imported_themightytimmah
New member
This is a 2002 MKIV Golf that came to me from a longtime customer. He picked her up preowned with a bit over 20,000 miles, and the previous owner had definitely not been kind to this car. The hood had been freshly painted, and despite color matching by VIN, looked a bit more orange than the rest of the car. The heavy swirling on the remainder of the car was actually throwing off the appearance of the color.
This is what I started out with. The car didn't look *too* bad, but there was a general lack of gloss and color definition. Even before I set up the halogens, there were patches of deep scratches visible in the reflections of landscape lighting. I washed and clayed the car (drying only the windows to save time), before inspecting the finish under halogen and incandescent lighting.
It's hard to see in the pic, but the panel was absolutely covered in deep marring. It was clear that foam wasn't going to cut it, so I went with SIP and Edge Green Wool, the least aggressive combo that I thought might work.
The resultant finish was pretty good (85%), but I was angling for perfection on this job. After evaluating the paint under halogens and incandescants, I taped off the door handles, thin edges, and window trim. I then compounded with HTEC on a yellow LC wool cutting pad. I then removed the tape, washed the car with a prep solution to remove any oils and wool lint, and looked at it again:
The finish was pretty much what I expected after that level of aggressiveness. The paint was hologrammed, hazy, and generally a mess. SIP on an orange LC CCS foam pad @1600rpm fixed it nicely and left a high gloss with light hologramming. The wheels (clearcoated) were polished with SIP on a white LC pad and sealed with OCW at this point.
The car was then quick detailed and polished with 3M Ultrafina SE on a white LC CCS pad. The prep wash had exposed severe hologramming on the soft repainted hood, so I cleaned that up with UF SE on a blue LC pad. The paint was inspected under halogens and sealed with Souveran (except for the hood, and bumpers which were to be replaced the next day). Trim got GR-40 followed by AutoInt Trim N Molding Renewer, glass was cleaned with IG, and doorjambs were sealed with OCW. I finished up around 3am.
Owner provided afters from the show.
This is what I started out with. The car didn't look *too* bad, but there was a general lack of gloss and color definition. Even before I set up the halogens, there were patches of deep scratches visible in the reflections of landscape lighting. I washed and clayed the car (drying only the windows to save time), before inspecting the finish under halogen and incandescent lighting.
It's hard to see in the pic, but the panel was absolutely covered in deep marring. It was clear that foam wasn't going to cut it, so I went with SIP and Edge Green Wool, the least aggressive combo that I thought might work.
The resultant finish was pretty good (85%), but I was angling for perfection on this job. After evaluating the paint under halogens and incandescants, I taped off the door handles, thin edges, and window trim. I then compounded with HTEC on a yellow LC wool cutting pad. I then removed the tape, washed the car with a prep solution to remove any oils and wool lint, and looked at it again:
The finish was pretty much what I expected after that level of aggressiveness. The paint was hologrammed, hazy, and generally a mess. SIP on an orange LC CCS foam pad @1600rpm fixed it nicely and left a high gloss with light hologramming. The wheels (clearcoated) were polished with SIP on a white LC pad and sealed with OCW at this point.
The car was then quick detailed and polished with 3M Ultrafina SE on a white LC CCS pad. The prep wash had exposed severe hologramming on the soft repainted hood, so I cleaned that up with UF SE on a blue LC pad. The paint was inspected under halogens and sealed with Souveran (except for the hood, and bumpers which were to be replaced the next day). Trim got GR-40 followed by AutoInt Trim N Molding Renewer, glass was cleaned with IG, and doorjambs were sealed with OCW. I finished up around 3am.
Owner provided afters from the show.
