10 year old Camry;

[DualActionDetail]

I was hesitant posting this in the "Show Off Your..." forum since I'm not really wanting to show it off. The goal of this paint correction process was not to get 85%-100% correction; but to see what 105/205/21 and my technique with g110v2 can really do to BAD paint. The car belongs to a family member, it is a 2000 Toyota Camry. It has 286,xxx miles on it, and I believe there are at least 2 scratches per mile! The paint is in bad shape not only due to high mileage, but driver routinely places/slides boxes on surfaces, coffee mugs, keys, shoes, tools, you get the point.

Here is a before of the passenger's side; and a close-up.




Camry was washed with Super Soap. This was my first time using Super Soap, it was the sample that came free when I bought my Gilmour foam gun from ADS. The scent is awesome, but I have been using Hyper Wash at about 300:1 and I personally prefer it over the Super Soap. Camry was then clayed.

1. My correction process was uniform: 105 spread with speed 4; worked with speed 5, on a Soft Buff 2.0 Polishing Pad.
2. 205 spread on speed 4; worked on speed 5; worked again on speed 4 slowly on a Soft Buff 2.0 Polishing Pad.
3. 21 sealant applied via Diamond Foam Finishing Pad on Speed 2.

As you can see, the results were pretty dramatic. The process took about 4.5 hours wash to finish, excluding m21 drying time and some unanticipated breaks I had to take. I didn't get any close-up after shots because all the dings, dents, and remaining deep scratches were distracting. This car will be a great test car for when I perhaps purchase a rotary in the future, and try to learn!

Take a look at that last picture again, specifically the bumper. To this point, I've avoided using D/A on plastic, as I'm not quite sure that the process is the same. After some searching on the forums, I've read that D/A's are okay but watch ambient temperature, watch speed, watch pressure. I tried to 105 this bumper on speed 3 with only enough pressure to support D/A and experienced heavy paint transfer onto the pad. If this were a customer's car, is there anything I could've done to at least blend the bumper with the rest of the car a little better?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Tuck91]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

Nice job on the car, it sure looks a lot better.

If your worried about using a D.A on the bumper then use your compound or cleaner/polish of choice with a terry cloth. Then repeat the process with a foam applicator pad to clear up any possible hazing the terry would have inflicted.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

What a improvement. The Camry looks 100 tomes better. Way to go.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

wwcleaners, I would be really interested to see some close up shots at the same angle you took the before shots, just to compare notes. I worked on an equally hammered 2000 Miata today, same color (black) and was a little frustrated with the results.

I started off with UC on a polishing pad, then had to up the ante to 105 on a polishing pad and finally 105 on a cutting pad. Predictably, the cutting pad made some headway (got rid of the deeper swirls) and brought some gloss back to the paint, but the horizontal and vertical scratches remain, despite multiple passes and cleaning up my work with 205 on a polishing pad.

And the surface of the Miata was horrific. It took me over 2 hours alone just to clay the thing. After the claying, the owner thought I had already polished it because of the difference in smoothness and appearance!

[DualActionDetail]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

I'll post as soon as I can snap some. Like I said, I didn't get too many since there were so many defects left, but you can see what the 105/205 was able to accomplish.

[FLINTstone]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

i could imagine your family members jaw hitting the ground after seeing the condition of the paint beforehand

[CWilliams4296]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

Great turn around!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

Theoretically you should be able to work on the bumper covers the same way you work on the rest of the car - same liquids, pad, speed, etc. Unless you're getting super aggressive and dwelling in one spot for long periods of time (which you should never do anywhere on a vehicle) you should never run into a problem.

You mentioned heavy paint transfer when working even lightly on the bumper. Did you not get this sort of paint transfer when working on the rest of the car? Paint transfer is perfectly normal when working on any color paint, even clear coat. The difference being when working on clear the paint transfer is clear so you don't see it. If you didn't see paint transfer on the rest of the car then it's clear coated, which you would expect with a car this age (there are a few exceptions though). But the transfer from the bumper alone is strange - it should be clear coated just like the rest of the car, unless it was perhaps damaged and repaired.

You could try going over it with M205 on a W8207 polishing pad at speed 4 and just take your time with it. If it's a respray following a collision then the paint is likely to be totally different from the rest of the paint and it may correct far more easily.

[DualActionDetail]

Re: 10 year old Camry;

wwcleaners, I would be really interested to see some close up shots at the same angle you took the before shots, just to compare notes. I worked on an equally hammered 2000 Miata today, same color (black) and was a little frustrated with the results.

Clearly Coated, sorry I haven't snapped the pictures. I did just get my Brinkmann Dual Xenon yesterday though and inspected the surface now that it's been a few days. There are plenty of DEEP scratches left, but all of the swirling and hazing has been eliminated. It is kind of interesting to note: the paint feels scarred in some places. I really doubt there is much, if any, clear coat on certain areas of this car. Have you tried anything new with the Miata?
Here is a 50/50 I did a few days before I did the entire car. Yes, the entire hood was washed, that is not dirt on the right side. The process on this half-hood experiment was a little different. I used a burgundy cutting pad with the 105. I have to say, I feel like I had better results overall using 105 on yellow polishing pad, which is what I ended up with when I did the whole car. I'm sure the burgundy gave me plenty of cut, but it really isn't advised to be used with D/A, and it was definitely harder to work with I think. I left the hood like this for a few days! Sorry for lack of close-ups, as you requested.


And Michael, thanks for the advice. I think I was mainly just apprehensive about using the polisher on the bumper. I'm not scared anymore, I've worked on a few other similiar cases since then.