I already posted this in the Detail section under "ask a professional" but I don't know how fast of a response I'd get.

Hello, I got into an accident I got a good check that covered my damaged fender and had enough to get a new paint Job and get rid of all my dents. I took the cheap route and got a single stage paint/ clearcoat mix. I feel like the cheap route was eventually gonna bite me back because its been 3-4 years now and the paint starting to oxidize, has scratches, and now hard water marks. I loved the look of the deep black shiny finish it had. Can I get it almost showroom finish by hand only?

I'm familiar with meguiars products or turtle shell, can you give me a run down of items I need and a simple list of procedures to use the items in. I'm very patience and willing to spend a good half day to get my car back in top shape.

If any of you fella's would know in this section that would be helpful.

 

I can only suggest that for now, you do a search on here and look through some recent posts on this very topic. One member posted a series of threads in a similar vein, after he got his car back from the paint shop and it led to a variety of suggestions.

In the long term though, if the paint job itself is below par, all the rubbing and buffing etc. is only ever going to be cosmetic, with the real problem lying below. And you can only cut paint or top coat back so far.........

Best of luck with it and I'm sure others will chime in.

 

Hi there, sorry to hear about your issues...

Assuming your car is immaculately clean and there isn't much more to do, just the paintwork, een then I'd say if you want to get your car in "better shape"...not top shape you can expect to lose a full day perhaps even a weekend.

Trying to get results by hand won't be easy, a DA polishing machine will be quicker and better in the long run.

Claying the car firstly would be a good idea, this will remove contaminants but won't do much for the swirls, then wash and dry it again.

You could try an application of Meguiars Ultimate Compound to help remove scratches / swirls etc

This followed by a layer of Porboys Blackhole which is a filler / glaze will help to mask any that remain, then top that off with Poorboys Natts blue paste wax to seal in the shine.

My estimate to even do the above would be 8 hours plus at least and will make an improvement, but it won't be perfect.

I'm not a pro detailer just an enthusiastic amateur, perhaps someone else will chime in

Good luck

Jim

 

Jim summed it up, but I would ABSOLUTELY take it to a professional. Sadly going the cheap route can and normally does bite ya in the butt. That being said if they only put 2 coats of color (single stage) on the car, no matter what they told you, using any type of buffer could cause some damage. Whoever you take it too needs to measure the paint thickness with a mill gauge then you will know if there is enough paint to use a polishing compound on it without damage. Sadly unless you paid somewhere in the 7K rage to repaint a long wheelbase XJ I doubt the paint job is thick enough.
Please don't take my comments the wrong way, I have been in the industry for 38 years and currently own a very well known bodyshop in Arizona. I am speaking from experience. Even if you find a good detail shop they should be able to measure paint thickness. This is the key to it being done right. Hopefully they put 3 coats on it when painted and a nice professional buff will make it look like a new car again. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

Yes, depending on the finish, you can certainly make a big improvement in paint appearance.

As Jim mentions, properly washing and claying the car is an essential first step. After this inspect the paint and decide how to proceed. As Jim mentions using a D/A machine will make life a lot easier and produce a better finish.

Use the least aggressive product to get the job done. As you asked specifically about Meguiars, they have some good non abrasive paint cleaners and excellent compounds like M105 and polishes like M205. Tape off a 2ft x 2ft area and use it to test what works best to eliminate the defects. Start with the least aggressive, the paint cleaner. If not satisfied, try the polish with a medium cutting pad. If still unsatisfied try the compound with a medium or even heavy cutting pad. you may have to make several passes to get the desired results.

If you compound, follow up by using a polish with a finishing pad to remove any marring caused by compounding. Then use the cleaner to remove any compound/polish residue and apply a sealant or wax or both. Meguiars M20 sealant is very good.

There are many other brands, i like using Pinnacle, Wolfgang and Blackfire which are sold by Autogeek. (they also off a discount for forum members )

Here are some pics of a friend's 96 Mitsubishi 3000GT that I worked on. The paint was horribly oxidized and dull and there were lots of swirl marks.

As you can see, oxidized, dull paint


Even after washing and claying, look what the paint cleaner pulled off!!


After a polish, I removed the tape and you can clearly see the difference


The finished car, looking way better than it did (even for a mitsu )

 

Thanks for the replies, I went to MAACO body shop in Fremont CA, I received the car from my grandpa with 15 dents and faded paint everywhere, some guy hit my fender and his insurance gave me $3,300. Maaco charged me $2,400 for new fender,paint, and all dings removed. It looked really good but single stage mix.

Thanks for all the advice I'm going to test spot and slowly work my hood, roof, and trunk on seperates days.
I don't want to rush this at all, I love trying to take care of this car because it's a real head turner when it's shiny, especially that black paint. I will take before and after pictures as well. But if all fails I might try Plasti dip! Lol
Have you guys heard of that stuff?

Btw nice work Allen, that 3000gt looked brand spanking new.

 

Here's the experience I made a couple of years ago:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/d...pective-56723/
It may be helpful to mention a month or so before I did this, I experimented on my old Merc, which was heavily oxidized, using a real rotary buffer and rubbing-compound. I taped off an area of the boot lid and quickly converted it into an area of less-oxidized looking paint and a bit of shiny metal along a stamped contour feature included in my test area. So I approached the above with a fair amount of trepidation.


If you can swing it, I highly encourage you to lay hands on a DA and give the Meguiar's MF/DA kit a go. I'm dubious that you will get the desired results by hand.
I have since used the MF pads and PC buffer and obtained similar improvement on all kinds of stuff 'round here including, but not limited to, S-Type headlights, fiberglass tractor hood, guitars my son built and painted with a rattle-can, and various kid school projects. As Jim stated, I think you need to look at it as a weekend or two-day affair and anything less you can spend the extra time taking admiring pics to post back here. For a half-day...and buffing by hand, IMO your time may be better spent loading the cooler in the boot and heading to the beach!


Good luck and whatever approach you take, make sure you take some before-pics so you'll be able to judge your improvement. On the detail forum, David Sylican, "Innovative Detailing" was most helpful and responsive back when I jumped in...but seems to have disappeared of late.
Edit: Meant to mention, there seems to be a fair amount of Plasti-dipping going on over in the S-Type forum, check it out if you start leaning in that direction.