Why do I do this to myself? Don't look if you have a weak stomach...

wifehatescar

wifehatescar

My L5-S1 is killing me!
So, we all see these cars out and about, 10 year old single stage that has never been cared for. So, being the :crazy person I am, I offer (to complete strangers in my building sub!) to this car for *free*, needless to say they are :eek but also :dancin
It turns out this is a 16 year old girls car :nono
So I get to work using the following:
PP on PC, PP on rotary, PP by hand, SSR2 PC

PP seemed to work the best but it was rough going, the paint sucked the product up like crazy (it was like the paint was pourous). I eneded up rinsing the pad after each panel. Anyway, I spent 2 hours on it today and got about 1 pass of PP over the whole car. Right now it's real blotchy so I'm going to go back tomorrow with SSR2 and then 1Z MP.

Luckily, this was a good marketing technique to do it for free, the owner is talking about doing her husbands car and asked for business cards without me offering them. *I'll supply an "after" picture for the whole car tomorrow evening*. If anyone has any good advice as to how to proceed from here, lmk. PS - abused ss paint is THE WORST :hurl

Before pic of entire car and hood half way done pics:
 
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It may be the worst, but . . .

. . . I think it shows the results the best!

I think the most dramatic B/A pics are of SS paint that has been ignored. I've just recently done my '85 Civic Wagon (champagne beige metallic) , and while I know how much work went into it, it just doesn't show it! Not very gratifying, at all!! :boohoo

The difference in those pics is just amazing!! Just make sure that she understands that you can & will make a DRAMATIC improvement, but "miracles" are out of your league.


Maybe you just need to top it with some "Nu-Finish" :lmfao
 
:bigups Wow you need more pics of that improvement. To the regular eye that is crazy improvement! Tryout AIO next time. Probably better for chemical cleaning. The PP was propolish correcT?
 
I wouldn't have touched that thing with a ten foot pole..you are very brave Steve:eek

First the red has oxidized very badly and there has been a huge loss of pigment from the paint...the chances of getting that thing to look even during polishing process is very slim. I would have worked it by hand with a terry cloth which can absorb the gunk that is going to come off of that finish.
Steve...do you have a cheap old fashion orbital? you know the kind with the elastic terry covers...these can absorb more junk than a foam pad can.
If you have a wool pad then that on a rotary could work, but who knows how much paint is really left:dunno...It will even out a bit when you put a wax on it, but don't expect miracles....
I wish you a lot of luck

steve
 
To be honest I mainly did this JUST for the cool hood shot to add to my website, I have had very positive feedback from my before/after pics.
Since the job is free, I'm only doing it to MY satisfaction.

AIO, in my experience, works about as good as PP (PB's pro polish) for oxidation. I'm using alot of product too since it's soaking into the paint, so PP is cheaper than AIO in this case.

Steve, thanks for the tips, you're right I was using a terry applicator with a ton of PP on it and that was about as quick as using the PC. You are also right that the paint looks blotchy and uneven right now. I hope the SSR2 will take car of that tomorrow. (I'm actually going to have a hard time removing the line I created on the middle of the hood:eek:lol)

As of today, I "broke through" the top layer of oxidation. I hope tomorrow will be a little easier. The car looks about 1/2 way there. From NO REFLECTION in the paint to SOME REFLECTION in the paint:lol :brick
 
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Steve,

If you have PwC it might even be the easiest way to go and could save you a step:dunno I've used it on some pretty dead paint..and as Natty coined the phrase..."it AIO on steriods" :lol
 
You're a brave soul & confident in your ability to breath life into something that looks that bad.

There's a Ford Escort on my block, same color .... and I use the word "color" loosely that's in unbelieveably poor condition.

It's always at the curb, could be it's too ugly to garage or that could be where it died. Anyhow, I was out walking recently & I just had to see how the surface felt & it reminded me of fine grit sandpaper.

I wouldn't know where, or how, to start.
 
Yeah, I felt like sandblasting this car would be my first step but I didn't have the equipment :D:lol

Steve, I think I will try SSR2 then PwC tomorrow. Thanks!
 
So your using Pro Polish before the SSR 2? I would have thought you would use that after a SSR and before Ex/EXP or Nattys Please explain. Something that bad why not start off with 2.5 or 3? Sorry foor the new guy questions.
Thanks
Dewey
 
In my view: SSR 2.5 / 3 Are abrasives. Using PP will chemically clean the surface. Its better to clean than to abrade the surface. Yes 2.5/3 clena contaminants, but its best to thoroughly prep a surface than to level it down. You also don't know how health the paint is either. Steve should easily explain this :jump
 
since you're doing it for free,. find out if the owners will let you leave it half done.... like a rolling b/a shot :lmfao
The car looks great so far, you're brave just for taking that thing on :bow
 
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I thought it would be funny to do what I did to the hood without telling them and leave them to wonder what happened :lol

Here's an excellent response I got from PB Steve regarding oxidation:

MY QUESTION:
when removing BAD oxidation on ss paint, looks like you prefer PP to the SSR's to clean the surface? Can you explain the reasoning for this?

I tried Meg's DACP on a terribly oxidized ss paint last week and the DACP residue turned to glue basically - I assume it was because SO much junk was coming off the paint. Would PP do the same thing?

HIS ANSWER:
Single stage paint oxidizes while base coat cleat coat really does not..Bc/CC marrs and becomes scratched up making a haze look. Single stage needs to have a layer of paint removed to get tothe good paint underneath..using too much abrasive leads you to possiblity of going through or thinning the paint too much, where as chemical cleaning with very mild abrasives will remove the oxidation and recondition the underlying surface. When using the DACP you are not only removing the product during the process, but the dead pigment from the paint with it causing more gumming . On a clearcoat all you are really removing is mostly product.
 
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You seem to be like me...I always end up doing cars with the PC that should really be tackled with a rotary first :doh :wall

Prime examples:

The Durango & the Beretta....oddly enough, the owners of these two are bf/gf

14Durango_Before_2-med.jpg
14Cnv0170-med.jpg
 
Actually, I used a rotary too Don.....;)

Todat I started with SSR2 on the rotary with a cutting pad, then went to AIO (sorry no PwC Steve) on a polish pad with a PC. Oh yeah, Z-16 on the tires :lol:lol

Well, here's the after pic, it looks about as good as a *normal* before picture of a car. Comapring this to the first picture in the first post, big difference though.

This weeks lesson - never do a car like this again :D :ticked

PS - due to my kindness in doing this free job, I was asked to do a *paid* detail on the father's 2001 Caddy STS :D
 
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AtlantaBoy said:
Did someone poop in the headlights?
Click to expand...


The headlights do look really bad now...but only because the car looks like it has a new paint job!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bigups

Maybe they'll pay you to polish the headlights. You did an awesome job; hopefully you will get some business out of it around the neighborhood.
 
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