Need Your Opinion...

Specialized_Det

Specialized_Det

New member
Hello everyone,

I consider myself a pretty competent detailer, but in this case, I'd like your opinion. I have a black 2000 Ford Explorer as my daily driver, and the hood and roof are beginning to show some signs of their age. The side panels still look great of course, but the hood and roof don't. In some light and at some angles the hood looks like the paint's flawless, but at others, it looks horrible in my picky opinion. I have a PC, the full line of Poorboy's SSR line, and am willing to buy any other products I might need.

So here's my question: after looking at the pictures, what would you do to make this vehicle look its best? I'm thinking SSR2, then SSR1 with a PC, then an LSP. But I want your opinion. What do you think would look best on a black Ford vehicle? And what do you think would clean this paint up the most?

Thanks in advance,

Aric

Explorer1.jpg

Don't pay attention to the faded trim, it's since been painted flat black and looks brand new again!

Explorer2.jpg


Explorer3.jpg


Explorer4.jpg


Explorer5.jpg
 
It sure looks like it needs a clay treatment first. The SSR2 with orange pad is what I would start with after that. Step up to 2.5 if it's not quite cutting enough.

Hard to tell if that's pitting or just dirt/contamination. If it's pitting then it will probably need to be color sanded to level the paint and if it's pitted too deep your stuck with it. Ford paint is fairly easy to color sand but if you have never done it I would leave it to someone who has.
 
If the pictures are truly representative of the vehicles appearance it either
a. Is very dirty and needs to be washed. In which case you wouldn't be asking here what needed to be done. :)
b. It has a lot of something on the paint and need to be clayed.
c. It has a lot of pitting and is going to need to be painted.

The pictures look to me like "c" is the more likely case. It almost looks like you got caught in a construction zone on a very windy day.
Maybe you followed a gravel truck that sprayed you with whatever he was hauling. If that is the case, you might get some help from your insurance company under your comprehensive coverage.
 
I agree with Charles it looks like mud on it.
You could take it to a good body shop and have them tell you what needs to be done.

Hard to tell from the picture but from what I see I think you may need a repaint.:wall
 
Well, that's kinda what I was afraid of (repaint). I'll have some free time here in the next couple of weeks, and I'm planning on pulling it into the garage and claying and polishing it. Hopefully that will help it, if not completely fix the problem.

If not, then I guess I'll try having it color sanded. There's one problem: I have no clue what that is! Is there a link or something that you can send me to read up on it?

Thanks for everyone's replies. I've been a member here for a while, but never really post cause I'm always able to find what I need by searching. Awesome site!
 
Since it's a daily driver, you may not want to go all out and repaint the hood and top. I'd try some of the above suggestions regarding claying and possible wetsanding. One thing I would try to do if it were my vehicle is use some glaze/carnauba combos to see if you can hide the damage or at least make it less noticeable.
 
Specialized_Det said:
If not, then I guess I'll try having it color sanded. There's one problem: I have no clue what that is! Is there a link or something that you can send me to read up on it?
Click to expand...

Color sanding is pretty much the same as wet sanding and is just an aggressive method of leveling the paint. Try your polishing first. If that's not good enough for you then have a test spot done on the roof to see what it will do for you.
 
That hood doesn't look real bad to me that I would think about repainting..if you clay, polish and do all that work on it...I'm guessing that the finish will come up pretty darn good...if the little rock chip holes that are filling up with product...then once you are done...you could remove the product with a alcohol and water..solution and apply something like Zaino clear sealant...that would protect the finish and the clear dries so that you can't see it...I've worked on some pretty nasty hoods that had no reflection and brought them back OK...so this ones looks very repairable to me
 
Beemerboy said:
That hood doesn't look real bad to me that I would think about repainting..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouraging news! I graduate from college in May, so classes have been crazy this semester. I finish up this semester in a little over a week, so after that I'm setting aside a couple of days to see what I can do with it.

Hopefully it'll come out pretty good. I know a lot about detailing, but when it comes to paint correction... I've still got a lot to learn, and this site is great for that! I'll let everybody know how it comes out once I get a chance to do it. And of course the pictures I put up were me trying to take the pictures at the right angle at the right time of day to really see the imperfections. My avatar photo was taken around the same time, and you can see the reflection in it easily.

So is this the consensus: start by claying, then polishing with SSR2 with the orange pad and seeing what it'll do?

Thanks again for everyone's help!
 
You sound like you are on the right track with it. Just keep in mind to take your time with it and start out with the least aggressive method you think will get the job done. It's easier to step up if need be than to go the other way in my opinion.
 
Specialized_Det said:
So is this the consensus: start by claying, then polishing with SSR2 with the orange pad and seeing what it'll do?

Thanks again for everyone's help!
Click to expand...

clay first and the SSR2 with a polishing pad not an orange cutting pad... if you need to cut then use SSR2.5 with the orange pad ...
personally, I would try a small area with Professional Polish by hand and see what happens to those spots...
If they have been caused by something in the air, I'd rather remove them chemically vs mechanically ...but what do i know :notme:
 
Poorboy said:
clay first and the SSR2 with a polishing pad not an orange cutting pad... if you need to cut then use SSR2.5 with the orange pad ...
personally, I would try a small area with Professional Polish by hand and see what happens to those spots...
If they have been caused by something in the air, I'd rather remove them chemically vs mechanically ...but what do i know :notme:
Click to expand...

Thanks Poorboy. What is this Professional Polish? If it's one of your products I'm sure it will come out great.

And just because I'm curious, why by hand instead of with the PC?
 
Specialized_Det said:
Thanks Poorboy. What is this Professional Polish? If it's one of your products I'm sure it will come out great.

And just because I'm curious, why by hand instead of with the PC?
Click to expand...

Professional Polish is a chemical based polish for paint, plastics, glass, metals, chrome. etc ... It has no physical abrasives. I said by hand because that way you can isolate a small area that is bad and see if there are improvements before you go all out and find that the only repair is a repaint. ;)
 
As close as I can tell they're spots/speckles on the paint, and not actually chips in the paint. So hopefully they'll come out either by claying or polishing, or by using Professional Polish. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks....

Another quick question... while I was washing it today, I remembered about something that's bothered me for a long time. On the wheels, where the weights used to be, there's like this built up gunk that I can't get off. I've tried rubbing some chemicals, such as goo gone on them, and they don't even budge. You guys think clay will remove it?
 
Specialized_Det said:
On the wheels, where the weights used to be, there's like this built up gunk that I can't get off. I've tried rubbing some chemicals, such as goo gone on them, and they don't even budge. You guys think clay will remove it?
Click to expand...


what you are seeing are marks into the clear on the wheel and there is a good chance that they will never come out without sanding ;)
 
Would not hurt to try. Depending on what the wheels are made of and the area you are talking about, you might could try some very fine steel wool followed with some polish.
 
JaredPointer said:
Would not hurt to try. Depending on what the wheels are made of and the area you are talking about, you might could try some very fine steel wool followed with some polish.
Click to expand...

The wheels are made of machined aluminum. This seems like the least aggressive approach, so I guess I'll start with this and see if it takes care of it. If not, I'll move up to some very fine grade sand paper. What's a good metal polish to follow up with? Since it's machined aluminum, I don't know if it'd be best to stick with a product formulated specifically for aluminum or if there's an all purpose metal polish that's just as good if not better.
 
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