Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

[celamantia]

I am sure these are going to be extremely basic questions, but I have no idea what the proper descriptions or terms are for everything that can go wrong with a car's finish making it difficult to search.

First off, here's my situation: I just picked up a 1995 Nissan Altima for my daughter; it's her first car. The car drives great, and he interior has been well cared for. The exterior... not so much. It looks like it's been in the sun, parked under trees and birds, etc. I'm out of work right now so I can't take it to be repainted or to a professional detailer, and I have no equipment like orbital polishers so I'll have to do everything by hand. I'm not expecting miracles, just trying to make what is here more presentable.

Here is the car in question:





(At this point it hasn't even been washed yet.)

The problems here are:

- In several spots it looks like tree sap has fallen onto the paint and hardened, I have no idea how long ago; not sure how to best remove it.



- There is a whitish oval with a smaller oval of dull paint in the center; I'm guessing this is a spot where the clearcoat has worn off.



- The hood has hints of whitish clouding in the clearcoat. In addition it is very rough and dirty, moreso than the rest of the paint on the car (the roof is similar), and there are a couple od spots where the clearcoat is missing (bird droppings?)



- Clearcoat is actually flaking off the grille.



- The back half of the roof has the texture of sandpaper, and there is a large spot where the paint is completely gone; no rust so I'm assuming the gray I see there is primer and not metal, but I'm not sure.



- Paint is missing off the door pillars.



Currently at my disposal, I have a couple of foam applicator pads, lots of terrycloth and microfiber towels, Meguiar's Quick Detailer, Deep Crystal Car Wash, Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, Deep Crystal Polish, and Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax. I'm assuming I am going to have to get hold of something to remove that sap.

I know the real answer is "repaint it", but much of the body still seems to have decent life left in the paint. I just want my daughter to not be completely embarrassed by the look of her car; it's the best I can do for her right now.

Going on my own, my instinct is to do something like this:

- Wash the car well
- Hand-apply the Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner and Deep Crystal Polish
- Use touch-up paint and touch-up clearcoat on the circles damaged by sap/birds (do I only need the clearcoat where the paint is still there?)
- Apply something like TR-3 Resin Glaze to the whole car to help protect the spots where the clearcoat/paint is missing (is there a Meguiar's product that is better for this?)
- After the glaze has cured for a day, apply the Deep Crystal Wax.

My questions are:

- Is this the right approach?
- Is there some better way to seal that oval with missing clearcoat?
- Should I mask off and use touch-up spray paint on that section of the roof (I know it'll look awful, but hopefully less awful than bare primer) or just seal it to prevent more damage? Am I looking at primer or bare metal?
- Do I attempt to paint the pillars? It doesn't feel like regular paint; is there a special paint for those? Or do I just accept that as part of the "charm" of a 16-year old car?
- Is this too much for an amateur? Do I need to bite the bullet and take it somewhere?

Thanks for any guidance you can share.

--Chris

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Hi Chris,

First of all, welcome to MOL!

Secondly, I think it is awesome you bought your daughter a car... many, many teenagers don't have that luxury at all!

As for the paint, you seem to have a pretty decent understanding of the extent of the damage yourself. Those rough/cloudy spots are either late stage clear coat failure, or all out missing clear coat.

As for what can be done, sadly, for the most part not very much. Once a clear coat begins to fail the best you can do is known down the rough edges and hit it with a polish and wax treatment which will very temporarily hide the problem.

The problem is the haze will return fairly quickly.

But, if you want to see what you can attempt the method you suggested. In theory you could and probably should use stronger products such as Ultimate Compound, but if you are on a tight budget and looking to make due with what you already have you have the right idea.

I don't have any experience the TR-3 stuff is, though.

Have you heard of Rustoleum-based "rolled-on" paint jobs? I tried it on a 2002 BMW 3-Series, black, and it actually came out pretty darn slick. Doing an entire car would be a much bigger project and you are talking some serious man hours, but material costs are under $75 for a total paint job. Food for thought...

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40341&highlight=rustoleum

[celamantia]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Hi Chris,
As for the paint, you seem to have a pretty decent understanding of the extent of the damage yourself. Those rough/cloudy spots are either late stage clear coat failure, or all out missing clear coat.

It was hard to photograph well, and a lot of the "cloudiness" is actual reflections of clouds... the real cloudiness is mostly along those ridges on the hood, over the engine's hot spots.

Other than the hood and the roof, and that oval of clearcoat failure next to the windshield, the rest of the car's paint isn't too bad. I hit a spot on the trunk with just some of the Crystal System Paint Cleaner and it shined up nicely. Maybe it would be feasible to just get the hood repainted? But then It may look too out of place.

The car has 170,000 miles on it and honestly I wouldn't expect it to last more than another year or two... I got it for $800.

I have never used the TR-3 either, I sawit in the store and thought it migh be a useful way to stop any further damage especially in flaking areas, the way I would stop flaking on a pinball machine backglass with Triple Thick glaze. But I'd prefer to stay with Meguiar's products just because they haven't let me down yet.

I see there's a Gold Class Bug and Tar Remover in the catalog... do you think that will help get rid of the stuck-on sap? Or if not, any ideas there?

Have you heard of Rustoleum-based "rolled-on" paint jobs?

I looked at that link... impressive! I'm not sure if I could pull that off, though, and it's a one-way trip after sanding off the old paint! My daughter is going away for the weekend and I have until she comes back to get this done, as when she comes back on Tuesday it will be her 17th birthday (she doesn't even know abou the car yet, it's a surprise).

Thanks for your help!

--Chris

[Joe Dragon]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Welcome to the forum Chris. I'll tell ya, at 17 having her own car will be a thrill not an embarassment. Since you have just a few days to work on her surprise, if it was me I'd do the most obvious things first like touching up the door pillar as best you can. Wash the car thoroughly, especially the hubcaps & windows inside & out; shiny hubcaps are an eye catcher. Then gently use the cleaner on the paint without damaging the clearcoat more than it is. Vacuum the inside & clean the floor mats, door panels, dash, center console & wheel. Finally, fill the tank with gas.

I'm betting she'll be thrilled with your gift. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[celamantia]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Welcome to the forum Chris. I'll tell ya, at 17 having her own car will be a thrill not an embarassment. Since you have just a few days to work on her surprise, if it was me I'd do the most obvious things first like touching up the door pillar as best you can. Wash the car thoroughly, especially the hubcaps & windows inside & out; shiny hubcaps are an eye catcher. Then gently use the cleaner on the paint without damaging the clearcoat more than it is. Vacuum the inside & clean the floor mats, door panels, dash, center console & wheel. Finally, fill the tank with gas.

I'm betting she'll be thrilled with your gift. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I'm seeing some reports that the pillar may actually be a vinyl sticker, not paint. Hm. I may go down to the yard and see if there's an Altima there I can take better pillars from, if not I'll try painting them.

The wheel covers that are on there are the aftermarket gray ones you find at Wal-Mart; definitely going to see if I can find originals in the junkyard in good shape and clean them up nice. Floor mats to; the ones in it now are cheap aftermarket rubber ones, going to try to find the originals in the yard or spring for some new ones if I can. The interior is in great shape, just needs a vacuuming and a round of Meguiar's interior detailer (I love that stuff!). Glass is going to take elbow grease; it's filthy, covered in sap, and there are three (sigh) chips in the windshield that need repair. I'd love to just replace the windshield, but I'll have to go at the three chips with a resin kit and hope for the best. But nice clean glass really helps improve the look of a car.

I didn't get my first car until I was 18, and that was a '78 Chevette (which was 11 years old at the time). It had the opposite problem: great exterior, lousy engine. :P

[celamantia]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Repainting the pillar went well:



Hit the car with Deep Crystal Car Wash today... I picked up some Ultimate Compound and an orbital buffer, so tomorrow is my showdown with the finish.

Question: When working on the interior, after doing the plastic and vinyl on the inside the doors, I noticed that the painted metal interior door surface was filthy, so I went ahead and did that with the interior detailer too. I didn't strike me until afterward that I should have used Quik Detailer for the metal... is either product okay at that point?

[ronniejay]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Did you use back paint on the pillars? You probably did, but put down a strict rule - NO TEXTING IN THE CAR.

What buffer did you get?

[celamantia]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

The paint is Dupli-Color Flat Black Trim Paint. I took the vinyl applique off with a razor blade, sanded, primered, and 4 light coats. I should have clear-coated it afterward but I didn't think iof it before I removed all the masking, so I just waxed it and if I have to redo it in the future I'll clearcoat it next time. But it's the first car for a teen, the likelyhood is that she'll be driving something else in 2-3 years.

The buffer (acually an"orbital polisher" I guess) was just a cheap Turtle Wax model from Wal-Mart; it came with a microfiber bonnet and a foam bonnet.

As far as the rest of the car... I thied the Ultimate Compound, but after a couple of test patches I decided to stay with the Deep Crystal 3-step. Still, my initial impression was that I really wasn't getting anywhere. I thought about quitting and just skipping to wax, but I went ahead and loaded up the buffer with the Deep Crystal step 2 polish.

The car turned to liquid.

Now the deep scratches, clearcoat failure, cloudiness, etc. are all certainly still there, mind you, but shiny... and the parts of the clearcoat that were still in good condition (more than I think I've been giving the car credit for) have a good wet look. After waxing it, the effort was completely worth it.

The shine, in my mind, overpowers the clearcoat failure enough that from 5 feet away you don't really see any of the flaws if you aren't looking for them, whereas before the horrid condition of the paint was easily visible from any distance.




Meguiar's for the win!

-Chris

[ronniejay]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Good job. I will repeat my questions =

"You probably did, but put down a strict rule - NO TEXTING IN THE CAR.

What buffer did you get?"

[davey g-force]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Nice work!

That's a better result than I was thinking, given the initial condition of the car... You should be happy with that , as I'm sure your daughter will be!

[CHzo6]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Wow! Excellent turn around with the tools you had to work with. Hopefully it will hold that look for a while.
You should also be commended for doing what you can for your daughter. I bet she is proud to have you for a father. Nice job and I'm sure your daughter will be thrilled.

[Joe Dragon]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

^^^ Agreed, really good job.

[cnfowler]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Very nice work, Chris. I admire your determination. I have no doubt your daughter loved the car. She's very fortunate to have such a caring parent.


Colin

[BillE]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

That is really a good save!

Stand proud...

Bill

[juliom2]

Re: Need some suggestions on fixing this car's finish

Well Done............
loOking good!!!!!!!!!