This car was a repeat customer bringing his wife's '02 Jetta to me. I thought..Oh good, black!! The car shows up and he shows me where his father in law had scraped the snow off the car using a broom...it looked like he used a bloody rake!! Every top surface had scratches; in fact, there wasn't a panel that didn't have a scratch in it. To make matters worse, the hood had a few HUGE chips in it. The car deserves to be painted, really. The customer's like "do what you can". The problem is, I had moved up to using UCC and my wool pad which is my most aggressive combo I have, that has never let me down. Not this time, the scratches would not completely disappear. I did not have gobs of clear to work with either. The chips were kinda peeling around the edges and truth be told, I was afraid to wet sand it for fear the paint would break away into a much bigger chip, so I filled them and leveled them with Langka and tried to make them as passable as can be. Not my best showing by any means. In the end I think it looked good, but not great. The interior had dog hair that was like it was sown into the carpeting...a challenge all around for this one! The Process: Exterior: Wheels got DG wheel cleaner followed by Megs for the stubborn parts Wells got Fantastic APC Tires got ARO Wheels subsequently treated with DG 501 followed by Z2 Wells got Adams US Tires got DP gel Here's a pic of my tools..some unusual but effective nontheless: Wash consisted of foam using Gilmour 2 bucket method Leaf blower dry Headlights got wet sanded followed by SIP with wool and DG plastic polish with foam..here's some of the lights: Paint: Wool pad with 2300 rpm rotary with either UCC, SIP or X3 106ff with blue LC and rotary DG 501 with gray LC and rotary DG 601 applied by hand DG 105 applied/removed by hand AW after curing period EXTERIOR: Upper trim got Mothers back to black Lower trim got DP gel Glass got Stoners IG INTERIOR: Mats pw'd then treated with 303 Carpets vacummed then steam cleaned Seats done with DG leather cleaner and conditioner Plastic trim done with woolite:water then 303 BEFORES: AFTERS:
Thanks..ya, about the rotary..I have 2: the one I use for wool is an old one that is a fixed speed (2300 rpm) and my new one I use with the foam pads is adjustable. Thanks a lot Ketil! Thanks GM..like as above, for wool, it's only one speed.
Richy..came out real nice...big improvement on the paint...which is very hard stuff to say the least...car sure was a mess ..paint looked like it was in a fight with a rake like you said... door handle area looks like they had 6 inch fingernails..lol... but you got it looking nice again Fine Job AL
Great save on this one richy... Like Al said the handle area was in really rough shape - the whole car was in rough shape -you turned it around nicely!! I like the reflection pic of you sitting on the ground... it looks like it needs a caption that says "This car kicked my butt, I am having a seat"...lol Great job!!!
Awesome turnaround Richy! That paint looks like new again and doesn't look gray when it should be black.
Al..thanks a lot..it was discouraging working on it without a complete transformation. I ordered some PG for next time..take that VW paint!! QUOTE=joe p.;58207]Richy....sweet turnaround on the headlights[/QUOTE] Joe..thanks for the compliment on the headlights. Jason..that is funny, man!! It was more like "this is the first break I have had" Denzil..thank you sir. Dust..thanks a lot bud!
Great job richy as usual. Man you do some incredible work. I bet the owner was pleased. Isn't it funny how you weren't that thrilled with the results but when the owner sees it they do everything but backflips. Kind of puts into perspective how hard we are on ourselves when the job would actually make most owners pure giddy! Again superb job!:thumb:
Wow what a turn around there buddy the befores don't even compare to the afters very nice there richy :worship2: :worship2: Hey who's that sitting down on the job? What's up with that :shead: hahaha just teasing eace:
JLs..you are so absolutely right my friend..we judge ourselves so severely that we sometimes forget that the customer is going to be tickled pink and wouldn't even be concerned with some of the petty marks that we concern ourselves with. I have to catch myself so I don't get carried away trying to correct something that I can see under the scrutiny of my powerful lights that will never be seen elsewhere..not to mention that you're NEEDLESSLY grinding away clear coat doing so. Good point indeed. Thanks again for your faith in my work. Thanks Sparkie..I always appreciate your feedback! Christ..thanks a lot for the compliment. FMINUS..thank you bud..means a lot from you too!! Sitting down on the job?..you would have seen a Corona and a cigar (maybe that's why I'm not in the 2nd shot. LOL) Klumzy..thanks man, I appreciate it!
