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A few months ago I agreed to polish a 2000 Miata for a co-worker who is preparing to sell it. The first time I saw the Miata was on a cloudy day in the parking lot at work. It looked deep brown and the paint didn't look all that bad. I put the project out of my mind until a couple of weeks ago when my co-worker again approached me about polishing the Miata. She was getting ready to buy her new car and wanted to prep the Mazda for private sale.
Vaguely recalling the state of the Miata when I first saw it, I quoted her a price based upon what I though would be 6 hours of paint polishing work. I arrived at her house 2 weeks ago and examined the Miata close up for the first time. I soon realized that 6 hours was an incredibly optimistic valuation. The car was in the garage and under the overhead lights I realized it was black, not dark brown.
The owner had washed it the previous day, but the hood felt like sandpaper - as bad as anything I've seen come through the Meguiars TNOG's. I tossed a Supreme Shine towel across the hood - it didn't spin once. It just immediately came to a dead stop.
I knew I was in trouble when I clayed the test spot. This is after the first pass. Eventually the entire surface of the car would require multiple claying passes.
This was the condition of the hood starting out. I started out with M205 on a polishing pad, then UC. My test spot is the upper left corner of the hood. The front of the hood is covered with dust from M105, which I eventually had to use on the entire surface of the car save for the plastic rocker panels and skirt molding along the lower edges:
My original 6 hour estimate was off. Way off. By a good 7 hours. Three hours were needed just to clay the Miata. Some of the surfaces were so rough, it grabbed the clay out of my hand which then fell to the ground. $15 worth of clay later, the surface was ready for correction. Most of the car required M105 on a polishing pad, with medium to heavy pressure at speed 5. About 20% of the car was just too heavily damaged for even that combo, so my cutting pads saw their first ever use.
Keep in mind that this car had some deep scratches that weren't going to be abraded without some fine rotary work. But the owner decided the deeper scratches were acceptable. I pulled the Miata out into the sun expecting a crazy pattern of hazing, micromarring, and holograms given the fact that Miatas traditionally have soft paint and I used a cutting pad and 105 on parts of the car. But to my great surprise, there were none. I finished up the Miata with M07 Show Car Glaze and sealed it with NXT 2.0.
While waiting for the NXT to dry, I couldn't resist the urge to try out my new Meguiar's Headlight and Clear Plastic Restoration Kit. The headlights were lightly clouded and taunting me to hone a new skill.
The After Shots. Obviously, it's late in the afternoon and the sky turned cloudy, so the car admittedly looks much nicer than under the glare of the midday sun.
Close up the deep vertical scratches are still visible, albeit much more subdued than when I started out. But the owner was thrilled with the overall result, given the limitations of the paint as I explained it to her before I started.
Vaguely recalling the state of the Miata when I first saw it, I quoted her a price based upon what I though would be 6 hours of paint polishing work. I arrived at her house 2 weeks ago and examined the Miata close up for the first time. I soon realized that 6 hours was an incredibly optimistic valuation. The car was in the garage and under the overhead lights I realized it was black, not dark brown.
The owner had washed it the previous day, but the hood felt like sandpaper - as bad as anything I've seen come through the Meguiars TNOG's. I tossed a Supreme Shine towel across the hood - it didn't spin once. It just immediately came to a dead stop.
I knew I was in trouble when I clayed the test spot. This is after the first pass. Eventually the entire surface of the car would require multiple claying passes.
This was the condition of the hood starting out. I started out with M205 on a polishing pad, then UC. My test spot is the upper left corner of the hood. The front of the hood is covered with dust from M105, which I eventually had to use on the entire surface of the car save for the plastic rocker panels and skirt molding along the lower edges:
My original 6 hour estimate was off. Way off. By a good 7 hours. Three hours were needed just to clay the Miata. Some of the surfaces were so rough, it grabbed the clay out of my hand which then fell to the ground. $15 worth of clay later, the surface was ready for correction. Most of the car required M105 on a polishing pad, with medium to heavy pressure at speed 5. About 20% of the car was just too heavily damaged for even that combo, so my cutting pads saw their first ever use.
Keep in mind that this car had some deep scratches that weren't going to be abraded without some fine rotary work. But the owner decided the deeper scratches were acceptable. I pulled the Miata out into the sun expecting a crazy pattern of hazing, micromarring, and holograms given the fact that Miatas traditionally have soft paint and I used a cutting pad and 105 on parts of the car. But to my great surprise, there were none. I finished up the Miata with M07 Show Car Glaze and sealed it with NXT 2.0.
While waiting for the NXT to dry, I couldn't resist the urge to try out my new Meguiar's Headlight and Clear Plastic Restoration Kit. The headlights were lightly clouded and taunting me to hone a new skill.
The After Shots. Obviously, it's late in the afternoon and the sky turned cloudy, so the car admittedly looks much nicer than under the glare of the midday sun.
Close up the deep vertical scratches are still visible, albeit much more subdued than when I started out. But the owner was thrilled with the overall result, given the limitations of the paint as I explained it to her before I started.
Before I started, I explained to them that the value of a paint correction would either give the seller confidence to ask for more money, or it would lessen the buyer's inclination to negotiate the price down. Buying a car is emotional for most folks and a glossy finish is not only a buyer's first impression of the potential purchase, but also the key factor that will cause their pupils to dilate as they fall in love with the car.
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