Saleen went through the swirl-o-matic

S

Secret Chimp

New member
And the owner called me to straighten it out for him.

I normally deal mostly in import cars (ie...Italian/German/Japanese). But since my business caters mostly to car enthusiasts, I do occasionally hear from folks who own American iron. Is there anything I need to look out for when rehabbing the paint on this brand new car today?

My normal process for a clear coated vehicle with very light swirls is;

S&W then SSR1 (by hand) followed by 2 coats of Nattys.

If I replaced the SSR1 with PwC in my process above, would that be an even more gentle approach to removing those very light scratches on this type of paint?

btw, the car is black. Thats why I am trying to find the most mild approach to removing these scratches.




Thx...
SC~
 
Neither SSR1 or PWC-especially by hand, will get the swirls out...on black too....you have a long day ahead of you..
 
I agree with the above. Ford clear seems to be rock hard. YOu will need something like 2.5 but i dont know if that would even take out the defects by hand.

Greg
 
I too seriously doubt SSR 1 will take care of his problems however, maintaining the start low and go slow philosophy, if I were to use the SSR line, I would begin with SSR 2 and a green polishing pad. Hopefully, the scratches aren't that bad and a couple passes with a polishing pad will remove them... that's the optomistic approach.

In the real world, most likely you will find yourself using the SSR 2.5 and orange light cutting pad. This, IMO should definitely take care of 95% the swirls. Follow that with SSR 2.5 and a green polishing pad and you should be all set. I have black too and, from experience, they can be a real PITA to deal with. But, if you get his car back in tip-top shape, he will reward you nicely. Good Luck

JJ

Just to clarify, the pads mentioned above are of the propel or Sonus variety.
 
I think you will have to play it by ear as you go along and use your experience to guide you. Ford paint is Hard but I'm not sure if the Saleen Models get a special paint job or not, if it's black, probably not. Try your normal routine and be prepared to step up to more aggressive products as needed.:hippi
 
Thanks for the input guys. And you were all correct. The Ford's clear coat was very hard!

It turns out that this Saleen had problems that were a lot more serious than a few light swirls on the hood. It had undisclosed and poorly repaired damage to the whole right side. The whole right side of this brand new car looks to have been repainted (I could see drips and fish eyes and tape marks). About 50% of the side was not fully wet sanded. The portions of the side that were sanded and polished were done poorly and many heavy swirls and scratches remained.

I had to use SSR3, SSR2.5, SSR2, SSR1, EXP to get the upper hand with this paint.

Here are a few pics.

About 50% of the side of the car looked like this.
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This is what the same section of the body looked like after I went through all 4 levels of SSR product and applied EXP.
47b5d801b3127cce9232f35dab6300000015108AcMmrVu1at6


This is a general view down the side of the car after completion.
47b5d801b3127cce9232f5aaab9700000015108AcMmrVu1at6


This is a glory shot of the Saleen. :)
47b5d801b3127cce9232f0a96a3e00000016108AcMmrVu1at6


Poorboys saves the day again! Incidentially, I told the vehicles owner to take his car back to the dealership and raise hell. He already has a copy of my pics as proof that there was undisclosed damage to the car prior to his purchase 5 days ago. If nothing else he should be able to get the money he spent on the detail ($200) reimbursed!
 
Beautiful work :bigups

I can't beliefve that the dealership would let the car leave like that, or that the customer didn't notice when he picked up the car. I would have never accepted the car looking like that :nono
 
Thanks!

I find it amazing that the dealership let the car go looking like that. After all, Saleen is only a few miles further down the street. If he saw his car looking like that rolling off the showroom floor, he would flip!

I wouldn't have taken ownership of the car looking like that either. But I have a feeling he took delivery at night. The darkness would have disguised the paint problem pretty easily.

This job got me a referral to do his Porsche 997 and his bosses Bentley Continental GT. :) sweetness!
 
A BMW owner sued the dealership over something stupid the dealership did like that: The car was scratched up in the lot, they had it repainted and didn't disclose it. 4 mil later, they won't do that -EVER- again.

Gore vs. BMW

(It is a word doc.)

You should get a cut! :rockin
 
Nice save:) It looks excellent and I'm sure you've made a customer for life:bigups ...Look out if Saleen sees those pictures you may get a new job working for them:lol
 
Thanks. I actually already have a gig with a few other local tuners. Perhaps I could take these pics over to their shop and get myself a few jobs. :) But I would probably have to increase my insurance again! They have some spendy cars over there!
 
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