[mfi]

So I decided to follow Rottenrobs93's instructions on getting my paint to look somewhat decent...wow. After 6 hours non stop I got the back up to the doors finished..I'm wiped out..heres some before and after..took with a phone camera so it doesn't do it justice.

So now its a ...15 footer?? figure it will take another 10 hours to do the rest of the car..

 

[raidmagic]

Very nice!! That's well worth the effort.

 

[Livingwater]

:thumbsup:

 

[mfi]

Funny thing is that the clearcoated areas look worse than the non coated areas. Wish I could sand it all off...but that would be too much..

 

[erikv79]

Great work, and as long as your happy, thats all that matters!
:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[mfi]

What I don't get is how the paint came up so well without the clearcoat...so what is the purpose of clear coat.
The picture of the gas filler door area is what it looks like close up..they ended up looking like dark stains, which is way better then white spots.

 

[rookievette]

I have the same color vette and I have a fifty cent sized circle on my hood. Do you think I would have to do the whole hood to make it look right? This is a little off subject but I am looking for black wheels and yours look like what I am looking for. Could you take a picture or two of the side view showing the wheels? Thanks a lot

 

[mfi]

You won't have to do the whole hood. What you will end up with is a dark spot where the clearcoat is gone. I'm going to ...maybe..wet sand the whole car then compound and polish. it feels like glass when you are done but the wet sanding is tricky and takes a while. I read an article about doing this with new cars to get the orange peel out, costs about $900.00..lots of labor. I'll take some pics on Monday when I work on the car again..the black wheels really made a difference from the chrome ones...

 

[LS14LIFE]

So I decided to follow Rottenrobs93's instructions on getting my paint to look somewhat decent...wow. After 6 hours non stop I got the back up to the doors finished..I'm wiped out..heres some before and after..took with a phone camera so it doesn't do it justice.

So now its a ...15 footer?? figure it will take another 10 hours to do the rest of the car..

NICE !!!! What did you use ?

 

[mfi]

I started with 1000 grit and wetsanded the helll out of all the areas that where bad. Once you start to see color its time to stop. then 2000 grit..then compounded the hell out of it with a rotary buffer until the areas without clearcoat shined..they ended up darker though. After compounding the hell out of the whole panel I polished it with Mothers polish and a foam wheel..then waxed it with Mothers carnaruba wax. next up is the doors..too bad someone did a lousy partial repaint on the drivers door which now has a big lighter color area. the front will be the real test..these hoods are huge.

 

[rookievette]

Did you get a chance to take some pics of your wheels? If so, please post them. Thanks

 

[RottNRobs93]

MFI, Hope your somewhat happy with the results. It is a lot of work for something not show quality, but I think it's alot better then the dandruff look. :rolling: Mine to has darker paint where clear coat is gone. Again I did mine just to get buy as I save some cash for a paint job.

I didn't want ya cutting to deep to fast and being pissed at me so I told you to start with the 1000 grit. Now that you have a feel for it. I cut mine with 400 git to save time and work. Doing that though you gotta go light and be careful cause you will find primer if you don't pay close attention. Maybe jump to 800 or 600 for the start on the white areas.

You car looks great. Post up some full car pics from a few feet.

 

[shakedown067]

I've spent about 10hrs on mine. Been bad about taking photos. I also only have about 3 hours in the morning, and about an hour at night to where I don't have direct sunlight on the car to buff it. I've got to get a better rubbing compound, the sanding scratches just aren't coming out, even with that, my hood is already 100x more reflective. I also found two thin spots in the paint, no color, no color, BAM, primer. WTF? But it's cool, it still looks 10x better than before. :cheers:

 

[mfi]

I started a different thread...see "you can polish a turd" its got full pics and pics of the wheels. Whats happening now with the rear deck..is the clear is starting to haze out again..its spreading..it might be terminal..so I may have to wrap that area and just cover the whole damn thing..have to come up with a cool design ...and it won't cost that much..the hood and the rest of the areas are holding up well though.

 

[shakedown067]

Yep, that's what's happening on my hood. The clear is just torched. The more I sand, the more it just spreads. It won't fade out for nothing. I finally just quit and trying to just polish her out for now. I'll be going with the 3m di noc wrap hopefully. Going to start with the targa and halo and see how that turns out. Good luck.

 

[RottNRobs93]

:agree: I had to chase the heck outta mine on the hood too. I sanded the whole hood and think I have half clear coat free. Sadly a friend helped me with the hood. He said he knew what he was doing but cut to primer bad on the top fender hump on driver side. But over all still looks better. I'm hoping by spring I'll have the cash saved to paint the car.

Someone was asking about why the paint is darker then the clear coat areas. I believe it is cause the UV rays have faded the clear leaving a light white tint to it.

 

[mfi]

My rear deck looks like a map of the earth...