Mitsubishi Evolution IX MR \\ Paint Correction

[jsou]

Vehicle: Mitsubishi Evolution IX MR

Defects: Compound residue in almost all cracks & crevices, holograms via rotary/wool pad combo and poor technique, and swirls from a dirty rag or poor wash techniques (I'm assuming).

Plan of attack: We decided to take the paint to it's full potential. The story was the body shop the owner hired was unable to achieve the desired finish after attempting to wetsand and "buff" the entire vehicle 4 times! The car sat in the body shop's possession after 3+ months until the owner got fed up and contacted me as the last attempt to save the paint. He did not want to repaint it unless necessary. The pics below will tell you why he was unhappy.

Tools & Products:

Exterior
- OmniClean All Purpose Cleaner
- Tufshine Tire Brush
- Wheel Woolies 1" Boar's Hair Detailing Brush
- Wheel Woolies Angle, Straight in variety of sizes
- Daytona Wheel Brush
- Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo
- Griot's Garage Washing Pad
- 2BM with grit guards
- Air Force Master Blaster
- Carpro Eraser wipe down of entire vehicle and crevices
- P21S Finish Restorer for the lips of wheels
- Black Pearl Trim and Tire Armour (Clear Finish)

Paint Correction:
- Rupes LHR21ES with 5" Kamikaze Beast backing plate
- Rupes LHR12E Duetto with 3" Kamikaze Beast backing Plate
- 6" Rupes Yellow Polishing pad
- 4" Rupes Yellow Polishing pad
- Shine Supply Classic Polish

LSP:
BlackFire BlackIce (First time. It was a dream to use and I'm not really a paste wax guy)

Holograms..

Caked up Compound...

Even on trim...

Swirls....

Test Spot Dialed in.

50/50 of the driver fender.

SHORT CLIP OF THE FENDER 50/50: CLICK HERE!!! https://vid.me/e/vydT


Hood corrected and wiped down with Eraser.

Fender corrected and wiped down with Eraser.

No sun shots as we finished up everything just after 2am working straight with the only breaks being the bathroom and water/food. We spent approximately 21 hours on correction alone, not counting the wash and prep stages. For now, I'll leave it with a teaser pic.

Final Thoughts: The paint "hardness" was as expected for a respray, SOFT. About 6 section passes with the Rupes/Yellow Pad/Classic Polish and it corrected and finished to where we liked it. I am still in disbelief at the mistreatment from the bodyshop. The owner was ecstatic after the vehicle was complete. He thought he would need to repair/refinish the vehicle through another shop. IT DOES NOT NEED TO NOW!

Blackfire BlackIce is such a nice product to use, easy to spread via machine and by hand. It's also just as easy to wipe off. I may use this product as my replacement for Blackfire's wet diamond all finish paint protection sealant as an LSP. I will be monitoring it's properties throughout this vehicle's maintenance washes. The paint is gleaming now!

I will update this thread with some glamour shots and the longevity info of Blackice.

Thanks for looking! Comments, Questions, and Hate always welcomed.

 

[jsou]

Sun shots as promised. Did it's first maintenance wash today. Blackfire Blackice sheets/beads well. I'll continue to document as time goes on.

Beading from Blackfire Blackice

 

[Ronkh]

Nice

Now show body shop what it should look like

 

[jsou]

Nice

Now show body shop what it should look like

Thanks Ron! The owner informed me that the shop contacted him multiple times asking to bring his vehicle back for "repairs". Would it be a prick move for him to show up and let them know that he no longer needs their service? LOL

 

[Migue]

i don't think it would be, they screwed the customer over and over and wasted his time so much. Drop by with it to show them how it should look....or not! and let them continue on screwing cars up so you can have more business .

 

[jsou]

i don't think it would be, they screwed the customer over and over and wasted his time so much. Drop by with it to show them how it should look....or not! and let them continue on screwing cars up so you can have more business .

That was my thought as well. To add, I am starting to grow a huge affection to wetsanding paint and correcting it out to a proper finish.

Forgot to add this into my last post. The car was at a local Cars and Coffee meet this weekend and multiple attendees had thought the car was "wrapped" in metallic because it was so shiny (what an insult J/K). For those who care, here are some artsy pics taken from yesterday's shoot. Black Pearl Tire coating is holding up great after a couple of storms here.

 

[Migue]

Those last 2 shots do look like a metallic film, looks great! not a fan of the wheels but the paint looks outstanding.

 

[TTBear]

Wow. Amazing work - great job to bring the finish back to that AMAZING level.

Man, my knees are weeping, just thinking about having to kneel down to do a car THAT low to the ground, hahaha.

Fantastic work!! Those last two pictures are nothing short of phenomenal!!!

 

[jsou]

Wow. Amazing work - great job to bring the finish back to that AMAZING level.

Man, my knees are weeping, just thinking about having to kneel down to do a car THAT low to the ground, hahaha.

Fantastic work!! Those last two pictures are nothing short of phenomenal!!!

LOL! I really appreciate the comments.

The car is definitely low but it makes for getting the roof much easier. I'm not tall myself (only 5'6"), I'm so glad I didn't have to crouch over as much. I used my kreepstool to roll around the larger panels. For the sideskirts/bumpers, I laid down on the floor and went to town. I have a lift at the shop but it was occupied at the time.

It's a daily driven vehicle that does see it's share of track time. Overall, it's a nice street car that can turn some heads at tuner shows. I'm glad I was able to work on it. He sent me more work which is always a plus. Thank you again.