Help with Paint Damage/Waterspotting

P

PointyStick

New member
My 2001 xTerra is showing some paint damage along the middle of the body. It appears the paint is dirty, even after washing. It may have happened after a recent snow fall here, so maybe road salt damage?



Below is a image of damage on the drivers side door. The picture is taken after washing the truck and the spots only show up from an angle, with a light/sun shining on the paint. You can’t see anything straight on or in the shade.



paintdamageuntreatedaw8.jpg




While below is a image of the damage on the driver side front panel after I tried using a clay bar, then Zymol HD-Cleanse and finally a quick wax with Mothers wax



paintdamagetreatedkv8.jpg




As you might be able to see the treated section looks better, but the damage is still not gone.



Does anyone have any suggestion on a product I could try? I am thinking about either trying Meguiars Paint Cleaner or SratchX or AutoGylm Paint Renovator or keep trying the HD-Cleanse



Thanks for any help you can give me
 
I think you'll need some polishing to get it out. It would seem that Meg's Paint Cleaner and ScratchX or more of the same thing you've already got. Albeit from a different company.



I'd hit those other spot's again with the HD-Cleanse and try really working it on a smaller area before buying something else.



If you had access to a machine polisher you might make even shorter work of the problems.



MorBiD
 
Here are some updated photos





Below is the Driver Side Door, after clay, HD Cleanse and Mothers Sealer/Glaze, Tomorrow I will give it a coat of Zymol Japon...



driversidedoorpe4.jpg




To compare I took the below photo of the Passenger Front Fender. The whole fender has been clayed, while the front section has been cleaned using HD-Cleanse.



passengarsidefenderel4.jpg




I gave the ScratchX a try, but it did not remove the damage at all. The HD-Cleanse did the trick really nicely, but is really hard to work with.
 
The HD-Cleanse made a big improvment to the paint...but the damage still shows a little.



The below photo is a close up of the Driver Side Door, after clay, HD-Cleanse, Mothers Sealent/Glaze and Zymol Japon. While a big improvment in my opinion, you can still slightly see the damage about mid-photo.



driversidedoor01wm1.jpg




I think maybe another pass with the HD-Cleanse might fix it up...



Just for the hell of it, here is a shot of the front/hood.



frontua5.jpg
 
Yep all by hand :buffing: , I feel like my arms are going to fall off.



I might still take it to a detail shop to see if they can machine polish out the damage. The one shop I contacted quoted $300-$400cdn for a polish and wax. Anyone know a good shop in the Vancouver, BC Canada :ca area?
 
Dude why not just grab yourself a Radom Orbital Polisher like the PC everyone around here loves so much.



I've got to hand it to you, if you did all that with your hands your really into it. None of my friends in B.C are into detailing or I would ask.



We have a Forum just for our brothers across the Northern Border, maybe pop over there and see if someone is willing to help out (for less than what you stated).



The rest of the paint looks pretty good and like I said you came a long way on that marring.
 
I think I will look into getting a PC…



I have always been scared of damaging my paint by machine polishing. From what I have learnt on this forum the horror story’s you hear about burnt paint etc are mostly from Rotary polishers and that the Random Orbital Polishers are pretty much fool proof.
 
I'm more of a Rotary machine man myself but do have a PC and yes it would take a lot of effort to burn the pain with one of those.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top