Nth Degree
New member
After the results on his ’94 Supra, the owner brought me his other car to have corrected.
Products used:
Paint/body:
Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Optimum Power Clean 3:1
Speedy Prep Towel
Optimum No-Rinse
Meguiar’s M105/205 combo
Menzerna Power Finish
Black Fire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection
Black Fire Midnight Sun
Glass Science Rain Clear Glass Cleaner and Rain Repellent
Ultima Tire & Trim Guard Plus
Wheels:
Eagle 1 A2Z Wheel Cleaner
Optimum Opti-Bond
Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 (Wheel wells)
Interior:
Meguiar’s APC+
Woolite @ ~25:1
Invisible Glass
303 Aerospace Protectant
Wash, decon, wheels and interior were all pretty straight forward, so I will skip to the key points.
The average paint measurements were around the 8 mils mark.
Hood measured 12 to 14 mils. A small discoloration on one edge likely required clearing the whole hood to avoid a blend. Then I discovered this:
The vertical part of the trunk lid was measuring between 2.2 and 2.6 mils. This is a great reason to have a paint thickness gauge. I know some have debated the need and it certainly cannot fully replace common sense and experience, but a detailer could easily go over the rest of the car with an aggressive compound without any issues, then carry that same method to this panel and wonder what they did wrong when they burn through. While the majority of the car was compounded with 105, this area was polished lightly with Menzerna Power Finish on a LC white pad.
One of the issues was the damage to the PPF on the front bumper.
The dealership told him they would have to replace the PPF. A little patience with some Power Finish on an orange pad at speed 3.5-4 and presto.
The paint was hard and some scratches were difficult to remove completely, like this one. But this color hides scratches easily. In fact the color made it difficult to see many flaws under numerous sources of light.
The scratch, while still there, is all but invisible. Only sunlight at a perfect angle made it visible. The bird bomb etching also wouldn’t go away completely. The arrow is for a point of reference.
Rear bumper. Proceeded with caution here, as I couldn’t be sure of the paint thickness. If it was anywhere near the trunk lid I didn’t want to find out the hard way.
The PPF on the hood was heavily swirled. Using Menzerna Power finish on orange pad at slow speed (4) I corrected the bulk of it. The edges were taped to prevent problems. A 50/50.
I then removed the tape that was protecting the edges.
Using a rotary at the slowest speed (600 rpm) and Power finish on a 4” orange pad I feathered the edges by tilting the machine so that the pad only went in one direction; travelling off the edge. This prevented the potential for lifting the film or pushing polish under it.
Other details included the black trim. Single stage black paint that was not very thick.
Caution again was necessary. Power Finish on a 4” white pad at speed 3. Result was not perfect, but huge improvement.
Tail lights also got hit with Power Finish on a 4” orange pad.
The car got a coat of BFWD and 2 coats BFMS.
A few more before and after comparisons.
Thanks for looking.
Products used:
Paint/body:
Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Optimum Power Clean 3:1
Speedy Prep Towel
Optimum No-Rinse
Meguiar’s M105/205 combo
Menzerna Power Finish
Black Fire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection
Black Fire Midnight Sun
Glass Science Rain Clear Glass Cleaner and Rain Repellent
Ultima Tire & Trim Guard Plus
Wheels:
Eagle 1 A2Z Wheel Cleaner
Optimum Opti-Bond
Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 (Wheel wells)
Interior:
Meguiar’s APC+
Woolite @ ~25:1
Invisible Glass
303 Aerospace Protectant
Wash, decon, wheels and interior were all pretty straight forward, so I will skip to the key points.
The average paint measurements were around the 8 mils mark.
Hood measured 12 to 14 mils. A small discoloration on one edge likely required clearing the whole hood to avoid a blend. Then I discovered this:
The vertical part of the trunk lid was measuring between 2.2 and 2.6 mils. This is a great reason to have a paint thickness gauge. I know some have debated the need and it certainly cannot fully replace common sense and experience, but a detailer could easily go over the rest of the car with an aggressive compound without any issues, then carry that same method to this panel and wonder what they did wrong when they burn through. While the majority of the car was compounded with 105, this area was polished lightly with Menzerna Power Finish on a LC white pad. One of the issues was the damage to the PPF on the front bumper.
The dealership told him they would have to replace the PPF. A little patience with some Power Finish on an orange pad at speed 3.5-4 and presto.
The paint was hard and some scratches were difficult to remove completely, like this one. But this color hides scratches easily. In fact the color made it difficult to see many flaws under numerous sources of light.
The scratch, while still there, is all but invisible. Only sunlight at a perfect angle made it visible. The bird bomb etching also wouldn’t go away completely. The arrow is for a point of reference.
Rear bumper. Proceeded with caution here, as I couldn’t be sure of the paint thickness. If it was anywhere near the trunk lid I didn’t want to find out the hard way.
The PPF on the hood was heavily swirled. Using Menzerna Power finish on orange pad at slow speed (4) I corrected the bulk of it. The edges were taped to prevent problems. A 50/50.
I then removed the tape that was protecting the edges.
Using a rotary at the slowest speed (600 rpm) and Power finish on a 4” orange pad I feathered the edges by tilting the machine so that the pad only went in one direction; travelling off the edge. This prevented the potential for lifting the film or pushing polish under it.
Other details included the black trim. Single stage black paint that was not very thick.
Caution again was necessary. Power Finish on a 4” white pad at speed 3. Result was not perfect, but huge improvement.
Tail lights also got hit with Power Finish on a 4” orange pad.
The car got a coat of BFWD and 2 coats BFMS.
A few more before and after comparisons.
Thanks for looking.
