Hey guys, i have contacted a few of you and wanted to first say thank you for your great advice. I am working on a car right now for a customer and apparently there has been no repaint. Well my initial inspection of the vehicle under the halogens tell me otherwise. The front end looks to have been worked on. So i was just curious about the backend of the vehicle. So i did a little polishing square with M105 via 4" Edge Orange via Flex DA. There are crows feet up top bad, and i mean bad. Looks like they get less prevalent up the hood near the windshield, but i know once i polish it they will stick out like sore thumbs. Even the back looks to have little cuts in the paint...my question is what do i do? Should i stop polishing all together before i do damage? Or should i proceed. Problem is i cant get a hold of the owner. Im in need of a good piece of advice, and DB is the place to get it! Pics of course..sorry i suck at taking them..did the best i could. The Front End Crows Feet My test spot
That's massive cc failure and you would have to proceed with significant caution and not use anything too aggressive and constantly check your work. The other option is to just leave it along and explain to your customer what's going on with his paint. That's the kind of cc failure that I run into a lot with Hondas, some I have worked on very carefully, others I have left alone.
How well do you know this client? I would abandon it before you rack up a lot of lost time. Wait till you talk to him and go from there. What you don't need obviously, is the guy blaming you for that crap.
Thanks Luis for your fast response. What is the most aggressive i should go? Its swirl city. Im inevitably gonna make them worse right? They are going to be more noticeable once i polish..i dont want to be accused of doing this even though we all know its not our fault. To be honest i hated to even wash it because i was afraid of being blamed. Do you guys see what im talking about in the back too? Like little cuts similar to crows feet..but weird thing is that i cant feel them with my fingernail like i can the front ones.
Leave it alone and talk with the owner. No point in polishing it and charging the guy if the clear if failing.
Leave the whole car alone or just the front end D&D? I would def discount my rate if i left the hood alone but honestly she wont be happy with the hood left alone...just wish i could talk to her.
I would not go with anything stronger than a white pad and RD or 106 FF. I agree with Richy though especially if you are already concerned about it and if you don't know the client well and skip it. If you know the client well and have an established relation and there's trust then you can also show him the damage first, take some good pics of the damage and tell him the risks and see if he would still be ok with you proceeding, but also explain that you won't be able to take out all those swirls in that area because of the cc failure. But again, don't do anything until you speak with your client.
Without a doubt leave the front end alone until you can talk with the owner. I dont think it would be a bad idea to stop everything until you can get in touch with her. I know I would appreciate it if held off in a situation like this.
Im worried about not reaching her. Oh well i can proceed with the rest of the car. Im afraid M105 via PFW is gonna have to be the process. Quite a few RIDS i will try to soften. I did a couple areas in the back and will check in sunlight tomorrow morning, if i dont like what i see im gonna just hold off and cut my losses. I find it hard to explain stuff like this to people, all they really think is that you did it. This is my second encounter with this and i turned the first one away because it was all over the car.
Let me ask you this. If chances are shes not going to believe you, and think you did it, why continue with the rest of the car? Shes not going to want to pay you in a situation like that. I really think your best bet is to hold off. Chances are she'll be more understanding if you waited to get in touch with her first.
I would call and let the owner know what you have found before proceeding. If the owner gives you the green light polish away with your 105. I have polished over crows feet numerous times and never have pulled any paint. You will just have a shiney hood with little cracks in them. Just make sure you keep your pictures so you can show the owner.
I agree with Dan and Dana. Dan has a very good point in that if you are concerned about not getting paid, I wouldn't touch the car at all. As Dana said, I have polished over paint with cc failure and just had shiny paint that looked like crap. You could take pics before you polish showing the damage to prove you didn't do it and then proceed to polish.
Here is a Honda Civic I did that had that typical cc failure on the hood. These are the pics after I had already done the correction. Like Asphalt and 911fanatic said, I ended up with a very shiny hood with messed up cc, but no problem. The owner of course is a friend of mine and I went ahead and showed her the problem and explained the risks and she gave me the green light.
Update for you guys..talked to the owner..she said she was aware (thanks to her for mentioning that to me!!) She gave me the green light to do what i think is best. Whether it will make any difference or not i doubt, but im gonna go at it with Powerfinish and a blue polishing Edge pad until i get satisfactory results...it takes as long as it takes. Slowly and safely do the best i can with what i have. Thanks to all for the good advice, i really do appreciate it.
I would start a little lighter than that like 106ff. Keep in mind that Honda paint can be wafer thin and super soft, so it does not take much to correct. Start with 106ff and see how the swirls and the cc respond and if you still need to, move up to Power Finish really carefully, checking your work constantly.
M105 and PFW pad is a very abrasive combination, I agree with what's already been stated, do nothing until you talk with your client. Using a harsh abrasive on a paint system that exibits all the signs of failure my cause you grief
I would proceed with caution...You say the Owner is Female huh:shead: Well I would be sure to do a Bang-up job on the Interior. Honestly that is all My Female Clients really seem care about(My Wife included, and She Knows better) As long as the Exterior is shiny, has clean wheels and loads of dressing She'll be extatict. When She takes Deleivery of the Vehicle I wouldn't make a real big deal out of the CC failure, that will just give her the idea that its useless to have the car detailed in the Future.:duh:
