I never have it easy....

[usdm]

Lately, I've been getting some jobs that

I am trying to do against my better judgement.

I say this, since a lot of the time, I am dealing

with someone elses mistakes. And trying to

learn to use some of this new (to me) stuff

is proving to make me think of going back to

using regular abrassive compounds and polishes,

etc.



This car is no different



This car belongs to a co worker.It was painted at least

3 different times by 3 different shops. They all did

mediocre jobs at best. And of course, the paint was

swirled all to heck. This is me trying to make some

corrections. I knew i was over my head on this one, but

I figured, what the heck..Sorry for the sucky pics.



Tools:



Makita rotary w/ wool, yellow edge, blue edge, and

green edge pads

Unknown 2000 grit paper

Meg 2500- 3000 unigrit paper

HT HC

IP

FPII

WG



q-panel was repaired, but they whomever did it

did a bad job. everything was rough on this panel.

Same panel after HC with wool pad and 2000 grit paper

Painter blended q-panel, and 2 doors

Doors after 2500 paper, HC and wool pad

Hood was also painted. Did this with wool pad,

2500 paper, HC.

Same Q-panel after IP and FPII with green and blue edge pads

Only did IP and FPII

Front door after HC, IP, FPII, and WG. Flash is me trying

to take a picture.

 

[Dinzdale40]

wow.....that's over my head.....how much did you charge him....

 

[TDIGuy04]

What kind of car is that in the reflection? Old camaro?



Looks like a good job btw, starting pics kinda sucked...what kind of camera were u using?

 

[usdm]

wow.....that's over my head.....how much did you charge him....

Well, I didn't charge her for the job. She's a nice person

who's going through some stuff in her life. Plus it gave me

a chance to try some the more agressive stuff in an

advancecd situation. I was even able to get out some

deep scratches that were in some of the panels. Unfortunately,

I also left some behind since I was bit rushed (not by her,

but I had something unexpected pop up).



Total time from start to finish was about 4 1/2 hours.



I plan on revisiting this car next weekend, and make the needed

corrections (namely use a final polish with either the PC

or the Mak d/a). Plus clean up the tires, wheels, headlights, etc...



Oh, and if I were to charge, it would have been about 200. This is based on the following:



wetsanding/ leveling q-panel, L/side doors, and hood If it were a treatment done for a shop client cost would have been a bit less, around 150.



Removal and re-install of rear spoiler for polishing trunk

Paint polish of entire car

Handwashing of car

Application of sealant

 

[usdm]

What kind of car is that in the reflection? Old camaro?



Looks like a good job btw, starting pics kinda sucked...what kind of camera were u using?

Thanks for the compliment. I really did try on this one too.

Just really tough when you have to deal with problems

created by other folks. I tried to get her to go back to the

shops, and have the problems corrected. But I guess time

was not on her side.



The car in the refection is my dad's 69 Skylark 2dr (another

project of mine). Before I did the work, you would never

have seen the car in the reflection. So yes the pics sucked,

but I think what you were seeing is how bad the bodywork

was underneath the paint (which was not so good either).

Camera is a Kodak DX7630. And like everything I've touched

so far, I am still learning that as well.

 

[Scottwax]

Looks like you did a really excellent job! And to think I was b!tching about pine sap on a Yukon XL today (well, there was a lot!). The improvement in reflection is amazing!

 

[NavindraLR]

looks good... nice job

 

[usdm]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Coming from such talented

folks, I felt even better about what I accomplished...



At least until I looked at the car under some high intensity

parking lot lighting:grrr



Seems like even after all that work, I still did not manage to

get out some of the webbing. Truth be told though,

I did skip the final finishing step with a D/A. Oh well, at least

the car still looks better than before I started on it. But

now, she (coworker) is frustrated because she can't really

use any of the stuff she has now, if she wants to keep

the gloss up. Last Monday night it rained, and because

she did not want the rain water to sit on her car, she

went ahead and wiped it off with one of her terry cloth

towels and an absorber towel



Guess we'll have to work on that.



Oddly ScottWax, there a lot of cars on my block that I would love to try and tackle with the tree sap just to improve my skills. But they keep going to the guy with the Lemon Pledge details.....seems the Pledge gives the sap that extra POP.

 

[JimGo]

WOW! That looks AMAZING! You wouldn't happen to be close to NJ or DC, would you? I'm trying to decide between hiring a good detailer and getting started on my own, and you would certainly push me into the former choice!

 

[usdm]

WOW! That looks AMAZING! You wouldn't happen to be close to NJ or DC, would you? I'm trying to decide between hiring a good detailer and getting started on my own, and you would certainly push me into the former choice!

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near there. But I am quite sure there are some really good folks out in your neck of the woods. Just post a request in the Professional Detailer's section.



I worked in my father's shop for almost 15 years doing mostly pre-paint, and post-paint prep work, so I have some reference about what I am doing. However it was with standard stuff (heavy paste compound, medium compound, light liquid compound/ polish, and finally finishing glazes- almost all by 3m, and almost all my work was done by hand). But since discovering this place, I have been bombarded by so many really cool products, that I am a bit ovewhelmed. And the learning curve just to really exploit all these products seems at times more than my patience is willing to allow. But you have to crawl before you can walk.



I can't speak for anyone else here as a lot of the guys here are truly seasoned detailers. All I can suggest to you is don't be afraid to try some things out on your own. Learn as much as you can about what you're using, plan out a lot of time to do the work, and be patient.

 

[MongooseGA]

very nice transformation!



but im curious...



the car looks to be a pretty new car (2000+ model?) why in hell has it been repainted so many times? accidents?

 

[usdm]

Bad luck, I guess. From what she told me:



Car was hit in q-panel early this year or late last year

Hood was damaged, (I'm not sure how that happened, and she was not specific). I only knw it happened a good while back.



Entire r/ side of the car is untouched, but the l/ side, well it was a mess.



Anyway, I got a few more pics to show. No hood shots.



Entire r/ side. very clean and even, but I missed a spot with

the polish pad. have to clean that up when I get the car back.

some reflection shots...

.

This shot was weird. I was trying to show

a reflection while also showing the flake. It

looks like some sort of ghost image.

Believe it or not, there was not a lot of swirling left over

from the rotary/ wool combo when I used it. And I do feel a

lot more comfortable with the wool than I do the foam. So I

see that from now on, if I have to use the rotary, (and you know I will be), I will definitely make the time to followup with the PC

or the Mak d/a