Minor paintwork restoration (pic heavy)
Discussion
Been looking over my car since picking it up a few weeks ago, what really lets it down is the amount of swirl marks from being washed which really dulls the paint. The paint has been polished by someone using a rotary machine; They clearly had no idea what they were doing because it has left loads of hologram marks that appear under certain light conditions.
For reference, since I'm a rubbish photographer:
Here's a before and after when removing swirl marks. My car isn't nearly as bad but it's a good illustration:
And a photo of bad holograms. Again, my car not as bad but you get the gist:
Moved the car out the driveway and started by washing it. And then washing again for good measure.
Still not clean enough, so clayed the car.
Don't have my own photo (CBA taking one). But claying removes every last bit of dirt that's stuck to the paintwork. (Doing good here, don't have half the photographs)
Stock photo of claying:
Here's a picture of the holograms, caused by someone who doesn't know how to use a machine polisher...
And here's the swirl marks.
And an overall shot, not very shiny.
I used Meguiars microfiber system. A bit different from a normal foam buffing pad, i'm a big fan of it because it's so easy to use and can remove a good amount of paint.
More information here: http://www.drivestart.co.uk/wp/review/tested-megui...
Started with the red "correction" compound. This gives a heavy cut and removes a layer of paint quite quickly, working in an area about 0.5 meters squared made 3 passes with the machine.
Pulled as much trim off as I could, cleaned behind it and used some trim gel to make it black again. The glue didn't want to shift so just taped it up before polishing. I also removed the front lights and cleaned behind them. Will probably remove the rear lights too as access is poor. Preparation is key
Putting things back together. Managed to become dirty in the time it took to have a cup of tea:
Then moved on to the finishing polish. This just gives it an extra shine.
Much better now!
Spent about 6 hours and managed to get the front bonnet, bumper and drivers side done. So about half still to do. Didn't manage to get many "after" shots as it stated raining and covered the car in shara dust. I'll update when I bother to finish it.
I've been known to work late into the night:
For reference, since I'm a rubbish photographer:
Here's a before and after when removing swirl marks. My car isn't nearly as bad but it's a good illustration:
And a photo of bad holograms. Again, my car not as bad but you get the gist:
Moved the car out the driveway and started by washing it. And then washing again for good measure.
Still not clean enough, so clayed the car.
Don't have my own photo (CBA taking one). But claying removes every last bit of dirt that's stuck to the paintwork. (Doing good here, don't have half the photographs)
Stock photo of claying:
Here's a picture of the holograms, caused by someone who doesn't know how to use a machine polisher...
And here's the swirl marks.
And an overall shot, not very shiny.
I used Meguiars microfiber system. A bit different from a normal foam buffing pad, i'm a big fan of it because it's so easy to use and can remove a good amount of paint.
More information here: http://www.drivestart.co.uk/wp/review/tested-megui...
Started with the red "correction" compound. This gives a heavy cut and removes a layer of paint quite quickly, working in an area about 0.5 meters squared made 3 passes with the machine.
Pulled as much trim off as I could, cleaned behind it and used some trim gel to make it black again. The glue didn't want to shift so just taped it up before polishing. I also removed the front lights and cleaned behind them. Will probably remove the rear lights too as access is poor. Preparation is key
Putting things back together. Managed to become dirty in the time it took to have a cup of tea:
Then moved on to the finishing polish. This just gives it an extra shine.
Much better now!
Spent about 6 hours and managed to get the front bonnet, bumper and drivers side done. So about half still to do. Didn't manage to get many "after" shots as it stated raining and covered the car in shara dust. I'll update when I bother to finish it.
I've been known to work late into the night:
I don't have enough time in my life to polish things (tried it, always seemed to be red cars that took the most effort but went dull as soon as you blinked) so I'm quite happy to have metallic silver - the TVR, the works' van, my bike and Nursy's bike are all more or less the same colour 
Good effort anyway...
Good effort anyway...
GradyI use this on my cars..........totally idiot proof and frankly awesome results for only £50 for the whole kit
just need an electric polisher which as cheap on ebay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUkAKiT3H0
just need an electric polisher which as cheap on ebay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUkAKiT3H0
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