Paint damage; need some advice

A

Agarwal

New member
Hi guys,

Here's the story: I had the car painted last summer, and the paint had a lot of what seemed like "dust" in the clear, so I brought the car back to the painter. He wet-sanded it, then buffed it with a rotary and some 3M compound (sorry, I don't know the exact compound used nor the kind of pad. The compound was in a black gallon with blue and white letters, that's all I remember); I remember he put some water on the car while buffing it (I remember reading here that it augment the cutting power of the pad...)

Now, the car came back WAY worse than it was. It seems like there's style some wetsanding marks, buffer and swirl marks, and maybe the clear is burnt... :(

I know how it's difficult to diagnosis a problem on the net, but I'd be grateful if I'd have some advice regarding what exactly the problem is, and what are the possible solutions.

Here are some pictures of the damage; I know it doesn't show it very good nor completely, but it can give a good idea:

(You can see the demarcation between a spot that haven't been touched (just under the door handle) and a damaged area: )
medium.jpg


(That one exagerates the "cloudy film" that became the clear, but it gives a good idea of what the problem is: )
medium.jpg


(You can see the damage on the door; the car is perfectly clean, and what you see are the damage: )
medium.jpg


I don't think it means anything, but when there's water on the clear... it looks perfect ;) I can't feel any scratch when I touch the paint, and at some angles, the paint looks decent.

If you want to see the pictures in their original sizes, please go there:
Damage pictures
Full car picture

Thanks for any advice, diagosis or solution
 
Looks and sounds like he compounded the car, and that was it. From your description, he used 3M microfinishing compound paste wich is just the first step in their process. The next step would be to remove the compond scratches with something like 3M Finesse it II, then some machine glaze followed up by some wax/sealant/glaze. Here is a link to a breakdown on the process for a novice. You might need to scroll down a little bit in the posts.
 
I agree with DR!!

He compounded after wet sanding, that leaves the cloudy look at some fine scratches in the clear coat. The next steps are what DR suggested. I doubt that all is lost just not finished
 
Whoa ;) If what you guys says is true, you make my day :) That would be great if it could come out all nice and shiny!

dr_detail, I'll read your link carefully, and post if I have any question regarding it. Thanks a whole lot guys!
 
Hi guys,

I wanted to know if what dr-detail suggested was true, so I took the products I had around (Meguiar's paint cleaner, Meguiar's polish, both deep crystal system, and zymol cleaner wax) and worked on the car. All I can say is... :wait What a difference! The paint went from ugly and basically screwed to shiny and very presentable. Here's some pics:

(The fender is done, the door is not: )
large.jpg


(1st step on half of the door: Meguiar's Paint Cleaner, Deep Crystal System)
large.jpg


(2nd step, Meguiar's Polish)
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(Final step, Zymol cleaner wax)
large.jpg


(And a pic of the car done)
large.jpg

large.jpg


Like I said, the results are very good; the pics don't even make out all the difference there is between the before and after.

Like I said, the products I used are far from being the best; I just used what I had around, I'm very surprised with Meguiar's Paint Cleaner: after I applied it, the paint was already much, much better, as you can see in the pics. Does it have filling agents, or is it really abbrasive? If it's just a filling product, that would mean my paint is almost as damaged as it was in the beginning... I don't want the fill the scratches, I want to repair them, of course. But the goal of this operation was to test if the paint COULD look beautiful again and to make the car presentable; I can say that both goals were achieved.

I'd like some opinions on the products I used (especially HOW those products operate), and some products recommendation for my specific problem, to use with the PC that's coming in a couple of weeks (7424 or 7436, haven't really decided yet as I don't really know the differences).

Again, thanks a lot guys; this forum is SO great, it has such an amount of information and knowledgeable guys, it's amazing ;)
 
Hopefully this link will convince a friend to let me work on his car as his looks strikingly similar to yours but he thinks its a lost cause.
 
justayoungmc, if this thread can re-give hope to someone regarding he's paint, than I'm more than happy; I've been anxious for 6 months (the car has been in storage) and now I'm feeling much better, considering the results I've got ;)

There is still a LOT of what I'd call damage though; micro scratches (most due to wet-sanding), still some hazing, clear "pits" (i don't know if it's the right term; I mean when the clear does not seem "even", when you look at a reflection that should be straight, it appears "bumpy"...).

I guess that I'd need more agressive products than the consumer grade products that I've used.

Do you guys have any advice on what products I should use on my paint, considering that it's been wetsanded, and then compounded with 3M microfinishing compound paste with a rotary?

Would SSR3 be too agressive? Would I need to use SSR2 and then SSR1 in conjunction with SSR3? Should I "continue" the 3M process that what started with the 3M products? Should I use something else?

For this specific problem, do you recommend a 7424 or 7336? What pads do you recommend, again for this specific problem?

I know that I could (and did) search the forum to find some answers; however, I'd like to have educated advices regarding this very specific problem. Thanks a lot!
 
I don't think that it will make much difference if you use the 7424 or 7336. Obviously try to find the 7424 as it is already set up for polishing. You won't have to do near as much tweaking with that one. THe 7336 may be cheaper, but there are more accessories to buy for it to get it working right.
 
I would go down there with the car now and tell him that he is a poor business man and maybee tell a few customers out front about what he did. I would definetly bad mouth the company, that is unacceptible to return a car to a customer two times like that. I WOULD BE MAD! If he then is still not giving you great customer service tell him you are gonna call the better business bureau and watch his reaction... lol
 
Ok, I'll get the 7424.

As for the guy who did that to the paint... he's the one who also painted, and I assumed he knew what he was doing with the compound. He obviously didn't. He's not in "business", rather a guy who does that on the side; but I sure already let his other (existing and potential) customers know about what he did (or didn't ;)).

With that said... any products and pads suggestions? ;)
 
Jngrbrdman said:
I don't think that it will make much difference if you use the 7424 or 7336. Obviously try to find the 7424 as it is already set up for polishing. You won't have to do near as much tweaking with that one. THe 7336 may be cheaper, but there are more accessories to buy for it to get it working right.
Click to expand...
Interesting. My 7336 from Lowe's came with a screw-on polishing pad. I used it to polish the first day I had it. It also came with the 6" counter weight. I purchased the Meguiar's 5" Velcro backing plate and Meguiar's Velcro 6.5" pads and couldn't be happier.

The 7336 also came with a backing plate for sanding discs and a few assorted discs. I did use it as a sander when I was rebuilding a pontoon boat and it works good for sanding as well.

All in all, a very handy tool that I first thought was a waste of money.

Charles
 
I was wondering if I should get the 5" counter weight for my 7336. I'm still getting used to my 7336 (6" counter weight) using the 5" Edge backing plate and Edge pads. I know this thing is a DA orbital, but I was wondering if it was vibrating a little too much. It can definitely make my hands tingle (so can the push lawn mower) after doing a panel. Any thoughts? (sorry for the almost hijack Agarwal....I've been reading your thread...."feeling your pain"...but have nothing useful for you...just learning).
 
HiSurfTension, no problem :) It's related to my question anyway.

Now, I don't even own the PC yet, but after reading some threads here regarding counterweights, it seems to be the general consensus to use the 6" counterweight (even with 5" backplates); it seems to produces way less vibrations at higher (4-6) speeds, with almost zero vibrations at lower speeds. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Is there a better deal these days than the 7424 with the "bonus kit" (including the 6" counterweight) at coastaltool.com? Would I need anything else if it'd order than one?

Please refer to my previous post for more questions ;)
 
Promise, last time I wake up this thread, but I'd really like an answer to some of my questions ;)

Like I said, I'd like some suggestions on what products I should use to repair wetsanding scratches, and compound marring/hazing. As you can see, the paint is dark when light is not hitting the kameleon paint, and very bright when it does; that make the choice hard for me. Also, I'm not sure what level of abrasiveness I need for the job (regarding both products and pads). I'll use a PC. I also think I'd prefer a more wet and deep look than anything else; anyway, I know I don't care very much about reflectiveness ;)

Thanks again for your help guys!
 
That is about the best deal in town on the 7424. Considering what all it includes, it is hard to beat. You can't get a better deal on a PC unless the distributor is buying them in serious bulk numbers. That is the only real way to mark down a product that you don't make yourself. Coastal Tool must be getting a lot of traffic from detailers to offer a deal like that. They have long been the lowest price around for the 7424 and now they sweeten the pot even more by offering the accessories.
 
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