Hi everyone,

I'm working on an XJR (see my intro thread HERE) that has some bad oxidation spots and just poor paint condition in general.

Some steps I took to clean the car up were first to wash the car, then a small section at a time:

1) Clay bar
2) Wash
3) Clay bar check
4) Took several passes with a 8 out of 10 cut and a yellow pad
5) Polish
6) Repeat Cut and polish as needed
7) Took it down to a 5, then 3 out of 10 cut and worked from yellow pad, to green, to orange.
8) Used polish agents with blue pad
9) Once satisfied, waxed with a P21-S


Showing poor paint condition and a bad oxidation spot on the trunk:




Light scratches and door dings on the side:




As I was cleaning the gas cap drain filter, you can really see how bad the condition of the paint is:




Starting with the Clay Bar on the trunk:




Working in some cut and polish steps to remove the oxidation and imperfections and restore the paint condition:




BEFORE:




AFTER:





Roof had bad oxidation and dull paint as well:




Oxidation removed and paint correction process:




Looking much better:




Anyway, thanks for looking.

 

Looks great, wonderful results with some needed TLC..

 

Thank you David! This beautiful car just needed some long awaited attention to get her all cleaned up.

 

Looks great. But the car that you started on isn't as bad as some I have purchased in the past!

 

Haha yea, the car wasn't in horrible shape, but definitely needed some love and attention.

 

Was bored during time off for the Holidays so I took her for some photos now that she's all cleaned up and shiny again.

Thanks!!

 

Looking real good TKC and thanks for sharing
I hope you don't mind me suggesting that perhaps painted calipers ( maybe RED as it is the XJR ) would enhance those clean cut bad boy looks even more?
Just a thought

 

Beautifull ride and like new inside in / out

 

Just Stunning! Great work there, don't understand what you're referring to with the 8 out of 10 - 3 out of 10 stuff, is it the grade of cutting compound?

Also, how did you get the front s.s grills looking like they're new??

 

Hey Jim! You read my mind! I thought the same thing about the calipers when I was cleaning up the photos. I think with nicely tinted windows and the calipers painted would give it a very commanding look! I was really happy with the caliper paint I used from tirerack.com on my vert you saw on my intro thread. I think I will have to order another one from them soon!

Thank you very much! All the sweat was worth it for the way she shines now.

Thank you Sean!!

Well, the cutting compound just has an arrow that points at the level of cut on an incline on the back, so the only way I knew how to describe it on here was with a numbering system. Here's how it looks on the bottle:
http://www.shrani.si/f/1t/FV/3p3Z0unB/img8953.jpg

As for the grill, I just took it out, soaked it, washed it, took some chrome polish to a pad and worked at it, then took a small pad and fitted it to my dremel and then used more of the chrome polisher and then buffed it out. Turned out very nice but was very time consuming/tedious going hole-by-hole.

Thanks again everyone!