My First Attempt

[Horace01]

So as we had some nice weather yesterday I thought I would have a go at doing come correction to my 2007 VW Caddy van.


I thought the paint was in pretty good shape until I started reading this and other forums. As can be seen from the attached pictures there are swirls everywhere and a few light scratches. Not pictured are the heavy scratches and chips in the paint that I will tackle at another time.


Having time and space constraints - I do not have access to a garage where I can work so I was conscientious of not being in direct sunlight - I really only had enough time to do the sliding door once I had foamed and washed the van.


Method:
Foam wash with Karcher pressure washer and Karcher 2.643-147.0 FJ6 Foam Jet Nozzle. I was not expecting much from this foam jet nozzle but I've got to say for $30.00 the results were pretty awesome. It took awhile to get the soap:water ratio correct but once I did I was very happy with the amount of foam produced. I imagine with a proper foam solution it would only get better. I will try this theory out in good time once I have gone through all the Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner I currently have.


2 bucket wash with Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner and an Armor All Wash Mitt. I do not have grit guards so was extremely careful to ensure the mitt was properly rinsed before sticking it back in the bucket with the soap. TBH though once I had rinsed off the foam there was pretty much no dirt on the van as I never really let it accumulate. Hand dried with Bunnings waffle weave towels. These too did a great job, much better that the SCA waffle weave I had from Super Cheap.


I had already done a test spot a few weeks ago to try my technique and the various products that I used so the next steps where:


1) Mothers' California Gold Clay Bar Kit - worked over the panel (sliding door). I had no idea how smooth this would actually make it feel. hmmm smoooth..... Brought that because at the time it was better value than the Maguiar's product.


2) With a foam had applicator and Meguiar's Scratch-X 2.0 I went over the big arse scratch that runs the length of the van (this was caused by a shrub that was overhanging the driveway. Its now been ripped out and burnt so wont be scratching my paint again!!). I know Scratch-X is less aggressive than the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound but as I was doing it by hand and using a fair amount of pressure I wanted to do this step first then blend it into the surrounding area in the next step.


3) Speed 5 on the DA. Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - Orange. Pretty reasonable pressure. Very slow arm speed. Wipe off with micro fiber towels.


4) Speed 4 on the DA. Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - White. Just a little pressure. Medium arm speed. Wipe off with micro fiber towels.


5) Speed 3.5 on the DA. Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - Black. No extra pressure. Medium arm speed. Wipe off with micro fiber towels.


6) Speed 3 on the DA. Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Liquid Wax. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - Blue. No extra pressure. Medium arm speed. Waited about 30 minutes to let it dry off then wiped off with micro fiber towels. Gave it another 30 minutes them repeated this step.


So Im pretty happy with the results. There are still a few swirls left. I will need to think about how to deal with these next time, more pressure, a more aggressive product or pad, more passes, really not sure so would appreciate suggestions.


List of all products used:
Karcher pressure washer with Karcher 2.643-147.0 FJ6 Foam Jet Nozzle
2 buckets - No grit guards
Armor All Wash Mitt
Rockwell shop series DA polisher
HD Flexible Backing Plate for DA 5"
Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pads Orange, White, Black, Blue
Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner
Mothers' California Gold Clay Bar Kit
Meguiar's Scratch-X 2.0
Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish
Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Liquid Wax
Meguiar's Ultimate Protectant
Meguiar's Non Acid Wheel Cleaner
Various foam hand applicators
Bunnings waffle weave towels
Various micro fiber towels
Export tire shine


Before



After



[/QUOTE]

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My First Attempt

First of all, welcome to MOL!!!! We have several Aussie members here who post regularly, so you should right at home here!!

Now, regarding the work you did on your VW - that is a fantastic first attempt!! The paint was definitely a swirled mess before you started, and that long scratch looked really nasty. Great approach to concentrate on it first, then go back with the DA and set to work on the rest of the vehicle (even if it was just one large panel)!

Just a couple of observations though:

1) It would seem that you really duplicated your efforts with steps 4 & 5:

4) Speed 4 on the DA. Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - White. Just a little pressure. Medium arm speed. Wipe off with micro fiber towels.

5) Speed 3.5 on the DA. Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Lake Country 5.25" CCS Foam Pad - Black. No extra pressure. Medium arm speed. Wipe off with micro fiber towels.

It's doubtful that you actually gained anything from doing two steps here that were virtually identical. We would suggest you play around a bit with the polishing step and see how this paint responds to your efforts. It is extremely rare that multiple polishing steps are needed to finish out to a high level; that usually only happens on extremely soft and touch sensitive paints, and even then primarily only on black. VW paint tends to be more middle of the road to a bit on the hard side so we're confident that you can eliminate this double duty with Ultimate Polish

2) You said

There are still a few swirls left. I will need to think about how to deal with these next time, more pressure, a more aggressive product or pad, more passes, really not sure so would appreciate suggestions.

Looking at the level of defect removal you achieved, we really don't see a need for a more aggressive liquid or pad here. It's really only when a given combination of product/pad is really struggling to remove defects that you should start looking at something more aggressive. In this case it appears that you've achieved maybe 90-95% defect removal on this panel so the only thing you probably really need to change is the amount of pressure, number of passes, size of work area or some combination of those. That you mentioned all of this tells us you've got a really good understanding of the whole process and you're seriously thinking about it. That's fantastic - keep it up! We always say that with all the tools available to you when working on paint - buffers, pads, liquids, towels, your eyes, your hands, your brain, etc - the one you should NEVER stop using is your brain. As soon as you stop observing and thinking about what's going on, you're stuck. Unfortunately, a lot of people do stop thinking about what's happening and they lead themselves down a path of ever growing frustration, or they just default to the most aggressive thing they can find.

In a nutshell then.... if this was your first attempt, awesome!!!! That's a huge transformation, and imagine what you'll be able to do when you've got some more experience under your belt!


Oh, by the way, great write up, too!! Nice and detailed so it lets everyone fully understand how you got the results you did.

[The Guz]

Re: My First Attempt

Nice job for your first attempt.

[exploreco]

Re: My First Attempt

Looks really good!

[Horace01]

Thanks for the complements and advice. I'll post up more pictures once I've finish doing the whole van.

[Sleper]

Re: My First Attempt

Nice work

[Jack Daniel]

Re: My First Attempt

That looks mighty good , and you not done the whole of it.