New to the forum looking for help! Pictures included!

[eugenex215]

Hey all! I'm a detailing noobie that's been doing research lately but still in need of knowledge. My summer project is to do a complete detail of my 04 Altima. It takes quite a beating yearly since I live in the city (no garage only street parking).

Here are some pictures of what needs to be done:

Rear bumper repair:






Left side rear passenger door dent and minor scratch (there is paint underneath the black scratch)



Front Bumper (noob parkers) Flaws are kind of hard to see but I can feel an unsmooth surface even when I clayed it.




Interior annoyance:




Firstly, I need to do some body work repair. Any suggestions? Do I need body filler for the bumper? Is it worth getting a new bumper and have it professionally done?

The front bumper isn't so bad I think I can sand it down and polish it.

Not sure what I can do about the side dent. I saw a video where someone used an air duster canister and hairspray to remove the dent.
Remove car dents quickly and cheaply. | Wise Bread

As for the interior, I am stuck on this one. I tried using tide-to-go pen on the seatbelt stains but it makes it worse. It stains it rather than removes it. Wowzers.

Any help would be appreciated. Please don't flame me lol.

[Derrick]

Re: New to the forum looking for help! Pictures included!

OK well first from what i can see i think alot of the damage to the rear bumper cannot be fixed by detailing and will need to be repainted because it looks like its right through the clear coat and through the paint. For the door panel I'm pretty sure you can get the black off but I'm not to sure about what to do about the dent so i cant help you there. For the front bumper it looks like you have some paint chipping and that cannot be fixed by wet sanding and polishing. Also if you do plan on wet sanding make sure you have some experience with a rotary because a rotary will be needed to remove sanding marks. A DA will not have the power to remove the sanding marks. To get out paint chips or any kind of damage that is through the clear you will need to repaint that area. For the stain on the interior try some Meg's Quick out. Let it sit for a min and then remove. I would soak it with some quick out and then extract with a wet shop vac if possible because with some stains that are stubborn and you start rubbing on them like ink it will just spread so i would just apply the cleaner and extra without rubbing if possible

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New to the forum looking for help! Pictures included!

Your car has a lot of touch-up repair that needs to be done, most people either apply some touch up paint and live with the results or make the job real complicated, usually beyond their ability to paint, and then polish.

Most people also focus on these little tiny chips/defects when the rest of their paint is swirl city. So how is the rest of the finish when you look at it in bright sunlight?

Does it look closer to this?
Bad swirls and holograms



Or this?
After:




Since this is a daily driver, parked outside all of the time and apparently it's prone to being damaged, unless you think something is going to change in the future so that it will not continue being damaged, might just want to dab on some touch-up paint as best as you can and move on.

Invest a few dollars into a fine tipped paint brush to apply the touch up paint versus the brush that comes with your bottle of touch-up paint.

As for the seat belt stains, might be faster and easier to take it to a reputable detail shop that offers interior detailing and ask them to do it for you.

Hope that helps...