My Paintwork is pretty bad, small swirly scratches all over that looks like a boy scout had done a $5 car wash with a $1 jiffy pad. Anyway, I was thinking that this may be an alternative to a full respray. 3M vinyl, guaranteed 5 years and can be peeled off with heat gun when required. I have 3 quotes, all of them resonable and it might be a bit of fun for a year or two. What do you think, Yes or No.

British car driven by a British ex-pat - could work. See attached photo that I found on 't'interweb

 

Looks like the Shaguar from Austin Powers. It probably would be fun but would also attract jerks with itchy keys.

Doug

 

It might be possible to get rid of your swirl marks without a respray, depending on the thickness of the remaining clearcoat. A professional detail with a cutting compound, and/or wetsanding the swirled top layer of the clearcoat followed by a cutting and polishing compound could very well do the trick. You can find professional detailers (not just a "wash and wax" detailer) that have the proper tools including a micron meter to measure the thickness of your remaining clearcoat, and depending on if there's enough, they can correct the finish to make it look like glass.

I own a porter cable random orbital buffer and though am not a professional (nor a complete "newb" either) and I have been able to deal with similar situations in the past. There could be other ways to save it than a full respray! Here is an example to give you an idea:
http://www.elitefinish.com.au/subaru.../#!prettyPhoto

 

It's already been 'wet mopped' but the scratches are too deep, one of the reasons why I bought the car cheap.

Question really is, should I union jack it or shouldn't I ? If it gets attention from the wrong people and it gets keyed, full respray on the insurance as it's covered for vandal damage and problem solved.

Yeah Baby ? or not ?

 

Being in Australia you should apply the flag to the underside of the car so it is visible from the UK.
That's far enough away to make it unlikely someone will pour a tin of oven cleaner over it.

Do swirl marks rotate in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere ?
I keep tripping over things when I'm down there because someone's messed with the Moon.

 

I wouldn't do it myself but if you really like it I would go for it. Otherwise you could probably wrap the whole car in whatever color/scheme you really love for about the same $?

 

Might be fun for a day. Or two. Something more suitable for a jag would of course be:

 

Naturally coupled with custom rotors and calipers:

 

I remember Jaguar sending out paint information for that Austin Powers scheme. It suggested the colors to use, one of which I think was a Chrysler blue, as well as information on taping. I may try to look for that.

 

Why not have a bit of fun with the car before it gets a real painting. But why do something so straight forward and boring if you're going that far out?! How about a Union Jack that is either a bit psychedelic or just some decent leading graphics. I'm not any good on photo-shop or the such but maybe some others that are can work out a few ideas. However, I'm thinking, you've got a set of brass ones to wave the Brit flag in Oz. Why not do something with the Oz flag?

But the following are just ideas, food for thought, to look at:

 

Those Hello Kitty images are making my eyes BLEED!

 

No Shaguar please. But if you just have to, why not avoid the boys with keys with something locally patriotic? Yeah, I know your ex-Brit, but aren't the Aussies part of the commonwealth?

 

How about this? An artist is SC paints Jaguars like, well...Jaguars.

 

Steven Jordan?

 

Yes, have only spoken to him via e-mail but super nice person. I think one of his Jags was featured in a TV show if I recall correctly. I can't imagine how long it takes for him to hand paint the spots.

 

Yeah, used to see him bring some jags to the shop often. I'm sure it takes quite a while. Just make sure you want to keep it that way!

 

That's actually well done. I had looked online to see if someone did work like that. I don't think that its for me, but still COOL!

 

Hey p-Rock - did you ever see the one he did for Al Parrish - in the Jaguar pattern but purple - was hideous

 

My misses loves these, I've refused to get some lol.
However can you get batman discs???

 

I love the Blue Jaguar look, but the Union Jack is almost retro cool now.

Go for the jack, it'll be one of probably only two in the world!