Hey,

Read the sticky thread, but wanted to clarify.

Dropping the car off at the paint shop next monday, but I will be removing all of the parts myself. I also want to do whatever I can to make the paint job come out as nice as possible, so I want the parts as clean as possible before I drop the car off.

The car is half factory Milano Red and half unpainted crash-fix body panels. The crash-fix panels were put on the car before I bought it, so I don't know how or if they were prepared. They have a year of road grime, windshield washer fluid, etc. on them and I want them as clean as possible before I deliver the car.

What should I wash them with? I was thinking dish soap to remove any wax on the painted portions of the car, then a degreaser to remove any other oils on the surface. Is that going to be good enough, or is there something else I can do?

The shop will be applying a sealer over the whole car, so basically I want to do everything I can to help that to adhere as well as possible.

 

if its any bit of a decent shop they will take care of that. the proper cleaners will get rid of all that, grime and grease. if you really want to do it though. id go buy some First Kleen from a local paint shop, its a cleaner made by dupont thats is made to remove all that junk before they start sanding on the car. and they should do it as well so itll be double clean. yay.

 

Well, it isn't a super great shop -- it's a Maaco single-stage job. I'm not looking to enter any car shows -- I just want it back to a single color.

I just wanted to do whatever I could beforehand to make the sealer and paint adhere. I will look into that cleaner.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BubblegumTate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, it isn't a super great shop -- it's a Maaco single-stage job. I'm not looking to enter any car shows -- I just want it back to a single color.

I just wanted to do whatever I could beforehand to make the sealer and paint adhere. I will look into that cleaner.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you are wasting your time, they gonna clean and sand it down. if they don't then you'll end up witha crappy job anyways.

i hope you didnt pay much for macco

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by iam7head &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

you are wasting your time, they gonna clean and sand it down. if they don't then you'll end up witha crappy job anyways.

i hope you didnt pay much for macco</TD></TR></TABLE>

agreed. maaco is a production shop, they dont give a crap and thats why a paint job is 250 bucks. that and im pretty sure they make there paint in the breakroom in a bathtub.

 

Like I said, I am paying for a $300 paint job and I'm not expecting anything better than a $300 paint job. I just wanted to do whatever I could beforehand to make the surface as clean and ready to accept paint as possible.

Thanks for the suggestion on that cleaning solution.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BubblegumTate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Like I said, I am paying for a $300 paint job and I'm not expecting anything better than a $300 paint job. I just wanted to do whatever I could beforehand to make the surface as clean and ready to accept paint as possible.

Thanks for the suggestion on that cleaning solution.
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no one is putting you down for a "budget" job, what we are saying is that it doesnt matter if it's spot free clean and slick right now, if they gonna do the prep work, that's gonna influence the outcome(which liek you said, dont plan on anything more than 300 buck worth of stuff)