First detail for money

T

Thomas Dekany

New member
The car belongs to a friend. It is a 1985 735 i BMW

I only charged him $150.00 Get this Took me 10 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

The top and the hood was is terrible shape but I told him that I can get the paint looking good again. (he was considering a new paint job that would cost $2000) Boy, was I wrong!!!

If any of you think that there is something that can be done to the paint with a PC, please let me know. BTW, the trunk and the left front fender has been repainted not too long ago.



1 - QEW (first time)

2 - clay (lots of dirt came off!)

3 - IP with a yellow pad - on the horizontal areas (worked great on the trunk)

4 - FP with a white pad (same as IP)



I went over with both way too many times to try to get some life back into the hood & top, but had no luck.



5 - VM with a white pad on the whole car



The VM helped a little bit. First on 5 then on 3.5 All in all I think the problem areas received about 5 coats ov VM!



6 - IHG with a finishig pad (didn't have more white pads with me)on top of many coatc of VM made the biggest difference.



I know I shouldn't have done it, but after IHG I put on another coat of VM due to the sun. It was a paint to get the IHG off.



7 - EX+P with a finishing pad. 30 min. later I buffed it off woth a MFT



interior



wiped everything off with woolite mix - the interior wasn't in good shape either, but not as bad as the hood. carpet was treated with Oxy clean, and also used some Top Of The Line carpet cleaner. I was rubbing for ever to get thwe dirt off from everywhere. Came out ok, but no pictures. Finished off with 303 on all plastic. Windows were cleaned with Stoner Inv. Glass. Tires/rubber were treated with Bold & Bright ( I love that product!)



Before





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After Pictures



the trunk with the new paint came out ok, almost all the cobwebs were removed.



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OK, here is the problem - look at the faded paint! And that is after many coats IP/FP/VM

The other side treated with IHG already. Anything I can do?



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this was the best I could do.



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Lesson learned! (No more old cars)



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I completely agree with Eric. The results you get with a rotary in the hands of an experienced user can't compare to that of a PC.
 
The hood and roof of the Honda looks almost identical to that of the BMW. In the same way, it will darken temporarily with an application of #7. The effect is gone (even with a #16 topper) when the #7 is gone. Rotary with IP+FP and the Klasse twins don't do as much for it as the #7/#16 combo:nixweiss Nothing you can do, my man. Nice work!



I usually find it more rewarding to work on the older/neglected sleds. If you weren't expecting the hood's behavior, I can understand the disappointment.
 
thinksnow said:
The hood and roof of the Honda looks almost identical to that of the BMW. In the same way, it will darken temporarily with an application of #7. The effect is gone (even with a #16 topper) when the #7 is gone. Rotary with IP+FP and the Klasse twins don't do as much for it as the #7/#16 combo:nixweiss Nothing you can do, my man. Nice work!



I usually find it more rewarding to work on the older/neglected sleds. If you weren't expecting the hood's behavior, I can understand the disappointment.
Click to expand...



Thanks - that is good to know. Eventually I'll get a rotary, but I am a nationally certified massage therapist and really should be massaging.



I don't mind older cars either, except when I can't make them look as good as I would like them to be.
 
I had a so so before picture, but by the time I cleaned the interior I just wanted to come home and eat. It wasn't too bad, but someone spilled some pink liquid both front and back a long time ago and couldn't do anything to it. My friend didn't care about it though.
 
Nice improvement, do not beat yourself up, not all cars will be show quality.



You could try using a paint cleaner such as Meg's Body Scrub, DC step 1, MPPC (Strong chemical cleaner, give it try), Mother's step 1, PB PP or AIO. Then clay, polish and wax or sealant.



Eric
 
tdekany said:
]Anything I can do?
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tell you friend to always park hood first? :p :D ;) just kidding. probably something a rotary could take care of.



but still, it does like better than before. while it may not be shiney like the trunk, at least it's not as cloudy as before. and the rest of the car is nice. i'd say that's darn good that everything but the hood came out nice! :bow :xyxthumbs
 
edschwab1 said:
Looks goods for what you started with. A rotary and compound (maybe used together, maybe not) would have helped.



Eric
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Even that might not have worked on 20 year old faded paint.



Me and Scottabir tried a car like that before with a rotary and SSR3 for 2 passes. Yeah, it helped, but did not look any better than what you did. If you cut a decent amount of paint off and it still does not look great, that's about the best it will get.



I think you did a good job --- it's a 20 year old car dude! ;)
 
edschwab1 said:
Nice improvement, do not beat yourself up, not all cars will be show quality.



You could try using a paint cleaner such as Meg's Body Scrub, DC step 1, MPPC (Strong chemical cleaner, give it try), Mother's step 1, PB PP or AIO. Then clay, polish and wax or sealant.



Eric
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thanks Eric for the suggestions I may try some of the recommended products.
 
Patric - thanks



wifehatescar - thanks for the info. If the rotary couldn't do it, I don't think I have a chance to improve the paint.



2002 Maxima SE - After realizing that I was in "trouble" I was keep seeing the red pickup truck in my head that is on bettercarcare.com. I really wished I had some AIO.



hirosh - the roof was the same as the hood.



Thanks everyone for their help!
 
I would have tried to get a coat or two of Meguiars #80 in there but I am not sure if your results would be any better. A rotary would help emensly but buring the paint wouldn't help you at all.
 
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