TheMacDaddy Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 My car's over three years old now and, as a daily driver, has picked up her fair share of stone chips. The combination of soft paint, 42,000 miles and The Best Colour have unfortunately left her with a very bad case of Edward Olmos face. So, armed with some paint, lacquer, wet and dry paper and a DA, I set about putting things right. Here's the old girl at the start. Step one: Full wash (foam x 2, 2BM wash, dry). I had so many chips to do I decided to mark them all out first using a liquid chalk pen: Step two: clean all of the chips using a cleaner provided by the paint supplier (see below) to remove any wax etc that was hiding out in there. Step three: paint all of the chips using the supplied base coat with a no 2 brush (2 coats, 30 minutes between) Step four: wait 4 hours for the base coat to dry, then apply the lacquer, again with a no 2 brush, (4-6 coats, 30 minutes between), ensuring that the finished lacquer was proud of the main surface. Step five: allow the lacquer 24 hours to cure. Alas in my case it was a week as I ran out of weekend, so I had to drive around with the pink circle paint-job for five days. Got some interesting looks, I can tell you. "What's that noise? Sounds exotic. Better turn around and see... oh, dear Christ what has that idiot done to his car!" Yep, there's a specific look for that. I'm sure you can imagine! I actually had one guy compliment me on the custom finish I was rocking. After I stopped laughing (at least 30 seconds) I had to explain to him that it wasn't deliberate. He looked very disappointed. Anyway, I digest. Step six: clean the car again (same method), removing the awesome "ballet shoe bubble" finish... Step seven: Wet sand. Here's the point where you really have to nut-up. Taking sand paper to your car (albeit 2500 grade) separates the men from the boys. I had at least three distinct "what the &*%£ was I thinking?!" moments, but push on I did. You need to keep the paper nice and wet and take your time. Step eight: wash again, this time with a full clay all over. Step nine: Time to mask the car up before polishing. All plastic parts that may be caught by the DA are masked-off. I used a flexible masking tape from Halfords that's really good on all those sexy curves. And here we are: Step ten: Polish time. You need a good cutting pad and polish to remove the sanding marks (details below), and this really is a job where patience is key. No pressure on the polisher, just guide it and let the pad and polish to the work. Any force you apply will just stall the pad and lessen the effectiveness. With the sanding marks removed I then gave the whole car a polish with a finishing pad and polish to remove any holograms and take care of the swirl marks. Step eleven: Final clean (same method again), making sure to remove all of the polish residue. I the finished with a wax to protect all my hard work, and here's the results: Not bad, eh? Matt Here's the low-down on the products I used if you're keen: Wash Clean Your Car Super Snow Foam Karcher pressure washer with Clean Your Car lance Megs Gold Class Car Wash shampoo Clay bar with Sonus Glide Paint Paints4U Scratch Master Kit (paint, lacquer, cleaner + bits) http://www.paints4u.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=6912 2 x no 2 brush (eBay) Nail polish remover to clean up (Mrs MacDaddy) 2500 grade wet and dry paper Polish DAS 6 Pro dual-action polisher Menzerna Compounding Pad (white) with Menzerna Fast Gloss (FG500) Menzerna Polishing Pad (yellow) with Menzerna Super Finish (SF4000) Wax Dodo Juice Hard Candy 3 Quote
DoogyRev Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 Nice work I can only imagine that Nice Car + Sand Paper = Squeaky Bum Moment 1 Quote
TheMacDaddy Posted June 19, 2013 Author Posted June 19, 2013 Yeah they really should supply some kind of novice detailers nappy with that paint kit... 1 Quote
TheMacDaddy Posted June 19, 2013 Author Posted June 19, 2013 (edited) Ha! Yeah, there are a few I missed, but you hopefully can't see them! Edited June 19, 2013 by TheMacDaddy Quote
jonny the mod Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 I wish I had your confidence....... Top job. Jonny Quote
ioneabee Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 Brave man, great job though, looks great shall we have a go next at this then Will 1 Quote
K370Z2 Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 Ten out of ten for the bottle - ability and good job but i think ill stick to washing & polishing at the moment. 1 Quote
Stutopia Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 Massive nuts, very impressive, I get the fear just looking at a bottle of poorboy's swirl remover. 1 Quote
MITZ@CougarStore Posted June 20, 2013 Posted June 20, 2013 Excellent work, end result looks great... Quote
bronzee Posted June 20, 2013 Posted June 20, 2013 Have to love the Zed paint. The connect the stonechips looks great now. 1 Quote
Tomb Posted June 21, 2013 Posted June 21, 2013 Good effort, i would have the balls to do thaat on mine ... yet 1 Quote
downhuman Posted June 22, 2013 Posted June 22, 2013 Very impressive mate - I'd try this but for a small scuff underneath the bumper - so respray for me 1 Quote
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