major paint/clear coat problem

[MAZ.827]

hey guys, so recently i had put a cover on my car to protect it whilst it was outside for a week, and me being an idiot put it on when the car was a little dirty with dust and stuff, so as i took it off gave it a wash and noticed all these scratches on it :eek: , if you call them scratches or swells,

can you's help me out and give me some advise on how to fix this problem?
doing it myself
going to a good detailing place in Sydney
or maybe going to a smash repair/bodyshop
i know it may need a cut and polish but i'm not to sure

the car was dirty when i took the picture aswell

[MAZ.827]

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag258/MAZ827/Mobile%20Uploads/F7928276-D62A-4BDD-A2BF-A63BA1512683_zpszayymthf.jpg

[iNfusi0n]

That doesn't look too bad, I reckon a cut and polish or a really fine wet sand then cut/polish should do it.

[MAZ.827]

in my opinion its bad.
should i do it by hand or with a buffer
does anyone know how much it could cost by going to a detailing place?

[aaronng]

That sort of paint correction would be better left to the detailer. A random orbital will proper compound and pad won't do much to the clearcoat. Been there, done that. It can help reduce the appearance or hide it if you use a glaze/polish which fills the swirls. Proper correction at this level requires a rotary or a dual action machine. Do it wrongly and you end up damaging the clearcoat (dual action is more forgiving than rotary though). So not worth saving a few hundred dollars doing it yourself if you don't have experience and ending up having to shell out close to a thousand for a full respray. The equipment itself will cost you a few hundred up front.

BTW, I used to detail on the side and fixing this level of swirls will take about 6-8 hours (swirl removal using rotary, followed by hologram removal using a random orbital, then glaze and sealant). This is if you know what you're doing.

[MAZ.827]

okay thanks man! ! ! ! ! !

all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Drifter995]

A solid buffing to remove the swirls and stuff works well. we did it to my ek1, and it took about 1-2 hours. got it looking brilliant. It was oxidised as shit from an automatic wash. Came out the other end looking brilliant.

Looked like this:
https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/l/t1.0-9/p180x540/1170709_10151779345610890_116594721_n.jpg

Some before and after:
https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p180x540/1170886_10151783973860890_451010565_n.jpg?oh=4c747 87a8d20757dc89886c2fb7a4859&oe=54377B18

Looking shiny afterwards. Bar the roof, as the clear had peeled on it pretty chronically:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/p180x540/1095040_10151784059670890_1556471316_n.jpg


No swirls after that. He did a spray with the karcher, quick degrease, rinse that off, then buffed it all out, then polished afterwards.

But yeah, a solid buff will fix that up easily.
You'd be surprised how much better your car can look after a good buff, and clean. Might take longer to get the swirls out over oxidisation, but yeah. Fun times

I don't think it was soap, as the front guards were shiny. (we discovered they had been resprayed. Different ways on both guards. Left was 2pack and clear, the right was acrylic and clear. bonnet was also shagged. Like the sides. Boot is faded, we figured out that was replaced at some stage as well. You learn lots when detailing your car)

[MAZ.827]

wow that looks good, did you sand that down? and what products do you recommend for me to use? hand buffing?

[Drifter995]

That was using a rotary buffer at a lowish speed with a 3d hd cutting compound, then polished with hd poxy iirc.

3d is my brand of choice. Detail central sells their stuff (woodywax.com.au).
But yeah, as aarong said, if you're having doubts, probably better off getting somebody to do it for you. Unless you're willing to watch videos about how to do it, amd invest a lot of time to fix it.

[amant02]

Lol the cost of doing getting paint correction done at a good place on an ek1? I just got quoted $580 for my DC5R and i threw a pass at it, still went for a full detail package for $180 and pretty happy with the results.

My strong advise don't look at it.