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My niece asked if I might be able to make an improvement in the appearance of her 2.5 year old Toyota Corolla. It sits outside all the time, makes a couple of trips from Orange County to San Diego every week, plus plenty of time running around Orange & LA Counties. And it's black. Of course.
She just wanted to see about some scratches and the general dullness of the paint. Being a good uncle, and a bit of a Car Crazy guy
, I offered to help her out. I wasn't chasing a show car shine (the paint is actually fairly horrible on this car, even on a good day, and I suspect not much better right out of the factory) since I know it's going to be run through automatic car washes in the future - "about once a month or so", according to my niece 
Yeah, it's just generally neglected. But what the heck.
Not a ton of pics, but enough to get an idea:
General state of blah on the side:
Serious ick on the wheels:
Wonderful little patterns in the paint:
Did I mention scratches? Yeah, I told her to stop using the trunk lid as a table.
So I proceed to wash the car with Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner, stepping up to some Body Solvent around the rocker panels for the really nasty stuff. Then I clayed. And clayed some more. This was 1/4 of the hood, and it's a small hood:
The wheels were hit with Wheel Brightener diluted down to 8:1 - 4:1 being the recommended dilution ratio but on wheels I'm not completely sure about I err on the side of caution. It still does a stellar job at this dilution ratio, by the way.
Those nasty scratches on the trunk lid (and elsewhere!) were wet sanded with 2000 to make some initial headway. Sanding marks were pulled out with a W5000 wool pad and M105 on a rotary at 1500rpm.
After that I played with a variety of product/pad/machine combos before settling on D151 PRC with a W8207 Soft Buff 2.0 yellow foam polishing pad on the rotary at 1200rpm. This seemed to do the best job of removing defects and leaving a clear finish on this paint system.
I then went back and topped it all off with M20 Polymer Sealant via G110/W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 finishing pad. Tires got Hot Shine Tire Foam, wheel wells got Hyper Dressing 4:1.
It didn't come out too shabby, and my niece was thrilled. Customer thrilled = job done.
Wheels the way they should be:
General side view:
Scratches? I don't see no steenkin' scratches!
She just wanted to see about some scratches and the general dullness of the paint. Being a good uncle, and a bit of a Car Crazy guy
, I offered to help her out. I wasn't chasing a show car shine (the paint is actually fairly horrible on this car, even on a good day, and I suspect not much better right out of the factory) since I know it's going to be run through automatic car washes in the future - "about once a month or so", according to my niece Yeah, it's just generally neglected. But what the heck.Not a ton of pics, but enough to get an idea:
General state of blah on the side:
Serious ick on the wheels:
Wonderful little patterns in the paint:
Did I mention scratches? Yeah, I told her to stop using the trunk lid as a table.
So I proceed to wash the car with Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner, stepping up to some Body Solvent around the rocker panels for the really nasty stuff. Then I clayed. And clayed some more. This was 1/4 of the hood, and it's a small hood:
The wheels were hit with Wheel Brightener diluted down to 8:1 - 4:1 being the recommended dilution ratio but on wheels I'm not completely sure about I err on the side of caution. It still does a stellar job at this dilution ratio, by the way.
Those nasty scratches on the trunk lid (and elsewhere!) were wet sanded with 2000 to make some initial headway. Sanding marks were pulled out with a W5000 wool pad and M105 on a rotary at 1500rpm.
After that I played with a variety of product/pad/machine combos before settling on D151 PRC with a W8207 Soft Buff 2.0 yellow foam polishing pad on the rotary at 1200rpm. This seemed to do the best job of removing defects and leaving a clear finish on this paint system.
I then went back and topped it all off with M20 Polymer Sealant via G110/W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 finishing pad. Tires got Hot Shine Tire Foam, wheel wells got Hyper Dressing 4:1.
It didn't come out too shabby, and my niece was thrilled. Customer thrilled = job done.
Wheels the way they should be:
General side view:
Scratches? I don't see no steenkin' scratches!
Great job Mr. Stoops! Car looks amazing.
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