Well, this is my personal car and I FINALLY got around to getting a coating on it. Before I did the coating, I wanted to get the paint to as close to perfect as I could. Its a 2012 in I believe Gloss black, so no metallic, just straight black. I've put about 40k on it, mostly highway so the front end has its share of rash. With the aerodynamics of a brick, it takes a beating. I actually started this project about 4 weeks ago but I had to stop since I was scheduled for back surgery. The last day I had to work on it, the backing plate bolt on my Flex broke mid polishing on a Sunday afternoon. That let me waiting for finish polishing and then applying my coating choice. You will notice in the photos the tires aren't done, on a time crunch to get the paint work done, I left the wheels and tires alone. They were previously coated with Black Pearl and CQuartz UK so a good wash and scrub of the tires will fix that. So, onto the work:
After a wash and Ameririd iron treatment I did a medium grade speedy prep towel treatment and moved onto the orange peel work. I tried a few different combinations and finally ended up with M105 and my DeWalt which, yes, dusted like mad but I staretd with my Flex and denim pads using FG400 and Carpro fixer. I wasn't worried about hazing or marring, I knew i was going to have to follow up and polish with something else. Some spots required a follow up with FG400 on an orange hybrid pad, but for the most part 2500 on white hybrid was followed up by 4000 on a black hybrid. After the paint was polished a full wipe with Prepall to remove all the polishing oils left behind was done. This included the trim and wiper cowl. The coating I went with was Kamikaze Miyabi base coat, followed by ISM. First time using either and I found them VERY easy to apply and remove. Miyabi went on super smooth and I let it sit for about 5-8 minutes before removing. This was in 80+ degree heat with over 70% humidity! The ISM was a little thicker, I think i was not shipped a bottle with an applicator tip, it was just a bottel with a screw on top. Both products left my applicators stiff as a board once they dried. And I used about 15 of them between both coatings. So, on to the pcitures. I paid the most attention to the hood, roof and trunk with the orange peel removal. I was happy with the turn out!
Before work:
During work, here you can see the orange peel since the compound has only been touching the peaks. As it works the valleys down, you can see the paint flattened:
After a wash and Ameririd iron treatment I did a medium grade speedy prep towel treatment and moved onto the orange peel work. I tried a few different combinations and finally ended up with M105 and my DeWalt which, yes, dusted like mad but I staretd with my Flex and denim pads using FG400 and Carpro fixer. I wasn't worried about hazing or marring, I knew i was going to have to follow up and polish with something else. Some spots required a follow up with FG400 on an orange hybrid pad, but for the most part 2500 on white hybrid was followed up by 4000 on a black hybrid. After the paint was polished a full wipe with Prepall to remove all the polishing oils left behind was done. This included the trim and wiper cowl. The coating I went with was Kamikaze Miyabi base coat, followed by ISM. First time using either and I found them VERY easy to apply and remove. Miyabi went on super smooth and I let it sit for about 5-8 minutes before removing. This was in 80+ degree heat with over 70% humidity! The ISM was a little thicker, I think i was not shipped a bottle with an applicator tip, it was just a bottel with a screw on top. Both products left my applicators stiff as a board once they dried. And I used about 15 of them between both coatings. So, on to the pcitures. I paid the most attention to the hood, roof and trunk with the orange peel removal. I was happy with the turn out!
Before work:
During work, here you can see the orange peel since the compound has only been touching the peaks. As it works the valleys down, you can see the paint flattened:
