Hey all, just wanted to drop a line to say hey! I met a woman who had just purchased her Z, and was washing it at a do it yourself car wash. She was washing her car with that scratch creating, paint pulverizing brush that people unknowingly use at those places. I immediately rushed to her side and explained all the pitfalls of doing so. After checking out her ride (and her ride
), I realized how nice the car looked. I had been looking for a Z Forum but they all seemed kinda dead until I found this one.
Needless to say, I'm a detailing freakazoid. If there is one thing I cannot stand, it's a nice car that looks like crap. A crappy car can look like crap but a nice one should reflect pride in ownership. A neighbor of mine has a Z with no garage to park it in so it spent the last year (including some nasty weeks of snow) on the street. It is white in color but now looks dingy. Every day that I drive past it, I just want to smack him.
A little about me, I'm a computer guru who is self employed. I like it that way because I can spend as much time as I want keeping my ride spotless. I also enjoy sharing my passion for detailing with the world, and thus I have created a boat load of detailing videos in order to help those who want to keep their ride clean and spotless. With cars as nice as these, one should never allow them to fall victim of poor maintenance. The following is just a few of the many saves that I have had to perform on some rides that were not properly cared for. I know I'll see a Z in my future.
I have had the fun of tackling some nasty damage while showing folks the correct way to remove paint damage. Some of which I chronicled in pictures and videos. I thought that I would share some of those pictures here. One thing that I must point out is that a lot of the paint damage that I repair is not necessarily about the products that I used, it is more about the technique that I use and knowing which products will best address that damage.
For example, most folks that follow my You Tube channel know that I use Adam's Polishes in my videos and how to's. However, my garage has everything in it from 3M products to Meguiar's and Zaino (Meguiar's has actually contacted me about creating some videos for them). For every product that I used from the Adam's line, I could have replaced with a product from the Meguiar's or Zaino line and gotten the same exact results. It is having a understanding of what each product does and when to use it that is far more important than the name on the bottle. As I look at all the professional products that I have tried, I can honestly say that the end result from using each brand has always been identical for me. Some brands limit the range of damage that their products are capable of addressing for simplicity but in the end, I have always found myself in "Shineville".
The most obvious difference with all the professional lines that I have used is the way they get you to Shineville. You will never hear me say that one product is the best because what may be best for me may NOT be best for you. Thus, the question you have to answer is, "What product is best for YOU!"
As I said, it is not so much about what I used as it is about having a thorough understanding of each product's capability.
After all, any good detailer can take any quality product and eventually end up with very positive results after minimal use to familiarize themselves with that product. It's when you try to compare the over the counter products with the type of products that I use that will generate some obvious performance differences. You really do get what you pay for in the automotive detailing arena.
With that said, here are the pics!
2004 Corvette Convertible with Rear Fascia Damage
The first prospect was a 2004 Corvette that had been damaged in a garage by some boxes. Part of the damage was through the clear coat so the only thing that could be done there was to make it less noticeable. The other damage was removed. I basically used clay to clean up the area before I started working on it (a must whenever I touch a car that needs it), and then I wet sanded it using 2500 grit to start and finished up with 3000 grit paper before moving to my swirl and scratch removing compound. Although I used Adam's products for this repair, I could have easily used some Meguiar's Fine Cut Cleaner and Swirl & Scratch Remover in place of the Adam's products.
A forum member dropped me a PM about a scratch he picked up. He told me that he tried to fix it but nothing worked. So I told him to bring his Vette over and allow me to have a look at it.
Once he arrived and I got a look at the damage, I realized that the scratch was like a well: Deeeeeep! He didn't realize how bad it was. Once I explained to him the options (either have the entire rear fascia painted or let me take a crack at it), he stated that he wanted me to give it a try. He said that he had seen a thread I did about a lady with a nasty scratch on her front fascia and if her's could be fixed, anything was possible. So I went at it.
Here was what we were looking at. This was the long shot. I wanted to see if I could notice them without getting close. Dave and I didn't see the second scratch until I washed the rear fascia off.
Now for a Corvette owner, these scratches may as well have been graffiti spray painted on the car. They were really noticeable. I then got in close and realized why Dave said those those scratches were back there just screaming at him as he drove down the road. I'm sure there are other members here who can relate to this, especially when you're talking about your baby. It's like having lettuce stuck between you teeth on a blind date.
As you can see, these were some serious scratches and the one between the tail lights has went through the clear coat and down to the paint. This was going to take some serious magic. I washed the rear fascia just to see if any of the damage would disappear. Ha! Fat chance. So I broke out some cutting polish and went at it.
I went at both scratches twice and this is what they looked like after I was done.
Now the scratch on the outside of the rear fascia was going to be a little work but I could see that polish was going to eventually remove it. However, the one between the tail lights was going to take something stronger than a polish. This scratch was going to require some wet sanding.
The Junkman's Disclaimer: Now let me stress the importance of this being something that you never try at home unless you have been professionally trained on how to do this. You can quickly cut through the clear coat on your car and be into the paint with a few strokes of the wrong sandpaper. I only show this for documenting purposes only, not as an endorsement for you to try!
Realizing what needed to be done, I broke out my wet sanding supplies. Some 2500 & 3000 grit sandpaper, a sanding block and a clean bucket of water. I let the sand paper soak for 25 minutes before I stated using it. Something my daddy taught me to do but I can't remember why it is necessary.
After the sandpaper was ready, I went at it. Dave had chewed his fingers down to the nubs by the first minute.
After knocking the areas even, I took these photos. The white that you see that really enhances the scratches is some of the clear coat that I have removed from the car. I constantly checked my paint thickness gauge to ensure that I wasn't removing to much clear coat (I have to use the DeFelsko PosiTector 200-B Advanced because it is the only gauge that I could find that will take multilevel reading off fiberglass).
Next, I went back at the scratches with my scratch remover. After 2 passes, the scratch on the outside of the rear fascia was pretty much history. One thing to note between the picture above and the picture below. You can see how much damage the sand paper has done in the picture above because there is no shine in the area where the scratch was. Now look at the picture below. The scratch remover has brought that reflectivity back to showroom quality.
The one between the tail lights was still there, but was a whole lot less noticeable. This would have required repainting the bumper to fix it 100% but as any paint shop will tell you, matching the color red is usually a nightmare. In the business, we like to call this "a great save".
After applying and allowing it to haze, I wiped it off and saw the final results.
Here's a wide shot of the rear fascia.
...and now for the money shot!
Needless to say, he very happy with the results.
2005 Ford Mustang with Brillo Pad Damage
This guy's wife wanted to surprise him by washing his car while he was away on business. She used a Brillo Pad because she really wanted to get it clean. She had no idea of how bad she was damaging the car until she got all the way from one side of the hood to the other side. Needless to say, he was crushed!
Here's the damage:
Now for some after shots. The lighting wasn't all that great so I did the best I could with the first set of pictures. The sun decided to come out on the following day.
Here's what I used: Clayed with clay bar and detail spray, then I went to a scratch remover on a orange pad, followed by FSP on a white pad. I then added my wax. I wiped the area down with detail spray before moving between each product. The following day allowed me to pull the car out into the sun and tackle the other half of the hood.This was a shot of the other side of the hood before I fixed it.
Here's a shot of the rest of the hood fixed.
While at this particular show, some guys from Dynamic Motorsports approached me and asked if I had something for a scratch in their black convertible Shelby. They wanted some touch up paint. I went over and took a look at the scratch. It was ugly. What was even more ugly was the fact that they wanted to use touch up paint. Check out the scratch:
The clear coat on this car was unlike any I have ever seen in my life. It was slick as glass. Not one pimple of orange peel in it whatsoever. I have never seen a car as slick as this. It was unreal.
So, I broke out some scratch remover and FSP, the orange and white pads along with some 2500-3000 grit sandpaper. I went at that scratch for a while until it was gone.
Then, I used my polishes to bring the finish back to perfect.
Here's a shot of this beautiful ride!
That ride has been restored back to its original luster!
2002 Corvette Coupe with Front Fascia Damage
Okay boys and girls, another one from the desk of The Junkman. A friend of mine showed up in her 2002 Black Corvette Coupe with what appeared to be the damage caused by a truck which had backed up onto her front fascia. The damage was deep and nasty. I washed the bumper and dried it off just so that I could get a clean look at how much damage was actually there. Here's what I was looking at:
Here's a short video of the same damage.
As you can see, this was not going to be a walk in the park. However, using the same technique as described above (minus the sand paper), I was able to make the damage look a lot less noticeable.
Step 1. The first thing I did was wash the bumper so that I could see what damage was actually done. The next thing I did was clayed the bumper in order to remove any impurities in the clear coat. Remember, the prep is the key to the success that you will see when the work is done. This Vette is a daily driver and is not garaged so my final goal was not perfection, it was to make the bumper appear to have never been hit at all.
Here's video of me hitting the bumper with clay.
A funny side note: After I dried the car off from the clay bar work, my friend gasped and then stated with concern that the scratch was still there. Since I hadn't done anything to remove the scratch up to that point, it was still supposed to be there. She was under the misconception that claying removes scratches. Now she knows better.
Step 2. The next thing I did was hit the bumper with scratch and FSP products. I basically made two passes over the bumper with this combination. After wiping the bumper down, I took some pictures of the bumper up to that point:
Step 3. I finished the job up with a coat of wax and then took these pictures. Again, this is a daily driver which is not garage kept. Although that is the case, you can see that the job turned out pretty nice. The little imperfections that you see in the pictures below are actually things being reflected off my garage wall.
...and finally, one happy camper!
Just thought that I would share.
The Junkman
