I figured that it would be uneven if I use something stronger just to remove the pin stripes. will the #9 be strong enough to remove the pin stripes, or am I better off just using the #2? thanks again!
 
I would highly stress not driving this car around during the detail process. This whole process could take you around 5-7 hours, exterior alone. And you can do the applying and buffing by hand, you dont need to bother your friend.

As for those pin stripes, I would suggest having them assessed by a pinat shop to see how deep they are. If you wetsand the car you seriously run a risk of damaging the paint if you are not experienced. Megs #9 should be no means remove the pinstripe, and I dont even think the #2 would touch it either. These are designed to remove problems in the paint, not remove the paint (I assume this is a painted on pinstripe).

Hope I am of some help.
 
yea, my friend works for a body shop, and he suggested that I have the whole car buffed out and that with a electric buffer and with the right compound I could get the pin stripes off. He said the machine buff alone would probably take him 3 hours, because he would have to buff the sides down pretty thoroughly and blend it into the rest. From what I gather wet sanding is really taking it to the extreme, and I want to have the whole car buffed out really good and see how it looks before I mess with wet sanding. What kind of polishes/cleaners are strong enough to remove the pin stripes? They are painted on top of the clearcoat, so yea, I guess I need something that will remove the paint, but not eat through the clear coat. Thats why I'm going to leave this up to a professional. The rest of it I plan on doing myself by hand, like the waxing and such. This all started with my determination to remove these stupid pin stripes... Upon realizing what all is involved to remove them I decided to really try and get out of all the other blemishes in the paint. thanks again for your help, I am pretty naiive when it comes to this stuff.
 
No worries, we were all newbies once.

I cannot give you much advice on removing those pin stripes, I would seriously let a body shop take care of that. But beyond removing those, you can do the rest, just follow the steps I gave you.
 
Pin stripe removal depends on if they are painted or stuck on. If they are adhesive stipes use a heat gun or rubber wheel on a dremmel/rotory tool. Either one is fast effective and easy. If they are painted the only way to remove them is to repaint.
 
I did not have to repaint to get the pinstripe off of my 90' Mustang, and it was painted on. Thing was, it was flaking off and the body shop used a VERY light grit wetsanding around the entire car, and really spruced it up.
 
Ok let me rephrase. If the stripes are painted on PROPERLY and you want to get them off PROPERLY you need to repaint.
 
Yeah thats true, my stripes were a custom hand painted job. Apparently the first owner of my car, a female, greatly enjoyed them and was happy enough to pay the $5000 for them. Cost me a whole wopping $25 to get them removed, because I am scared of wetsanding.
 
If the stripes were painted on over the clear coat could you use paint thinner? You can use paint thinner for removing paint scrapes from bumps and small accidents and those paint marks are above the clear coat so I would think you could use it in this case. Someone please correct/enlighten me.
 
misterzippo said:
If the stripes were painted on over the clear coat could you use paint thinner? You can use paint thinner for removing paint scrapes from bumps and small accidents and those paint marks are above the clear coat so I would think you could use it in this case. Someone please correct/enlighten me.
Click to expand...

Yes but if it were done proporly the stripes would then have been cleared over AGAIN. It would be posible to wet sand them out but insanely difficult! Taking off .2mm in one spot and not in the spot immideately next to it is VERY VERY difficult and time consuming. It has been done b4, I've done it, and it will happen again. Honestly if it were my car though. I'd still just repaint.
 
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