Paint correction tips for a newb?

[DukeCanBuildit]

The only thing to keep in mind is some of the polishes (sonax perfect finish) has fillers in it that take away and hide blemishes... And those fillers can react strangely with costings.

That’s where the diluted Isopropyl Alcohol comes in handy, no?

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[Jhbryaniv]

That’s where the diluted Isopropyl Alcohol comes in handy, no?

Depends on how much filler made it's way into scratches....

We will use a regular polish without fillers if were doing a ceramic coating. If were doing a spray coating like wet coat or gtechniq we don't worry about it. In my mind the spray coatings aren't going to be there long enough for the filler to cause ill effects...

We use the prep or alcohol before coatings - and between polish steps....

 

[Jhbryaniv]

also -

 

[puckdodger]

Hey Jim,

I’m not sure if I let you know about this yet but I’ve found a good Canadian supplier for 303 and other detailing products, including polishing compounds and pads for your dual action polisher. Good prices, free shipping if you buy lots of stuff.

They’re in Calgary, ship quickly, and customer service is good - surprised me with free samples in a couple of my orders. ?

Check out: carzilla.ca

In fact, I just ordered some pads and the Sonax compound Mike mentioned above so I can remove the rub marks from my now deleted fender flares.

DAMN YOU PAN - DAMN YOU @Rinn69 ?

I think you turned me on to Carzilla already but thanks again for the reminder.

This old GarageMansCompanion of mine will soon be looking much better than it did the day it was dropped in my driveway, in fact, it already does?

 

[puckdodger]

before you buy anything, or power any tool and touch your vehicle watch hours and hours of youtube videos or take a class.

Paint correction is not hard, but it can go wrong quickly.

Pan The Organizer, Esoteric, Ammo NYC, Apex Detail, Whites Detail, Chicago Auto Pros, Car supplies Warehouse, The Detail Geek, - even watching the youtube channels of major polishing machines or detailing products - Gyeon, Autogeek, Carpro, Chemical Guys . . .

I am not saying you can't pick up a polisher and get good results your first try - but you're working on black paint that looks like it has been neglected for a very long time.

First step after you give the vehicle a thorough wash is to decontaminate the paint, chemical or mechanical. Sometimes a good wash, decon and application of basic coating or wax can make the vehicle look "good enough".

If I were doing the vehicle in parts, I would treat each part after I finish it. And once I was done with vehicle, I might go back over the entire vehicle if I was using something like 303 graphene. I don't like leaving paint unprotected. . .

Having done our Outback with 303 Graphene, it looks nice when you are done, but it isn't nearly as easy as something like Gtechniq or Gyeon spray coatings. I also used 303 Aerospace on my trucks door handles (they are black plastic) and they look better with aerospace vs graphene.

OK, I gotta go get the kid from school now in my very very dirty truck . . . :-(

Thanks for the input. I just did a good wash and quick spritz of graphene to hold me back while i do me sum lernin'.

I don't plan to make this into any kind of show truck. I want to do it once, and make it look the best I can. Good grief there is a ton of scratches, I think the original owner might have used a garden rake to remove snow in the winter, as well as rain in the summer

There was some aftermarket trim I removed and saw some bubbles of rust starting around the corners of the wheelwells that scare me a bit, and a few spots under the lip of the hood where the paint looks kinda flaky.

Would I attempt any touchups before using any compound?

And already the lazy part of my brain is telling me I don't need to do the lower edges of the panels, focus on the hood and stuff in the line of sight, and the OCD part of my brain is saying that won't cut the mustard. What would a reasonable person do?

 

[YaBoiNewton]

Thanks for the input. I just did a good wash and quick spritz of graphene to hold me back while i do me sum lernin'.

I don't plan to make this into any kind of show truck. I want to do it once, and make it look the best I can. Good grief there is a ton of scratches, I think the original owner might have used a garden rake to remove snow in the winter, as well as rain in the summer

There was some aftermarket trim I removed and saw some bubbles of rust starting around the corners of the wheelwells that scare me a bit, and a few spots under the lip of the hood where the paint looks kinda flaky.

Would I attempt any touchups before using any compound?

And already the lazy part of my brain is telling me I don't need to do the lower edges of the panels, focus on the hood and stuff in the line of sight, and the OCD part of my brain is saying that won't cut the mustard. What would a reasonable person do?

A reasonable person would just take it one panel at a time until the truck is done lol My other car is in similar shape due to the previous owner. I just pick a section and work on it through to the coating, then pack up for the day. It'll take a lot longer, but I'm busy as hell and I can do a much better job this way than if I made the attempt in one go.

That's a lot of compound and polishing to do and there's no way that's getting done in a weekend. Just pick a panel that you find easy to access, like the bed side or something, and see how far you get.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

Thanks for the input. I just did a good wash and quick spritz of graphene to hold me back while i do me sum lernin'.

I don't plan to make this into any kind of show truck. I want to do it once, and make it look the best I can. Good grief there is a ton of scratches, I think the original owner might have used a garden rake to remove snow in the winter, as well as rain in the summer

There was some aftermarket trim I removed and saw some bubbles of rust starting around the corners of the wheelwells that scare me a bit, and a few spots under the lip of the hood where the paint looks kinda flaky.

Would I attempt any touchups before using any compound?

And already the lazy part of my brain is telling me I don't need to do the lower edges of the panels, focus on the hood and stuff in the line of sight, and the OCD part of my brain is saying that won't cut the mustard. What would a reasonable person do?

Belt line up is a good thing to keep in mind when correcting defects.

touch ups meaning paint touch ups? keep in mind what ever paint you apply is going to be new paint and won't match the existing paint.

When you touch the scratches do they catch your finger nail? if so those are deep and will require more work - if they aren't down through the clear they can be saved, but it can get "dangerous" because if you burn through the clear coat it can be a full respray on that panel...

If you have compound, take a clean micro fiber rag, apply a dab to a corner and start working a small area - think of polishing boots - work an area that you are comfortable working over and over for a few minutes - half a playing card is what I stay within. You want to have clear boundaries so you can tell if you are making a difference (You could use painters tape to delineate an area) We are only trying to see if polishing by hand makes any difference - most likely it will be a small difference as you're not going to be using an aggressive polish method. taking before and after pictures using flash or a flashlight to highlight the scratches can help you compare how much changed.

If we are lucky, hand polishing will result in a drastic change and you can focus on the major scratches and not mess with machines.

If it has rust already and you have the ability taking it to a body shop wouldn't be a bad idea - or if it doesn't matter, hit it with some of the rust eatting primer stuff...I used it on my '87 f150. it didn't fix it, but it hid it and slowed the rust...

Of course if you don't care what it really looks like, take a flap disc, grind away at the rust and hit it with some grey/black primer and be done with it . . . or grind it away and put the fender flares back on . . . lol

 

[puckdodger]

A reasonable person would just take it one panel at a time until the truck is done lol My other car is in similar shape due to the previous owner. I just pick a section and work on it through to the coating, then pack up for the day. It'll take a lot longer, but I'm busy as hell and I can do a much better job this way than if I made the attempt in one go.

That's a lot of compound and polishing to do and there's no way that's getting done in a weekend. Just pick a panel that you find easy to access, like the bed side or something, and see how far you get.

yeah that seems to be a sane and reasonable approach. Uncharted territory for me LMAO

Belt line up is a good thing to keep in mind when correcting defects.

touch ups meaning paint touch ups? keep in mind what ever paint you apply is going to be new paint and won't match the existing paint.

When you touch the scratches do they catch your finger nail? if so those are deep and will require more work - if they aren't down through the clear they can be saved, but it can get "dangerous" because if you burn through the clear coat it can be a full respray on that panel...

If you have compound, take a clean micro fiber rag, apply a dab to a corner and start working a small area - think of polishing boots - work an area that you are comfortable working over and over for a few minutes - half a playing card is what I stay within. You want to have clear boundaries so you can tell if you are making a difference (You could use painters tape to delineate an area) We are only trying to see if polishing by hand makes any difference - most likely it will be a small difference as you're not going to be using an aggressive polish method. taking before and after pictures using flash or a flashlight to highlight the scratches can help you compare how much changed.

If we are lucky, hand polishing will result in a drastic change and you can focus on the major scratches and not mess with machines.

If it has rust already and you have the ability taking it to a body shop wouldn't be a bad idea - or if it doesn't matter, hit it with some of the rust eatting primer stuff...I used it on my '87 f150. it didn't fix it, but it hid it and slowed the rust...

Of course if you don't care what it really looks like, take a flap disc, grind away at the rust and hit it with some grey/black primer and be done with it . . . or grind it away and put the fender flares back on . . . lol

Some of the defects are through to the primer and/or metal so that's why I was thinking of a touchup pen or something. This is for sure, 10000%, ain't no point in denying it -- a machine job. There is wayy too much neglect. I might just go to a body shop and see what they say about fixing the rust before correcting the swirls since I plan to keep this beast for a long long time. I appreciate all your input , thanks.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

I’m appreciating the input too - super knowledgeable and helpful folks on this forum! ?

 

[YaBoiNewton]

yeah that seems to be a sane and reasonable approach. Uncharted territory for me LMAO



Some of the defects are through to the primer and/or metal so that's why I was thinking of a touchup pen or something. This is for sure, 10000%, ain't no point in denying it -- a machine job. There is wayy too much neglect. I might just go to a body shop and see what they say about fixing the rust before correcting the swirls since I plan to keep this beast for a long long time. I appreciate all your input , thanks.

Definitely worth doing some paint correction, even if a body shop will be repainting certain spots. They won't touch everything and ultimately the truck will be better for it.

Hit up harbor freight and pick up the Bauer 6" dual action polisher. Hand polishing is for cavemen and people that can afford to spend six hours rubbing 2 sq.in. of paint. Go cheap on the machine, but spend a little on pads and chemicals. Hex Logic or Lake Country CCS pads are totally worth the money. Get at least one of each level from aggressive to least aggressive. I tried the cheap pads from harbor freight and actually had one explode on me. I'm still finding pieces of orange foam almost a year later! The nice pads have cooling channels and I have confirmed they do not explode.

For compound/polish I recommend getting the meguiars stuff starting with the M105 & M205 compound then use the megs ultimate compound and finish with megs ultimate polish. It's not necessarily the best, but it's universally available at whichever store is nearby. That should be enough for a nice mirror finish, even though it will leave behind the deeper scratches. Wipe with alcohol then apply 303 Graphene and you're golden.

Edit: Pic of said exploded HF pad

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