How to RUIN your new Honda S2000 (Grand Prix White)

H

HybridKOOP

New member
:aww:



Hey guys,

As I don’t post here very often, I do come back time to time to continually learn about the best detailing practices, and sometimes, I’m fortunate to learn from others mistakes.



I’m posting here today to hopefully save someone else from creating the catastrophe that I created yesterday. A little bit about my background: I’m 30 years old and have always kept all of my vehicles in excellent shape from the beginning of my car owning days. I discovered Autopia a few years back, and picked up a PC, Zaino, rotary, among other things. I have detailed other peoples cars for compensation, and consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable when it comes to paint care/restoration. I have even done quite a bit of body work and painted one of my last cars with a bare metal, BC/CC job from the ground up.



So, about 2 weeks ago I purchased a nice low mileage 2004 Honda S2000. The color is Grand Prix White (NH565). I live in Connecticut but purchased the car while down in Florida on business and had it shipped up. Upon arrival, I discovered that one of the front fenders had been off in the past… HOW did I miss that when I looked the car over? No idea. Anyway, I concluded that the fender never had paintwork done. It was most likely loosened or removed for PDR, as there was a wavy dent toward the front of the fender. Not a huge deal. I figured I’d either buy a brand new fender, or fix this one off of the car and paint it. The other part to this story is that the car came with original pinstripes from the dealer (adhesive). Why on earth anyone would put pinstripes on a sports car is beside me, but as you guessed, they were the first thing to begin my detailing process on the car this weekend to get it all shined up for the spring/summer. I began the detail with a couple of Dawn washes, and then spent 4-5 hours claying every square inch of the cars paint. By this time, I had peeled the pinstripes all off, but they did leave plenty of glue residue behind. The claying itself would take a LITTLE of the glue with it every once in a while, but by no means was it going to do the job. I then stepped up to some adhesive removers and various products like a citrus bug/tar remover to no avail. I then went and got my PC out with a white pad and some SMR. Nothing but a shinier fender. Something to note here is that I was doing the tests on the “badâ€� front fender (THANK GOD). When the PC didn’t do the trick, I figured, let’s go at it with a very very mild rotary setup. I took out a white waffle pad, SMR, and set the machine around 1200. I put the pad down, turned the machine on, and within seconds I saw no more white. HOW COULD THIS BE? I thought maybe the very little bit of heat caused the clear to discolor? The oval of missing white revealed a yellowish undercoat, but that was still very shiny. What is going on here? I wasn’t sure if I had actually burned through or not, but after some other tests in the same area, I confirmed that the white paint was gone. I was looking at shiny primer.



A few things to discuss here. First, has anyone ever seen paint that was SO thin, that you could virtually never bring a rotary near it no matter what pad, speed, or chemical? Second, I have been trying to verify if my paint is BC/CC or single-stage for days now to no avail. I didn’t see any paint transfer, so I am 99% sure that the application is BC/CC, but I don’t see how in God’s name this paint is so thin. Lastly, does anyone have any tips on how to get rid of the darn glue from the pinstripes without damaging this ever so thin paint I have on this car? I am afraid to even PC it now. The car is obviously white so it hides a lot, but it is clearly swirled beyond belief and I’d like to fix the spider/swirls/RIDS before sealing it. I’d rather not just fill it all in with a glaze. If anyone has any questions, comments, suggestions, or similar run-ins with Honda paint, I am all ears. I already removed the fender and will be re-spraying it shortly. Now if I can manage to just keep that VIN tag on there and pull a fast one!



- Louis
 
I had a NBP 2006 S2K and my paint wasn't anywhere near that thin.



It could have been seriously polished in the past, which can account of that thin of paint. Or it could be that the fender was a really poor repaint.



If you have paint that thin and you need to remove the adhesive, I would stick with a chemical remover rather than anything that was abrasive. Stick with 3M adhesive remover, or just go after it with Tarminator.
 
Ive got an Integra 05 in pearl white and the paint is so thin. The clearcoat swirls if you look at it. the paint was so thin that it started to fade on the hood after a year, so you could see the primer underneath. Honda repsprayed it.



Worst paint ive ever ever known.



All I can suggest is to only use mild clay, wash it like the paint is just primer. Be very very careful with a rotary - to be honest I only using a PC on mine as its too risky with my makita.



Think soft, multiple by 10 and then add soft. Think Camembert cheese
 
It is likely soft paint, Honda's aren't the hardest in the world..



Anyhow,.. it *is* possible that the fender was compromised already, and the rest of the car wouldn't be that way.



I am pretty much reiterating the other posters -- But I would just leave the rotory for other vehicles,.. and You *can* use a PC on this car, You just aren't going to be able to go agressive, ever. One thing about it though, if the paint is that soft, the swirls will be correctible with very little paint removal. I'm talking white pad stuff here.



With the thread title I thought you had melted all the paint off or something, it isn't ruined. ;)



But I know your worried. If I was that worried about it, I would find someone, a detailer, paint professional, someone who had a good top of the line Electronic Sonic meter to find out just HOW much paint you do have to work with on the rest of the car.. Go around and take multiple readings, and jot them down.



I think its worth it to find someone with such a tool in your area due to the uncertainty,.. then you can work cautiously from that point.



Brand new car, for you, and this happens. Doh.



Low mileage, I don't suppose its still under warranty is it? Probably wouldn't have much luck 4 yrs later on paint anyhow.. but worth a shot if it is.



Worst case scenario man.. You get out to polish it one day and the paint just comes off -- You say screw it. Take it to a *good* bodyshop and have it repainted to YOUR specifications, double clear it if you want. Let that paint harden for a long time, and then you can go to town on it in 90days --



Thats worst case of course.
 
Neo,



Your suggestion of finding someone with a paint meter is definitely the route I want to go. Also, a repaint down the road is also the way I'd want to go IF the paint is that thin already.



What I'd really like to do is also find someone who has meter'd a brand new Grand Prix White S2000 to know what the car should have started with.
 
I agree with the other posts above. I have a black 02 s2000 and I take the makita with SIP and p106ff to it and it turns out perfectly. No paint is THAAAAT soft from what you are describing. Buying used cars is scary because of stories like this however. Please keep us updated with what you find out.
 
Goof-Off can be used to remove the glue left from the pin stripes. Be careful though because there are two versions of it. One is the regular strength and one is professional strength. I am certain the regular strength will remove the residue and would caution against the pro strength. Now I've used the pro strength without a problem on paint BUT it is more "potent" suggested by the white mark it left on an interior door panel :o And the Autopian way... use least aggressive approach first :xyxthumbs



You bring up an interesting question about whether it is CC or single stage. It's been a while but there were discussions some time ago regarding Honda white paint and how hard it was. I'm guessing this is no longer the case OR as mentioned you had a bad respray.
 
Paint meter time! And a good, quality meter at that!

And I endorse the suggestion regarding doing it on another S2K (same year) with the same meter at the same time. Check every panel, high & low! Depending on how much else you find, I’d consider looking into what the laws are in Florida regarding compensation. Back in the 80’s I got ‘some’ money back on a car that had been poorly repaired and wasn’t noticeable until several weeks later on a lift.

Looks like a repaint, regardless of circumstance and I wish you the best in this trying time, but push to get through it and enjoy that ride!
 
To remove the residue of stickers or badges or in your case pinstripes is Goo Gone the stuff is orange and can be found at most autoparts and super markets. Been using it for years, wont harm the paint.
 
I scraped the old, peeling, weathered, and nasty "DODGE" badges off the sides of my car to put new chromey ones in their place. I used Goo Gone, rubbing alcohol, and a guitar pick to remove the letters and the sticky adhesive residue left behind. Of course, I followed with a fresh coat of wax on the panels to protect them again since the rubbing alcohol probably took the wax with it. I saw no paint damage with this process.
 
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