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89s1
11-22-2008, 12:28 PM
Just picked up a new (to me) car and took it to give it a little bit of TLC.

I'll show a couple of pictures of the shape the paint was in to give you an idea of the work ahead of me.

you can see some of the swirlmarks in the paint here
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/03%20Civic/Picture017.jpg
Some under the lights inside
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture010.jpg

It needed a really good wash first of all.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture006.jpg
Then ran over the paint with a meguiars clay bar
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture011.jpg
I taped off an area to do a before/after line to give an idea of the results the polishing gave. Here is the before
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture020.jpg
Then once the polishing was done and the tape was removed.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture023.jpg
Close-up
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture026.jpg

All done, ready to get dirty all over again.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/detail/Picture034.jpg

FLARE
11-22-2008, 12:29 PM
wow! What a difference... time for me to get to it!

Great job!

S13_Ryan
11-22-2008, 12:34 PM
awesome job. huge difference

GQBalla
11-22-2008, 12:53 PM
wow very nice - how long did it take?

94boosted
11-22-2008, 12:58 PM
Yah that's awesome. May I ask what you used for a polishing compound and how you did it?

grocko
11-22-2008, 01:06 PM
Excellent job! :thumbsup:

rc2002
11-22-2008, 01:13 PM
That's incredible. Nice work.

When you say polish, I assume it was a power polish? Or was it old fashioned elbow grease?

89s1
11-22-2008, 01:17 PM
took about 4 hours, but there was another guy there and we were chatting a bit and had a cpl beers.

I have a large selection of products as I run the detailing department and do all of my own ordering.

for this I used mild megs clay and 3M compound where needed, then finished with a product called crystal shine.

Crystal shine does amazing things on black, heres another job I did using it. (not a car, but hey...)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/Boats/Picture001.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/Boats/103_0789.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/Boats/103_0773.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/89s1/Boats/Picture029.jpg

Rediculars!

89s1
11-22-2008, 01:19 PM
Originally posted by richardchan2002
That's incredible. Nice work.

When you say polish, I assume it was a power polish? Or was it old fashioned elbow grease?

power polisher for sure.

I wax by hand, but not polish.

joyridder
11-22-2008, 02:48 PM
nice work! Now thats a boat :thumbsup:

Amysicle
11-22-2008, 02:52 PM
That looks really nice!

You mentioned you run the detailing department? Where do you work?

Graham_A_M
11-22-2008, 05:53 PM
How much for an exterior clay and polish? (or whatever you did to the acura) ?.

G-ZUS
11-22-2008, 06:21 PM
Originally posted by Graham_A_M
(or whatever you did to the honda civic) ?.


fixed

Redlyne_mr2
11-26-2008, 06:47 PM
wow that boat is amazing.

corsvette
11-26-2008, 06:56 PM
Looks awesome!where can a guy pick up some of that Crystal Shine?my black vette would benifit for sure,also what does a clay bar do?

Jed Bouscal
12-06-2008, 11:31 AM
Just a heads up, if it's a C5 or C6, your paint will be almost twice as hard as that Honda, and your process will have to reflect that.


Originally posted by corsvette
Looks awesome!where can a guy pick up some of that Crystal Shine?my black vette would benifit for sure,also what does a clay bar do?

sneek
12-06-2008, 03:26 PM
Werd, but if it is a 1992 Vette its a C4. SMC is kind of a weird material to polish on top of. C4's usually have pretty hard paint as well, but they also have sharp and THIN edges. I have seen tons and tons of vettes with burnt edges. Also in the C4 the moldings around the tail lights made of some sort of rubber material. I would do that portion by hand, as even a DA could take off paint there. If you are going to detail it, I would suggest edging first by hand, then taping everything up. I did a C4 a few years ago, and it took a few days...

corsvette
12-06-2008, 08:35 PM
I should leave this job to a pro then,i have never polished it,only hand wax,but it has lots of swirl marks.Any ideas what i should pay for this?

CausalInfluence
12-06-2008, 09:57 PM
^ go to jed bouscal at mobile reflections^ he posted up there. Hands down the BEST detailer in the business.

sneek
12-06-2008, 11:06 PM
Originally posted by corsvette
I should leave this job to a pro then,i have never polished it,only hand wax,but it has lots of swirl marks.Any ideas what i should pay for this?
That's probably a good thing that your vette has never seen a polisher. As I said above these cars aren't the easiest to detail. Jed knows what he is doing! A polisher in the hand of an in experienced detailer or a seasoned hackjob would probably only lead to burnt trim pieces and burnt edges. Some surfaces you simply cannot polish. I have seen chunks of paint come off of the rear of some c4s. In this industry experience and skill means a lot. Probably more than materials or price combined.

corsvette
12-06-2008, 11:18 PM
Thanks for the heads up guys!I did not know that the C-4 was that fussy,this being because its fiberglass?I polish all my other cars/trucks with good results,but by no means do i consider myself a pro,so come spring i will contact him for a polish fo sure.

sneek
12-07-2008, 01:05 AM
I am not sure if I am making it sound harder than it is, but I would never want to burn the edges on any car. As the old adage goes, it is better safe than sorry.

I can't find too much more information about C4 Corvette paint, but I found a small blurb someone else wrote which I think is dead on.
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/706350-post6.html

Also, little known fact, is that a lot of the C4 is made of Sheet Molding Compound (SMC), instead of fiberglass. It is stronger than flberglass, and I think that is why it was used from 81+ on Vettes (don't qoute me on that one...). From a detailing perspective it cools a bit differently than metal or plastic. (again I have no scientific proove of that :rofl: )

:hijack: :hijack: :hijack: SORRY!