Sidekick Makeover

[MandarinaRacing]

Hello folks...

This is my first attempt at an extreme makeover.
A co-worker has 90's Suzuki Sidekick which has probably seen better days...at one point the car had a bra covering half of the hood, when it was removed the hood was all marred and stained. My friend, tried to remove the marring, and it only resulted in unsightly swirls and scratches. To further complicate things, there was a lot of hard water etching on the hood, bescause the car was never waxed.



Removing the scratches was fairly easy. First I did a test spot with Scratch X by hand, and I could tell that the scratches were coming out. So I used #80 to see this would remove them completely. The shallow ones were removed, but deeper scratches remained. So I switched to #83, and they were gone.

Then I tried another spot where there was a lot of water etching damage. It basically the top half of the hood that wasn't covered by the bra.

First I tried ScratchX...nothing, then I tried #80, and guess what?...nothing...last, I decided that I had to use #83. Believe me when I tell you that water etching is a real pain to get rid off. The #83, with a W8006 and the G-100 is probably not the best way to do it. But I'm still not confident enough to use a rotary.

Anyway, take a look
Before


After


Side by Side


Framing Shot


Though you can't really tell on the pics, I couldn't remove the water etching marks...I removed them to about 80%.... but I could still see them...they haunt me...LOL

Here are some last shots of the hood, it has a nice reflection, but those darn water stains....


It was starting to get cloudy...rain treat




All I polished was the hood, but the car was filthy, so I had to wash, wax, and dress accordingly.....I just HAD to!

My friend was VERY pleased with the results, but I told him I was sorry that I couldn't remove the water stains... and he's like, "what stains....OH you mean those, you can hardly notice them, don't worry, it still a 100% improvement from before".

Well, there it is....my first makeover.....hopefully not the last....

BTW...I used...

NXT Wash
Quik Clay
DC Polish (the hood was soo dry it was soaking up the #80 and #83)
#83 several passes
#80 one pass
DC Carnauba
NXT Tech Wax
all done with the G100
W8006
W9006
W7006 with MF bonnets

Later,

Alex

[LiquidBlack]

Congrats on your first makeover! How many passes did it take to remove the defects? Did you try doing two passes of #83 on one spot?

[TH0001]

I know what you mean by extreme water etchings. If you don't have or don't want to bust out the rotary, you can try 83 via hand with a terry cloth. I have done this several times, and after one or two applications, they are gone. I have found the 83 to be more effective with some passion and a terry cloth then Scratch X. However, it will leave behind some marring which you wll have to remove via 83/8006 and a PC.

[TH0001]

PS the car looks very nice, good job

[MandarinaRacing]

Originally posted by LiquidBlack
Congrats on your first makeover! How many passes did it take to remove the defects? Did you try doing two passes of #83 on one spot?

Several, at like 3.

Originally posted by TH0001 I know what you mean by extreme water etchings. If you don't have or don't want to bust out the rotary, you can try 83 via hand with a terry cloth. I have done this several times, and after one or two applications, they are gone. I have found the 83 to be more effective with some passion and a terry cloth then Scratch X. However, it will leave behind some marring which you wll have to remove via 83/8006 and a PC.

Thanks for the tip.

And thanks for the compliments guys!


Alex