Tweet
What do you do when presented with a black car that is just loaded, and we mean seriously loaded, with swirls? And scratches. And scuff marks. And haze. Yeah, basically just a black car with seriously messed up paint? Do you pull out the big guns? Or can you bring back a deep, rich, brilliant gloss using over the counter, consumer products? Well, if those consumer products are directly derived from some pretty top of the line pro products, you most definitely can.
Now, you might think this 2000 Chrysler Prowler (yep, this one was built after Chrysler Corp shuttered Plymouth for good, but they continued to produce the Prowler under the Chrysler badge for a couple more years) looks pretty good sitting here, ready to pull into our training garage.
Heck, it even looks really good sitting in the garage!
But looks can be deceiving, and a closer inspection reveals the truth. Lots of swirls and other defects all over the paint. But what's the group of scratches we see?
An even closer look reveals some seriously nasty issues.
Let's see what she looks like inside the garage when we put the 3M SunGun on it. Oh geez, that poor mirror!
And those swirls and scratches still look pretty horrid.
Yes, pretty horrid indeed!
OK, time to clean the loose dust off the car, clay it, and then do a test spot to see what sort of product/pad combo will get us the results we want in the least amount of time. Below is the result of that testing: On the left is the untouched, swirled up paint that we want to fix. In the lower right we see the results of Ultimate Compound on a DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc with Ultimate Compound. There is noticeable haze, but the swirls are totally gone. But if we got that much haze with this combo, experience tells us that the DAMF System will only create more haze, which we don't want. Besides, if Ultimate Compound on foam eradicated the swirls, we also know that we don't to get any more aggressive, so what's the point in doing so? If it only creates more haze then that means it also creates the potential for more prolonged polishing to remove that haze. So, Ultimate Compound it shall be. Now, in the upper right of this image you see the result of following UC with Ultimate Polish on a yellow DFP5 polishing disc. A huge improvement, but it's not perfect. Subsequent testing showed that Ultimate Polish on the black DFF5 finishing disc was the golden ticket.
A discussion that comes up regularly is "how much paint am I actually removing to create a swirl free finish?" Well, in this case, virtually none. Below are before and after paint thickness readings taken on the swirled paint and the corrected paint. As you can see from the readout on the PTG, the readings are identical. Now, taking a series of readings tightly spaced together will yield a variety of readings as the paint isn't 100% totally uniform in thickness. Those slight variations will exist on the untreated side and on the polished side. But averaging the two sets of readings still yields this virtually immeasurable difference in paint thickness. That is how non invasive this process can be, when done correctly - ie, when using the least aggressive method to get the job done.
OK, time to outfit a bunch of MT300 DA polishers with the same cutting discs and Ultimate Compound and put the crew to work. Some tighter areas are better served with a small diameter pad, and you can see Brad working with a G110v2 fitted with a 3" backing plate and foam pad.
The larger areas were all addressed with the MT300 and 5" discs.
The upper door part of the passenger door was badly hazed, from what we really don't know. But the source matters little - we need to restore the paint to the gloss it deserves.
And that's the gloss it deserves!
Remember that mirror with all the swirls and scratches we posted above? No? OK, here it is again just as a reminder:
We grabbed a 3M pneumatic DA polisher, fitted a yellow foam polishing pad and some Ultimate Compound and got to work.
BOOM! Ultimate Compound for the win!!
Wait, is he polishing the tail light lens with the same pad and Ultimate Compound he just used on the paint?
Well, the lenses were pretty badly swirled, so why not?
Beautiful!!!
Meanwhile, work continues on the rest of the car.
And that work continued late into the evening.
What happens when you create a group of consumer products based on the latest high technology professional products? You get the ultimate swirl destroying combo that anyone can use, and easily access at their local auto parts store.
Black Wax applied with a DFF5 black foam finishing disc to the whole car and allowed to dry fully before removal.
Teamwork!!
Uh, what happened to all that messed up paint? Oh, that's right, we annihilated them with a few off the shelf consumer products, that's what!
Group shot, reflected in the trunk lid.
This team was on fire!!!
Now, you might think this 2000 Chrysler Prowler (yep, this one was built after Chrysler Corp shuttered Plymouth for good, but they continued to produce the Prowler under the Chrysler badge for a couple more years) looks pretty good sitting here, ready to pull into our training garage.
Heck, it even looks really good sitting in the garage!
But looks can be deceiving, and a closer inspection reveals the truth. Lots of swirls and other defects all over the paint. But what's the group of scratches we see?
An even closer look reveals some seriously nasty issues.
Let's see what she looks like inside the garage when we put the 3M SunGun on it. Oh geez, that poor mirror!
And those swirls and scratches still look pretty horrid.
Yes, pretty horrid indeed!
OK, time to clean the loose dust off the car, clay it, and then do a test spot to see what sort of product/pad combo will get us the results we want in the least amount of time. Below is the result of that testing: On the left is the untouched, swirled up paint that we want to fix. In the lower right we see the results of Ultimate Compound on a DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc with Ultimate Compound. There is noticeable haze, but the swirls are totally gone. But if we got that much haze with this combo, experience tells us that the DAMF System will only create more haze, which we don't want. Besides, if Ultimate Compound on foam eradicated the swirls, we also know that we don't to get any more aggressive, so what's the point in doing so? If it only creates more haze then that means it also creates the potential for more prolonged polishing to remove that haze. So, Ultimate Compound it shall be. Now, in the upper right of this image you see the result of following UC with Ultimate Polish on a yellow DFP5 polishing disc. A huge improvement, but it's not perfect. Subsequent testing showed that Ultimate Polish on the black DFF5 finishing disc was the golden ticket.
A discussion that comes up regularly is "how much paint am I actually removing to create a swirl free finish?" Well, in this case, virtually none. Below are before and after paint thickness readings taken on the swirled paint and the corrected paint. As you can see from the readout on the PTG, the readings are identical. Now, taking a series of readings tightly spaced together will yield a variety of readings as the paint isn't 100% totally uniform in thickness. Those slight variations will exist on the untreated side and on the polished side. But averaging the two sets of readings still yields this virtually immeasurable difference in paint thickness. That is how non invasive this process can be, when done correctly - ie, when using the least aggressive method to get the job done.
OK, time to outfit a bunch of MT300 DA polishers with the same cutting discs and Ultimate Compound and put the crew to work. Some tighter areas are better served with a small diameter pad, and you can see Brad working with a G110v2 fitted with a 3" backing plate and foam pad.
The larger areas were all addressed with the MT300 and 5" discs.
The upper door part of the passenger door was badly hazed, from what we really don't know. But the source matters little - we need to restore the paint to the gloss it deserves.
And that's the gloss it deserves!
Remember that mirror with all the swirls and scratches we posted above? No? OK, here it is again just as a reminder:
We grabbed a 3M pneumatic DA polisher, fitted a yellow foam polishing pad and some Ultimate Compound and got to work.
BOOM! Ultimate Compound for the win!!
Wait, is he polishing the tail light lens with the same pad and Ultimate Compound he just used on the paint?
Well, the lenses were pretty badly swirled, so why not?
Beautiful!!!
Meanwhile, work continues on the rest of the car.
And that work continued late into the evening.
What happens when you create a group of consumer products based on the latest high technology professional products? You get the ultimate swirl destroying combo that anyone can use, and easily access at their local auto parts store.
Black Wax applied with a DFF5 black foam finishing disc to the whole car and allowed to dry fully before removal.
Teamwork!!
Uh, what happened to all that messed up paint? Oh, that's right, we annihilated them with a few off the shelf consumer products, that's what!
Group shot, reflected in the trunk lid.
This team was on fire!!!
Comment