AGGGGGHHHHHHH Where to start?
Discussion
Ok, the rubber bumper midget isn't the best car in the world but I still love it.
But.....................
Under the bonnet is a mess, grime everywhere, a spray can of degreaser from halfords is slowly making its way around under there, figured if water gets into something electrical while I'm rinsing it off its better if I can narrow it down to a few components rather than having to test an entire engine. It'll never look great as I won't get around to painting the engine or anything like that, but at least getting rid of the grime, conditioning any plastic bits, new HT leads and a polished alloy rocker cover should make it more bearable to look under there.
The rest of the car was re-built 10 years ago so all the bits bolted on have a nice aged appearance, and I'd like to keep that, its the same story inside, I'm keeping it looking 30 years old, but clean. But the body was re-sprayed in brooklands green, and the paint appears to be as soft as butter that been left on the radiator overnight. I can get a good match to re-spray chips, but masking off 5mm circles around chips and giving it a light spray of the closest stuff can get is good enough for me. What pisses me off is the amount of swirling in the paint. I did considder taking it to a professional detailer, but that's almost the same cost as having the whole thing re-sprayed!
What I'd like to do is get the vast bulk of the paintwork up to scratch. At the moment it sees a hosepipe, a couple of buckets of hot water and zip-wax car shampoo, followed by a couple of coats of car wax from Tesco *runs for cover* and some auto-glym rubber/vinyl conditioner on the bumpers, tires, roof and interior etc. So for some money and a lot of effort, what can I do to get the paint back to how it would have been (or preferably better) than it was when it was restored ten years back?
I don't want to use a jet washer (and don't see the need relay, its never allowed to get that muddy!) as they just seem to destroy anything they come into contact with. But happy enough to buy something to take the arm ache out of polishing!
But.....................
Under the bonnet is a mess, grime everywhere, a spray can of degreaser from halfords is slowly making its way around under there, figured if water gets into something electrical while I'm rinsing it off its better if I can narrow it down to a few components rather than having to test an entire engine. It'll never look great as I won't get around to painting the engine or anything like that, but at least getting rid of the grime, conditioning any plastic bits, new HT leads and a polished alloy rocker cover should make it more bearable to look under there.
The rest of the car was re-built 10 years ago so all the bits bolted on have a nice aged appearance, and I'd like to keep that, its the same story inside, I'm keeping it looking 30 years old, but clean. But the body was re-sprayed in brooklands green, and the paint appears to be as soft as butter that been left on the radiator overnight. I can get a good match to re-spray chips, but masking off 5mm circles around chips and giving it a light spray of the closest stuff can get is good enough for me. What pisses me off is the amount of swirling in the paint. I did considder taking it to a professional detailer, but that's almost the same cost as having the whole thing re-sprayed!
What I'd like to do is get the vast bulk of the paintwork up to scratch. At the moment it sees a hosepipe, a couple of buckets of hot water and zip-wax car shampoo, followed by a couple of coats of car wax from Tesco *runs for cover* and some auto-glym rubber/vinyl conditioner on the bumpers, tires, roof and interior etc. So for some money and a lot of effort, what can I do to get the paint back to how it would have been (or preferably better) than it was when it was restored ten years back?
I don't want to use a jet washer (and don't see the need relay, its never allowed to get that muddy!) as they just seem to destroy anything they come into contact with. But happy enough to buy something to take the arm ache out of polishing!
To clean the engine buy some All Purpose Cleaner, a couple of long handle brushes and a watering can.... Dress the plastics with a decent product like Aerospace #303 when dry.
Regarding the bodywork....two buckets, two grit guards, a decent natural wool sea sponge (not from Halfords) or a good quality wash mitt, some good quality shampoo, Duragloss or Chemical Guys.....some drying towels and a decent wax plus applicators and microfibres.
The only real way to remove the swirls once the car has been clayed is with a polisher. This will take the edges off of the scraches and will remove some of the top clearcoat (a couple of microns only) to restore the smooth finish. Your options are simple.
Buy a decent polisher....upwards of £100 plus polishes and heads or pay for a professional detail. How deep are your pockets, how much time do you have to do the whole job yourself?
Regarding the bodywork....two buckets, two grit guards, a decent natural wool sea sponge (not from Halfords) or a good quality wash mitt, some good quality shampoo, Duragloss or Chemical Guys.....some drying towels and a decent wax plus applicators and microfibres.
The only real way to remove the swirls once the car has been clayed is with a polisher. This will take the edges off of the scraches and will remove some of the top clearcoat (a couple of microns only) to restore the smooth finish. Your options are simple.
Buy a decent polisher....upwards of £100 plus polishes and heads or pay for a professional detail. How deep are your pockets, how much time do you have to do the whole job yourself?
thisisnotaspoon said:
Ok, the rubber bumper midget isn't the best car in the world but I still love it.
But.....................
Under the bonnet is a mess, grime everywhere,
But the body was re-sprayed in brooklands green, and the paint appears to be as soft as butter that been left on the radiator overnight.
What pisses me off is the amount of swirling in the paint. I did considder taking it to a professional detailer, but that's almost the same cost as having the whole thing re-sprayed!
What I'd like to do is get the vast bulk of the paintwork up to scratch. what can I do to get the paint back to how it would have been (or preferably better) than it was when it was restored ten years back?
The quote comparing a pro detailer is the same cost as a respray of the car is way out i think , But.....................
Under the bonnet is a mess, grime everywhere,
But the body was re-sprayed in brooklands green, and the paint appears to be as soft as butter that been left on the radiator overnight.
What pisses me off is the amount of swirling in the paint. I did considder taking it to a professional detailer, but that's almost the same cost as having the whole thing re-sprayed!
What I'd like to do is get the vast bulk of the paintwork up to scratch. what can I do to get the paint back to how it would have been (or preferably better) than it was when it was restored ten years back?
A quality repaint would set you back around the £2000 mark or more time scale 1 week plus (this is of course is paint that is not as soft as butter), a quick blow over could be as cheap as £500 but it would only be a blow over time scale 2 days , then you would still have to deal with the interior , glass and engine bay
compare that to detailing a proper true full detail to correct the paint , touch in stone chips ,machine clean and protect glass , clean engine bay , and all of the interior leather/cloth and carpets and lastly polish any chrome work on older vehicles would set you back around £500 time scale 3-4 days and quick machine correction polish for a hobbist will be around £100 and would be only a machine correct polish and quick clean up of rest of car time scale 1 day .
you could easily spend £200 - £300 on equipment and products then take days to do , now if you are planning on cleaning and detail a few cars then the money is well spent , thats as long as you are ok with a machine polisher , (some people are quite good straight off and some will never get on with using one)
And i do fully understand some people love to get out now and then just to clean and wax their vehicle just as a release for every day stresses .
Maybe contact a detailer that will just machine the paint , as you really need to take some paint depth readings and inspect the paint , this is more important on older cars that have be painted and restored in the past then more consistent new cars paint surface
Kelly
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