Detailing the **

[Brett]

Well my car has alot of those fine circular scratches all over it, front and back bumper are quite faded from the rest of the body from the last owner letting it sit for 3 years. Matter of fact, My trunk looks fine, pretty vibrant. But when i pulled the ford emblem on the back to stick my yamaha emblem on there it was obvious that even the trunk used to be a MUCH more vibrant red.

I am in school for collision repair. But usually dont have the time to touch my own car as its always super busy with customer cars. I do have a buffer at home, but its quite hard to get my garage above 60 degrees. prime buffing temps are the same as paint i believe, 76-85 degrees, i believe. Four questions.

1st, The clear coat isnt peeling, so my back and front bumper should be salvagable right?

2nd, Once i started buffing the hood, it did look a bit better but faded out, my dad sad its because it has years of wax buildup on it, how can i remedy this? IOW is there anyway to get this build up wax off?

3rd, how thorough of a job do they do when your car goes in for a detaling? Would this solve my problems?

4th, Ive heard from people around here it usually runs around $100.00 for a detail, does this sound about right? Is it worth it?

As i said i would just do it myself, but my garage isnt properly insulated, with the nights hitting 30degrees or lower it really isnt an option. Thanks for all your help guys!

 

[Speedie13]

Hopefully Hunter will chime in on this because I know he has a lot of experince with this. Ive got almost 3 years of detailing under my belt so im pretty knowledgable as well.

If your clear is in good shape and the paint is just faded I think a good buffing will do wonders, especially on a red car. I buffed the hood of an early 80's Toyota Tercel that had been sitting outside in a field for a lot longer than 3 years and the hood came out magnificently well. It was shiny, bright and very smooth.

As far as detailing shops go, mine charges $100 and we do everything except buffing...most of the shops that do buffing around this area are anywhere from $150 to $250. I really think you would like the results with a good detail. Ask around and make sure you get a shop that does buffing with the detail, IMO your paint is just weather/sun faded and will buff back out to a very nice shine, plus they will wax the car as well to protect the work they did for a time. The stratches and scuffs will come out unless you can feel them with your fingernails, if you can they are in the paint and cant be buffed out, but anything else will come out.

I will quit rambling but if you dont have time to detail your car, spend the money and find a good detail shop, I think youll love the results

...and if you get it done I demand pics haha.

Hope this helps

 

[crazy_canadian]

Red cars have clearcoat ?
I worked this summer in a detailing car wash, and my boss told me that red cars dosen't have clear and that's why they fade out and turn more pink-ish over time.

 

[CerberuS]

Red cars have clearcoat ?
I worked this summer in a detailing car wash, and my boss told me that red cars dosen't have clear and that's why they fade out and turn more pink-ish over time.

Correct me if im wrong but every cars needs clear coat. Maybe the red ones has less for some reasons tho.

 

[mrecoolgar]

There is hope for just about every vehicle.
You just gotta know what to do.
And yes it's the same car.
It's a picture of before I purchased the car and after.
One word, Maguires.

 

[Speedie13]

With some exceptions, being old old cars, every car has a clear coat. You can do wonders to almost any form of faded paint. They make all sorts of compounds and waxes that can do just what mrecoolgar did with his Gen 1, It'll take some time but anything is possible. If you dont have the time find a good reputable place to do it for you.

 

[CerberuS]

Best results is the REAL compund buffing , and after a good wax. Professionaly made its running around the 100-200$ price tag , but i think its worth it once in awhile.

Dont do the compound each year tho , each time you do this , the clear goes thinner a bit.

 

[ty91sho]

if your car is really bad and you think that you have enough clear left on the car you can do this,
1) go with a 2000 grit wet sand paper with a block to just get the high spots and the really bad dull spots out, this helps if your car has bad orange peel (that is when the surface of the paint has a "orange peel look" to the clear coat)
2)then go with your buffing pad and use a good quality compond to get the scratches out of the paint form the 2000 grit paper
3) then go over it with another less abrasive pad and a good polish or wax, i go with a polish
4) use a good wax to save it from the sun rays, and keep up with the wax every so often to keep the look of a new paint job

if you do this step 1 through 4 be CAREFUL not to go through the clear, it is very easy to go through it with the compound,
i have done these steps on all of my cars depending on the paint, sometimes i start at the compound, i am also going to college to become a autobody tech. i have a 85 porsche 944 with original paint still left on it i think that this made it look good, take a look for yourself http://www.cardomain.com/ride/791903

 

[CerberuS]

thats why i stated professionaly made compound , cose you can scrap your paint easily trying to compound your paint cose you 'think' you know how. Its an art just to do that.

 

[ty91sho]

i know some of my friends that have tryed and went through the clear, you have to be extra careful, BTW dang mrecoolgar that looks good, i have a 91 sho plus that i need to do that to, very nice

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

With some exceptions, being old old cars, every car has a clear coat. You can do wonders to almost any form of faded paint. They make all sorts of compounds and waxes that can do just what mrecoolgar did with his Gen 1, It'll take some time but anything is possible. If you dont have the time find a good reputable place to do it for you.

The gen 1 in the photos that mrcoolgar posted does NOT have a clear coat. It isnt what I would call a "old old car"

That kind of transformation is not nearly as possible on a car with a clearcoat.

 

[SASHO91]

what GenI's dont have clear?

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Not 100% sure about all gen 1s. But as far as I recall, the only '89 SHO that had a clearcoat was the titaniums.

And believe me.... I HATE the clearcoat

My project SHO looks like the one in the pictured (oxidized). I annot wait to pull it out of storage and go to town on the paint. It will look like a whole different car!

 

[Speedie13]

My mistake. The car in the pic looked just like my 90 which had a clearcoat on it....oops my apologies

 

[carterh]

Correct me if im wrong but every cars needs clear coat. Maybe the red ones has less for some reasons tho.

I think your boss took a shit in your mouth...! Every colour since the'80s(?) should have a clear on it...

 

[Brett]

Yea, i have yet to deal with a car (in class) that wasnt clearcoated, oldest cars we have are late 80s though. Never heard of any cars not having clear, learned somethin new i guess . Anyone have ideas as to how to get the old built up nasty wax off first? I think i have a pic of the back bumper all faded out, i'll try it get it on sometime.

 

[Speedie13]

If there is indeed wax build up on your car, the wet sanding/heavy compound should take care of all that for you. Those things are designed to break through any barrier (for lack of a better word) to get to the clear. At work we use solvents as well to break down the wax when we need a "clean" surface to attach stickers and things to a car. You shouldnt have to do anything extra to your car to get off wax. I guess I cant believe a car in that shape would have a wax "buildup" on it.

I would just go either the wetsanding or buffing route if you feel comfortable with it, then throw on a nice polish and wax over it with a good wax (preferably one that has polymers in it to bond with the paint...it lasts longer). Your car should look amazing afterwards.

EDIT: or if you feel up for a road trip bring it to Lincoln, Nebraska and I will do it for you lol

 

[Brett]

Haha nebraska is quite the drive . I might actually consider in a couple months, as i'll be sitting on a decent sum of money and do wanna go somewhere... I'm really not big on wetsanding the clear. Just makes me nervous ya kno? one mess up and it costs you thousands of dollars. If i used a 2000 grit (wet) how much of a worry would i have about going through the clear? I'm all for it if i dont need surgical precision .

 

[greenbeanmtx]

Not 100% sure about all gen 1s. But as far as I recall, the only '89 SHO that had a clearcoat was the titaniums.

And believe me.... I HATE the clearcoat

My project SHO looks like the one in the pictured (oxidized). I annot wait to pull it out of storage and go to town on the paint. It will look like a whole different car!

I believe your right. I cant say if the 91's had clear or not cause mine has been repainted. But both 89s ive had were black and non clearcoat.

EDIT: also not all paints were clearcoated in the 80's. For example the shos are one example but also all of my first gen rx7s ive owned were non clear coat.

 

[Speedie13]

I will ask some of the guys in our body shop for some more in depth info on wetsanding tomorrow if i can get a chance and maybe shead some more light on the subject for you. I dont think you would have to worry with 2000 grit, but I will ask them for a definite answer and maybe some tips.