PinnacleAutoCT
New member
Hey guys, I haven’t posted in a while and figured this was a good car to get back into the swing of things with. Like the title says, this is a 1940 Nash and the paint was absolutely hammered by an inexperienced rotary user. The owner’s son had seen me correcting a few of their cars (1965 Malibu, Dodge 1500, etc) and wanted to try his hand at polishing, buying a Dewalt 849, some pads and polish. He quickly got in over his head and the father called me in to get things looking proper. Upon arrival the car looked
decent, reflecting light and showing good shine under the florescent lighting, but a quick inspection with my LED headlamp showed heavy marring and lots of rotary swirls. Given that the paint was quite old and relatively soft, I decided to shoot for around 80% defect removal, which would hopefully remove the rotary trails and most of the straight-line marring, while still leaving a healthy amount of paint behind.
Before:
The car actually looked decent under the dim overhead lighting:
DSC07919 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Further inspection with a 150 lumen LED light showed the true condition of the paint:
DSC07920 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07922 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Compound dust still speckled the fender:
DSC07923 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Here you can see a mixture of deeper vertical scratches and some heavy marring from improper wipe-downs:
DSC07926 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07945 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
The rotary swirls were especially apparent on the driver’s door, I can only imagine what this must have looked like on a sunny day:
DSC07927 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07928 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Here you can view the overlap from the son’s polishing effort on the door spilling into the intermediate panel. Given these polishing techniques which probably were hard on the panel edges, and the age of the paint, I felt it would be best to avoid going for perfection with my correction process:
DSC07929 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07932 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
The fender tops unfortunately weren’t spared the rotary treatment either:
DSC07933 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07934 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
This is a little hard to make out, but it’s a gouge that would later be touched up:
DSC07935 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Some panels were untouched by the rotary, revealing the swirly mess that had accumulated over the course of decades:
DSC07938 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07950 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07951 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
To start my process the car was wiped down with Optimum No Rinse at QD dilution to prevent water from pooling in any cracks or crevices and causing rust. Next the paint was treated with Meguiar’s #7 to restore some oils to the single stage, even though it didn’t appear to be oxidized or excessively dry. I then ran through a bunch of different polishes and polish/compound mixtures, finally settling on HD Polish on Lake Country black finishing pads, with the Rupes 21 and 75E polishers. I did my cutting work between speeds 5-6 with moderate pressure for 3-5 passes, and finished around speeds 4-4.5 with light pressure for an additional pass or two. The finishing passes at lower speeds and lighter pressure while using proper technique to maintain pad rotation allowed me to leave behind a properly refined finish without any micromarring. The paint was then sealed with CarPro Reload, the whitewalls were cleaned with OPC @ 3:1 dilution, and the chrome bumpers and wheels were lightly polished with HD Speed, LC black pads and the Rupes 75E, and were then sealed with Reload.
Here are the final results:
The LED light showed an 80%+ correction rate, massively improved from the initial condition:
DSC07994 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Some deeper defects still remained, but it just wasn’t worthwhile to eat through more paint chasing them:
DSC07980 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07979 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07977 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07975 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07968 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07964 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC07960 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08037 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08038 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08040 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08042 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
These fenders are great for reflection shots:
DSC08043 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08044 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08036 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08035 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08033 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Like a black mirror!:
DSC08029 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08027 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08018 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08015 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC08010 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Thanks for looking, comments and questions are welcome!
decent, reflecting light and showing good shine under the florescent lighting, but a quick inspection with my LED headlamp showed heavy marring and lots of rotary swirls. Given that the paint was quite old and relatively soft, I decided to shoot for around 80% defect removal, which would hopefully remove the rotary trails and most of the straight-line marring, while still leaving a healthy amount of paint behind.
Before:
The car actually looked decent under the dim overhead lighting:
DSC07919 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrFurther inspection with a 150 lumen LED light showed the true condition of the paint:
DSC07920 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07922 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrCompound dust still speckled the fender:
DSC07923 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrHere you can see a mixture of deeper vertical scratches and some heavy marring from improper wipe-downs:
DSC07926 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07945 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrThe rotary swirls were especially apparent on the driver’s door, I can only imagine what this must have looked like on a sunny day:
DSC07927 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07928 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrHere you can view the overlap from the son’s polishing effort on the door spilling into the intermediate panel. Given these polishing techniques which probably were hard on the panel edges, and the age of the paint, I felt it would be best to avoid going for perfection with my correction process:
DSC07929 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07932 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrThe fender tops unfortunately weren’t spared the rotary treatment either:
DSC07933 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07934 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrThis is a little hard to make out, but it’s a gouge that would later be touched up:
DSC07935 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrSome panels were untouched by the rotary, revealing the swirly mess that had accumulated over the course of decades:
DSC07938 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07950 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07951 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrTo start my process the car was wiped down with Optimum No Rinse at QD dilution to prevent water from pooling in any cracks or crevices and causing rust. Next the paint was treated with Meguiar’s #7 to restore some oils to the single stage, even though it didn’t appear to be oxidized or excessively dry. I then ran through a bunch of different polishes and polish/compound mixtures, finally settling on HD Polish on Lake Country black finishing pads, with the Rupes 21 and 75E polishers. I did my cutting work between speeds 5-6 with moderate pressure for 3-5 passes, and finished around speeds 4-4.5 with light pressure for an additional pass or two. The finishing passes at lower speeds and lighter pressure while using proper technique to maintain pad rotation allowed me to leave behind a properly refined finish without any micromarring. The paint was then sealed with CarPro Reload, the whitewalls were cleaned with OPC @ 3:1 dilution, and the chrome bumpers and wheels were lightly polished with HD Speed, LC black pads and the Rupes 75E, and were then sealed with Reload.
Here are the final results:
The LED light showed an 80%+ correction rate, massively improved from the initial condition:
DSC07994 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrSome deeper defects still remained, but it just wasn’t worthwhile to eat through more paint chasing them:
DSC07980 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07979 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07977 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07975 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07968 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07964 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC07960 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08037 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08038 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08040 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08042 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrThese fenders are great for reflection shots:
DSC08043 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08044 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08036 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08035 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08033 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrLike a black mirror!:
DSC08029 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08027 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08018 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08015 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrDSC08010 by Mike Donoghue, on FlickrThanks for looking, comments and questions are welcome!
