So this past weekend I drove up to Sevierville Tn to wet sand, buff and polish a old BMW 325i that a client of mine had stashed in a barn for awhile. He had previously washed and claybared it but noticed that it was going to take a little bit more to bring this bad boy to a Tru Shine :D

Tools & Products

Highline meter 2 Paint thickness gauge
harbor freight Rotary
Meguiars W66 BP
3" Rotary backing plate
Meguiars M105/M205
Lake country PFW,Orange,cyan,tangerine,white pads
3m Hookit II p1500 wetsanding paper
Eagle p3000 wetsanding paper
Flex 3401 VRG
Brinkman's Duel Xenon light
Blackfire Wet diamond
Griot's Garage 3" orbital with various backing plates
3m blue painters tape


So I got there and he had it washed, taped up and ready to go for me to get right to work.

Here is what I pulled up to

















So we pushed it into the Garage and I took measurements of the paint thickness to see what I was working with.









So over all the paint on the horizontal panals were pretty healthy and some of the side panels were a little low.

Well this being an 89 i was not sure if it was 1 Stage paint or 2 Stage so I gave it a little whirl and guess what?



Single Stage!!!! YAY!!!! Now I am going to leave here PINK!!:wall

So after examining the 21 year old surface I noticed lots of acid rain spots and deep little pits, and TONS of Scratches. So I wet sanded a little spot to see if the owner wanted to step up the job a little. I wet sanded with p1500 grit and then followed by 3000 grit.

This was the before surface




To this!



Looks great but we decided to not do the hood because it was REALLY eaten up by rock chip. But we wetsanded the whole roof and trunk in the end

All of the paint was really dull and oxidized and the M105/Purple foamed wool pad really brought out the Shine.



after that step I Polished with the M205/tangerine LC Hydrotech pad



and it came out to this



The Front bumper was Completely pink when I started but came out real nice



you cant forget the lower panels either





Here is a shot of the door are just M105/PFW



The rear bumper was just the same as the front



This is a 50/50 using the Brinkman's Duel Xenon swirl finder light






Check out the difference what a little M105/orange pad can do to the mirrors







These are the little pits and scratches that I described earlier. This is after the M105/PFW via Rotary



So we wetsanded the roof and trunk and finished buffing the car and here are the Final Shot (sorry there not any sun shots, It was 11:30pm when I finished)













The single stage paint is fun but messy, Everything I had was Pink or red



I finished off with a Coat of Black Fire Wet Diamond







And Yes those are Future Detail write ups in the back ground. along with a couple more Suprises





Next week is the 2007 Black Z06 Vette! :dance:dance:waxing::chuckle:

 

Solid transformation. I love singe stage paint.

 

nice job, good to see someone else using a harbor freight special, lol.

do you know where i could get some more of the foam pads that come with the harbour freight buffer? yeah i already checked h-f.

-tim

 

absolutely fantastic results. congrats!

 

This gives me hope for my Civic! Great stuff!

 

You work out of a bakery? LOL! Nice work, before/afters are excellent!

 

the pads that come from Harbor freight are crappy. You want to buy Lake country pads. either the Hydrotech cyan and tangerine. or the flat orange and white.

The orange and Cyan are for cutting and the Tangerine and White are for finishing with polish.

and you can get them here.

Lake country Cyan Pad

Lake country Tangerine Pad
And any other detailing products.

That was the were the customer had my do it at. Its a healthy food delivery business. GOOD FOOD!! the fed me while i was there!

 

What an amazing contrast of results! I was negative minded entering this thread, now I'd love to have my sedan done. What's the price on materials everything you used to accomplish this? I'd love to own my own set of tool to get the job done. Any recommendations I still have my Honda factory paint. Granada black pearl?

 

I have a couple thousand in tools and materials my self. but for a job like this

Rotary buffer -$60 at harbor freight
pads- $20-$30
compunds and polish-~$40ish
paint thickness gauge $250
tape-$10
Clay bar - $25
Backing plates-$25
Flex 3401- +$300
holagen lights- $20
Wet sanding supplies- $100
Sealant- $30
Wax-$50-$100

Time and Experience - Priceless, lots of Rotary time and lots of trial and error and lots of expensive mistakes.
you can really tear up a car with a rotary. and if not tear it up, then leave LOTS of swirls in the sunlight.

 

If you click the link in my Sig they have EVERYTHING you could need to complete a job like this.

 

Thank you! That's a good site. How do you feel about the detail kits seen here? good starter set?

http://www.autogeek.net/griots-garage-car-care.html

 

autogeek.net is a great site. I order alot from them too.

Griots garage Is an amazing company too. lifetime satisfaction guaranteed, no questions asked. Their 6" orbital is great and there 3" is awesome too.

I would highly recomend the Meguiars G110v2 kit with M105/M205 and all the pads. You cant go wrong there. they should have that kit too. and the G110v2 has less vibration then the Griots garage 6". but both are great machines.

you should check out Autopia.org and go down to the Pro before and afters and watch them and watch what everyone uses. and then wander around all the sub forums too.

 

Noted. I shall.