Tweet
This particular Saturday presented us with a MINI that had custom painted racing stripes applied by the previous owner, with a clear coat sprayed over them. Unfortunately, the clear was looking rather sad. Well, OK..... it looked downright horrible. Zero gloss, flat, dull.... just not what anyone wants from a glossy clear coat.
Nice, clear reflections of the overhead lights in the garage, right? No, really, that's the sort of clarity, of lack thereof, in this paint. And this is actually clean. Just horrible!
A quick clay application to remove the bonded contaminants was the first order of business.
Yep, that's some pretty nasty contamination coming off the paint.
We decided to test two different processes on this paint - Ultimate Compound/Polish on our new thin foam discs, and the DAMF System
The new MT300 DA buffer is so easy to use, you can even one-hand it! We don't recommend this for defect removal because you do need some pressure directly over the pad, but this illustrates just how easy the tool is to control
A closer view of the problems we faced when we started.
The same area after one pass with UC on a burgundy foam cutting disc.
A quick pass with Ultimate Polish to enhance the finish even further.
Given the overall state of this paint, we suspected that the DAMF System was going to be the better choice.
Fully priming the DMC5 cutting disc with D300 prior to first use.
All primed, three drops of products..... let's do this!
Straight, overlapping passes.
Much, much better!!!
Of course, this mats the pad down and it needs to be cleaned out and the fibers fluffed back up.
A little compressed air and it's ready for three more small drops of product and on to the next section.
Time to turn the students loose and see if they can make this hood... sorry, bonnet.... shine.
Reflections! Real, honest to goodness reflections where you can tell just what it is that's being reflected in the hood! Now THAT is success!
The wheel arches on this little MINI were looking a bit nasty, too. So we masked off the trim and hit it with our new Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer aerosol.
This is what they looked like before.....
... and after. Simple. Heck, it took more time to mask off the paint than it did to spray the trim and make it look great. But since this is an aerosol product, do yourself a huge favor and take a couple of moments to mask things off before applying it.
Nice, clear reflections of the overhead lights in the garage, right? No, really, that's the sort of clarity, of lack thereof, in this paint. And this is actually clean. Just horrible!
A quick clay application to remove the bonded contaminants was the first order of business.
Yep, that's some pretty nasty contamination coming off the paint.
We decided to test two different processes on this paint - Ultimate Compound/Polish on our new thin foam discs, and the DAMF System
The new MT300 DA buffer is so easy to use, you can even one-hand it! We don't recommend this for defect removal because you do need some pressure directly over the pad, but this illustrates just how easy the tool is to control
A closer view of the problems we faced when we started.
The same area after one pass with UC on a burgundy foam cutting disc.
A quick pass with Ultimate Polish to enhance the finish even further.
Given the overall state of this paint, we suspected that the DAMF System was going to be the better choice.
Fully priming the DMC5 cutting disc with D300 prior to first use.
All primed, three drops of products..... let's do this!
Straight, overlapping passes.
Much, much better!!!
Of course, this mats the pad down and it needs to be cleaned out and the fibers fluffed back up.
A little compressed air and it's ready for three more small drops of product and on to the next section.
Time to turn the students loose and see if they can make this hood... sorry, bonnet.... shine.
Reflections! Real, honest to goodness reflections where you can tell just what it is that's being reflected in the hood! Now THAT is success!
The wheel arches on this little MINI were looking a bit nasty, too. So we masked off the trim and hit it with our new Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer aerosol.
This is what they looked like before.....
... and after. Simple. Heck, it took more time to mask off the paint than it did to spray the trim and make it look great. But since this is an aerosol product, do yourself a huge favor and take a couple of moments to mask things off before applying it.
Comment