Paint Restoration

[httrdd]

Ok my LGT has been abused by a past owner so I need paint repair bad. Not enough to get a repainting though. I have scratches in numerious places, swirls, and bad trim wear. I wanted to make a thread for question by me and others that are taking on the same project.

I have mixed up factory color spray bombs and touch up paint I got from someone to use for repairs. The question is can I just use the touch up paint to fill the scratches and then after a week or so of drying can I buff over them for a good paint blend? I would also like to wetsand the whole car along with claying it again. Is there enough clear on the car to wetsand down to with buffing and waxing. I have seen some beat up cars turned into mirrors before and that is what I am going for. Thanks.

[mycargoesvroom]

The problem with touch up paint is that the color is never going to match 12 years of paint fade. When I had the hood on my WRX re-done the guy mixed the paint a few shades lighter to match the fade but it was still slightly off.

I wouldn't try to tackle something like wetsanding the whole car unless you're 100% sure you know what you're doing. It's a VERY long, hard process that most proffessionals avoid and definitely isn't for the faint at heart. Subaru paint is VERY VERY soft and easy to burn through. Also, iirc our paint is single stage so theres no way to correct the clear, you have to correct the paint as a whole.

Your best option is to grab a variable speed Dual Action polisher, some yellow foam cutting pads and a good compound and see where that leads you. You'd be suprised what a good compound can do with a little time and effort.

Before you start make sure you wash the car at least twice and make sure it's fully dry. Use a touch detailer to wipe it down once it's dry, then use the detailer to lube the clay. Follow clay with compound, a good polish then wax. If you don't get the results you're looking for and you're feeling brave then wetsand ONLY the spots with scratches you couldn't remove with the compound.

I've also heard using paste wax over liquid wax will help fill in small imperfections in the paint as well.

Hope that helps! I'm dealing with similar issues right now (mostly swirls/paint fade) and after my first full detail by hand I'm 100% sure I can correct a large majority of the issues with a better compound and D/A polisher. I'll be doing mine sometime this week so I'll keep you updated on how it turns out.

[mycargoesvroom]

Here's a 50/50 of my hood after clay/compound (by hand). You can see there is still a good bit of swirls but the difference is night and day. Imagine what it would look like if I used a polisher :lol:

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/05/100_2034-1.jpg
Here's an after picture in direct sun.
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2011/05/100_2043-1.jpg

[httrdd]

Thanks for the info bud! Im going to try some of the things you suggested. I wetsanded the gelcoat on my boat before and yes it kills the arm. I will post some before and after pics of the progress. Hood looks great though.

[Huffer]

check with blackgtbeauty on car care products. He's a vendor for Sonax.

[httrdd]

Ok I will.

[Baddog]

Report back with what you find out.