What did you do today Auto Detailing related?

[Brad2274]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

i do the same thing before coating my tires, usually a lot of brown liquid runoff if it's been a while on a car im detailing.
Really great job on that scratch removal, what would you suggest for orange peel and heavy overspray?
The orange peel is just on my quarter panels in front of the rear wheels but below that upper body line on coupes, pretty thick clear coat from full color change 2 years ago and he told me it could be wetsanded out.
I also just got the front end repainted a month ago and clear coat over spray got on lots of random spots on many panels, tried claybar but no luck.
hoping to tackle this(and also a few scratches barely into the clear) before i go off to college in 26 days, any advice is welcome.

Info that may be of use: i have fine 3m finesse it compound, snapon highspeed buffer with a few foam pads and wool pads, and a harbor freight da with some like 6 inch pads from harbor freight.
ill post pictures later

 

[CG6Lemon]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

Thank you Brad. You have two very common problems that people will experience after bringing their car into a shop for a respray. Luckily, both problems have solutions to fix or improve. I am going to isolate each problem and suggest proven methods of fixing each problem.


Overspray:

There will be different variances of overspray associated with painting a car. You will have the little dot specks type, the patchy cloudy type, and the really thick porous looking type. The first two are easier to remove, the last one requires more effort. If you have overspray on your windows, you can use steel wool with lubricant, or a razor blade. If using a razor blade, at all times, make sure to keep wetting the surface, and ONLY go up and down motion, never left to right, otherwise you will scratch the glass.

For every other surface that's not rubber, plastic, or plastic trim we have a couple options to chose from. Before we begin using anything we need to know the history of the surface/panels we will be working on, which will be your front end. From your description it's been a month since it's been resprayed. The one month window of curing, and out gassing gives us more options to use solvents due to less risk now.

Since you mentioned claybar did not do anything, it is probably a combination of the 2nd, and 3rd type of overspray I mentioned earlier. For painted areas that your polisher can go over, I would recommend using your HF DA with the orange pad and a compound. This will remove the overspray on your painted panels. If your headlights have overspray this will be a good time to go over them as well. The plastic(polycarbonate) does not react well to solvents and high akaline cleaners, it will melt the headlights causing runs on the surface.

For areas that your polisher can't reach, you can compound it by hand, which is very tiring and time consuming, but you don't really have a choice here, or use mineral sprits from any hardware store. When using mineral sprits on your semi fresh painted panels, be sure to wipe away immediately with a damp cloth, and don't wipe in one area longer than 10 seconds. The only thing left for the front end would be the front grille and lower grille. For plastic if it's not the textured type, you can try to clay it, but if that fails you will need a product that won't dull the surface.



Orange peel:

This will be a little more difficult subject to tackle depending on your experience, knowledge, hand eye coordination, and tools. A good start would be to directly ask your painter exactly how many coats of clear was sprayed. Afterwards, a paint thickness gauge is highly recommended when sanding, because it gives you a accurate reading of how much room you have to work with. If one does not own this tool, then it comes down to the person's skill, and experience. There are a couple methods of tackling orange peel, but the general idea is to shave and knock down the high spots/valleys with any form of sandpaper.

You have the traditional method of using a foam block with sandpaper to allow for even distribution of pressure, or a DA with sanding discs. Both methods will get the job done, both methods can go through the clearcoat if you're not experienced. Think of a surgeon with a knife performing surgery during an operation, it can be deadly in the wrong hands, but it can also be a very valuable tool in the right hands.

 

[agginline86]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

Thank you Brad. You have two very common problems that people will experience after bringing their car into a shop for a respray. Luckily, both problems have solutions to fix or improve. I am going to isolate each problem and suggest proven methods of fixing each problem.

.

If this thread was the bible, then you're Jesus, lemon

 

[cfox28]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

great job on the fixing up the scratched panels! I was wondering what the digital readout tool you are using is? is it measuring the depth of the scratch, or the overall smoothness of the surface? sorry for the noob question.

 

[puzzlemaster94]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

Lemon, could you tell what this is? My paint is about two years old, and it looks like it's already cracking.


Untitled by
Evan Aschbacher, on Flickr

 

[Brad2274]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

great job on the fixing up the scratched panels! I was wondering what the digital readout tool you are using is? is it measuring the depth of the scratch, or the overall smoothness of the surface? sorry for the noob question.

he's using a paint thickness gauge, let's you know the microns of clear on a panel, i dont know about in scratches, he'll know more. i want one so badly lol

Lemon, could you tell what this is? My paint is about two years old, and it looks like it's already cracking.

dang that new? the white in the cracks in wax right? i've heard of this being the paint or clear failing underneath but im not sure, hope lemon has some secret trick because i imagine wether you can feel them or not itd have to be repainted

 

[CG6Lemon]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

If this thread was the bible, then you're Jesus, lemon

great job on the fixing up the scratched panels! I was wondering what the digital readout tool you are using is? is it measuring the depth of the scratch, or the overall smoothness of the surface? sorry for the noob question.

Thank you. The tool is called a paint thickness gauge. The function of it is to give you a reading of the total paint film build of your paint in one total reading. That reading will allow me to figure out a couple of things regarding the paint for the whole car. For example, let's say a front end was resprayed, but to my knowledge I did not know. So I will take readings with the tool, and any aftermarket refinished paint system will yield higher numbers because in a body shop you can't control the same amount of paint applied compared to machines in a manufacture.

That will help me map out the car, and it will alert me telling me something here is not right. I need to investigate it a bit further before I begin to polish it in case something might go wrong. Another feature is to help with wetsanding. You can't tell how much clearcoat is left on the paint just by looking at it, and when you do it might be too late and you've striked through the clear coat. Some professionals will claim you can sand a car by experience, knowledge, feel, and observing the paint without a paint thickness gauge, but I would prefer to be on the safe side than sorry.

Now is this tool the solution to all liability issues when working on paint? The answer is no. Let's say for example my car have never been repainted and I am getting consistent readings everywhere of anywhere from 100-130 microns, and I have a hood that's painted with 400 microns. Now does that mean that hood have more clear than my original hood because it's giving me a higher reading? The answer is no. The aftermarket hood could only have one thin layer of clear because of a shady hack job, and I could of been mislead by the higher number, so the tool is only a tool, and you have to trust yourself when the time comes.

Lemon, could you tell what this is? My paint is about two years old, and it looks like it's already cracking.


Untitled by
Evan Aschbacher, on Flickr

Evan, I'm sorry, but I have bad news, and maybe good news. The bad news is that is called "crows feet", because the shape is like one... There is no way to fix it because the whole paint film build is compromised. It's not a clear coat failure issue, but the entire paint starting from the beginning point of the paint process. These thread contains good information about it:


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...stions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/detailing/268075-whats-honda-doing-about-crows-feet.html


The maybe good news I can offer is hopefully you were the one that paid for the repaint at a reputable shop that's still around, and it came with a warranty. Any reputable shop will offer lifetime warranty to the original owner who paid for the job, and hopefully you can have them diagnosis the problem and things will end well. Other than that, I'm sorry I don't have a solution.

he's using a paint thickness gauge, let's you know the microns of clear on a panel, i dont know about in scratches, he'll know more. i want one so badly lol


dang that new? the white in the cracks in wax right? i've heard of this being the paint or clear failing underneath but im not sure, hope lemon has some secret trick because i imagine wether you can feel them or not itd have to be repainted

Thanks for helping out Brad with your answer.

 

[puzzlemaster94]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

Evan, I'm sorry, but I have bad news, and maybe good news. The bad news is that is called "crows feet", because the shape is like one... There is no way to fix it because the whole paint film build is compromised. It's not a clear coat failure issue, but the entire paint starting from the beginning point of the paint process. These thread contains good information about it:


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...stions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/detailing/268075-whats-honda-doing-about-crows-feet.html


The maybe good news I can offer is hopefully you were the one that paid for the repaint at a reputable shop that's still around, and it came with a warranty. Any reputable shop will offer lifetime warranty to the original owner who paid for the job, and hopefully you can have them diagnosis the problem and things will end well. Other than that, I'm sorry I don't have a solution.

I figured that was the answer. Thanks for the quick reply though. From what I heard, the shop is out of business. I've still got a business card, so I can give it a shot. But the paint all around isn't in the best shape. Sanding lines underneath the paint that you can see, and paint is cracking in other places. It just needs a new paint job.

 

[Brad2274]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

cleaned my brothers sedan, his wheels were sooo bad, he hasnt washed it in about 3 years. passenger headlights wont get any better because moisture gets in

 

[cmgreensr]

Re: What did you do today Detailing related?

So after browsing this thread, I decided something must be done lol. My car originally came with vinyl seats and door inserts that were in very poor shape by the time I got this car. First thing I did to the car was replace the cracked front seats with coupe seats in "not bad" condition. Last week, I was able to score the rest of an ex interior including rear seat, door panels and all wood grain for a hefty $85.





This made me realize how dirty my front seats had gotten! I have driven over 30k in a year and tried to clean them a couple times but nothing really worked.

After reading your comments, I picked up some meguiars today and tried it out for about 30 seconds. I know what I plan on doing tomorrow now. This stuff is amazing.

As you can see, I just tested the corner but the difference is amazing. I've wasted plenty on inferior products that did nothing so thank you guys.