Mister B
New member
A friend of mine dropped their car off to me the other night for me to buff out while they are on vacation. He wanted me to see what i can do to make it look better.
It's a 2002 Nissan Sentra SER with over 100,000 miles that is starting to fade out.
The next day I pulled the car outside and washed it and then inspected the paint. It was really bad. All of the painted metal surfaces of the car looked like they have a pitted or sand blasted finish to it as well as having 1/16" to 1/8" diameter opaque white spots throughout the entire finish. And again these are only on the painted metal surfaces. The painted plastic surfaces like the bumper covers, mirrors, spoiler, door handles etc... do not have the pitted sand blasted finish or the white opaque dots. They are just faded, which i kind of thought was odd. Maybe the different additives in the paint that the factory uses to paint the plastic parts somehow affected how the paint aged and now looks.
After washing the car I clayed a small test spot on the roof and the surface still had that rough sand blasted texture look and feel to it. So I took some M105 on a Tangerine 5.5" HT pad and my G100 and made a couple passes and it did offer some improvement, but it was taking a while so I got out the rotary and burgundy SOLO wool pad and did two quick passes with M105 and then followed back up with the 5.5" HT pad on my G100 to remove the slight buffer trails in my test spot and the surface was now smooth as glass and glossy. I was able to remove the sand blasted texture from the paint, however the small opaque white dots were still left behind, which I expected because i believe it is the clear coat beginning to fail. the test spot looks so much better than the rest though.
Here is a picture of my test spot on the left side of the roof, and the rough sand blasted texture on the right. You can see a distinct line where my tape was and how much crisper the reflection is and much more glossy on the left.
Another angle.
Here is more of an overhead look at the same area. In the lower right corner you can see the white opaque dots that I was talking about a little better, that are throughout the entire finish on the metal painted surfaces. It's got to be the clear coat failing.
I'd like to get this car looking as good as I can get it, but i don't know if i want to spend too much time compounding with wool and foam pads and then following up with M205 polish and then wax for the entire car considering the condition of the paint. I know i am not going to be able to remove those opaque white spots, but I would like to get rid of that sand blasted texture and get it looking as good as i can in the least amount of time. Any suggestions for a speedier process while still having a good outcome?
I have: M105, M205, D151 Paint reconditioning Cream, M83, M80, Megs yellow polishing pads, Megs burgundy Cutting pads, Megs Tan finishing pads, 5.5" CCS Orange, Yellow and White pads. 5.5" tangerine and Cyan HT pads.
What are your thoughts?
It's a 2002 Nissan Sentra SER with over 100,000 miles that is starting to fade out.
The next day I pulled the car outside and washed it and then inspected the paint. It was really bad. All of the painted metal surfaces of the car looked like they have a pitted or sand blasted finish to it as well as having 1/16" to 1/8" diameter opaque white spots throughout the entire finish. And again these are only on the painted metal surfaces. The painted plastic surfaces like the bumper covers, mirrors, spoiler, door handles etc... do not have the pitted sand blasted finish or the white opaque dots. They are just faded, which i kind of thought was odd. Maybe the different additives in the paint that the factory uses to paint the plastic parts somehow affected how the paint aged and now looks.
After washing the car I clayed a small test spot on the roof and the surface still had that rough sand blasted texture look and feel to it. So I took some M105 on a Tangerine 5.5" HT pad and my G100 and made a couple passes and it did offer some improvement, but it was taking a while so I got out the rotary and burgundy SOLO wool pad and did two quick passes with M105 and then followed back up with the 5.5" HT pad on my G100 to remove the slight buffer trails in my test spot and the surface was now smooth as glass and glossy. I was able to remove the sand blasted texture from the paint, however the small opaque white dots were still left behind, which I expected because i believe it is the clear coat beginning to fail. the test spot looks so much better than the rest though.
Here is a picture of my test spot on the left side of the roof, and the rough sand blasted texture on the right. You can see a distinct line where my tape was and how much crisper the reflection is and much more glossy on the left.
Another angle.
Here is more of an overhead look at the same area. In the lower right corner you can see the white opaque dots that I was talking about a little better, that are throughout the entire finish on the metal painted surfaces. It's got to be the clear coat failing.
I'd like to get this car looking as good as I can get it, but i don't know if i want to spend too much time compounding with wool and foam pads and then following up with M205 polish and then wax for the entire car considering the condition of the paint. I know i am not going to be able to remove those opaque white spots, but I would like to get rid of that sand blasted texture and get it looking as good as i can in the least amount of time. Any suggestions for a speedier process while still having a good outcome?
I have: M105, M205, D151 Paint reconditioning Cream, M83, M80, Megs yellow polishing pads, Megs burgundy Cutting pads, Megs Tan finishing pads, 5.5" CCS Orange, Yellow and White pads. 5.5" tangerine and Cyan HT pads.
What are your thoughts?
Also, this will be my first rotary car. 
scary, right? I've played with the rotary on a few panels and with some localized wetsanding, but this will be the first whole car I use it on. I figure it is a good car to practice on to get some more experience with.
