This caliber of work is simply astonishing. But, and I know nothing about either paint correction nor repainting, but if your costs were up towards the $10k range, wouldn't it make much more sense to just repaint the entire car? Besides, you know that the paint quality would be a million times better than Ferrari's...
Original paint vs repaint sometimes can be a factor for resale on these cars. I still would like to know how much paint is removed in the wet sanding process. Maybe the guys at Bradan will share that with us.
Compounding was done in 3 stages. 1. 3m wool compounding pad with Presta ultra cutting creme 2. 3m foam compounding pad with Presta ultra cutting creme 3. Cyclo green polishing pads with perfect it two rubbing compound The first two stages were done with a Dewalt high speed rotary polisher and the 3rd stage with a cyclo orbital polisher with counter balanced polishing heads. After each stage, the vehicle was wiped down with a 70% rubbing alcohol to check for remaining swirls and blemishes. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, I have a 1995 355 and the shields are indented into the sheet metal. From the pictures it appears this car has indented shields as well.
Yours would be the exception, done with either 1998/1999 factory replacement fenders, or indented by a body shop (doubtful it came that way from the factory, since it was not an option until 1998). These appear to be the resin stickers from the earlier photos, but it is very hard to tell.
Thanks for the great thread! Outstanding work and I would guess the benchmark for detailing has just been raised.
stage 13: compounding and start assemble Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well thats a wrap for this week. We have the decklid left for compounding, then will move onto the polishing stages Monday.
Wow, that paint looks incredible....the one pic of the bonnet is like a mirror, you can see the gentlemen's reflection perfectly as he crouches to snap a pic of it.
WOW, that's great work!!! Makes me feel like a total schlub with my Griot's random orbital!! I need to have a real detail!!
What do you do if you sand or buff through an edge? Also, What is the mil thickness of the remaining paint compared to the original paint before you started sanding?
Stage 14: Decklid compounding Perhaps the most time consuming and nerve racking step in this entire detail would be the decklid. Sharp, multi angled louvers make prep work and compounding a very tedious task. Special compounding disks that are much smaller were used to access all surfaces. The same sequence of compounding was followed as the body. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beautiful work...I love the OCD nature of your approach. I've been thinking that someday I will have to repaint the car but after viewing this thread, I'd rather have a treatment like this done (comparable cost-wise to repaint). Let us know if you guys ever decide to ship your tools out to SoCal - I'm sure we could find some garage space and lavish you with sunny weather and enough customers to pay your hotel mini-bar tab.
Stage 15: 1st stage polish The 1st stage of polish starts the "finishing" stage of the recondition process. There will be no more stages of "cutting." Each stage from this point on will further enhance the depth and gloss of the surface. With a DeWalt rotary polisher and a blue finishing pad, Mezerna intensive polish was applied. This stage removes any swirls or blemishes caused by compounding and brings the gloss back into the paint. Polishing will be done with the hood installed; decklid will be polished off the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Daniel: IMHO, your business would do much better and you would be much happier if you relocated to Texas, preferably in the San Antonio/Austin area. How about it???
Stage 16: 2nd stage polish Auto Glyms super resin polish was applied using the Cyclo machine and Cyclo polishing pads. You can really start to see the paint pop now. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
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Stage 17: Glaze This was the final polishing process with the dewalt machine. This is not a paint recondition process, as the previous steps corrected the paint. This step is strictly to enhance the gloss and depth of the finish. A 3M finishing pads with 3M hand glaze was used. Tomorrow the paint will be sealed and protected with wax. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
