87 Grand National Needs Help

[littlemissGTO]

I'm still a newbie at this so all advice is greatly welcomed. My friend has this 87 GN that was left to sit outside under a tree while it was out for some performance mods. The mechanic is great at making cars go fast, and even better and messing up paint. Anywho what should I do to help correct this:




I clayed the car once and some of the imperfections came out. Man was that a job and a half. I also need to know what product would be good for starting the correction as well as which pad to use with either a PC or UDM.

[budman3]

That last picture scares me . That looks like beginning stages of clear coat failure. As for the rest of the car, XMT4 or SSR3 looks like a must for the PC or UDM on this vehicle. Wetsanding the car would probably be needed but with a PC, it'd take forever to remove the sanding marks. A cutting pad also looks like a must. I'm not sure what other products you have to work with but you'll still need another polish after the SSR3 or XMT4 to clean up and micromarring from the pad or compound... like XMT3, SSR2.5, Optimum Polish (or compound), Menzerna 106, etc.

[littlemissGTO]

I'm hoping that the last picture is just water spots. Forgot to mention this fellow is in a wheelchair so his POV is a bit different from ours.

[blk45]

Shouldn't it be the shop's responsibility to repair the damage? Or are they going to pay and he asked you to correct it?

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by blk45

Shouldn't it be the shop's responsibility to repair the damage? Or are they going to pay and he asked you to correct it?

Every seen a shop repair damage, buffer trails from hell . Actually, do the work and have your friend have the shop reimburse for your charge, though they'll pry haggle you to death to allow them to fix the paint instead.

Either thats the start of clear coat failure or some serious etching.

[littlemissGTO]

Originally Posted by blk45

Shouldn't it be the shop's responsibility to repair the damage? Or are they going to pay and he asked you to correct it?

I'm not sure. Honestly this car is one of 13. So he's not all that worried about getting the paint job fixed. I'm not sure how long it's been since the car has been back. I'm thinking at least two years or something like that. My friend isn't a sue happy person, and I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done with the paint.

[KyleTaylor]

Elbow grease FTMFW

[killrwheels@autogeek]

having had an 86 I should remember this, but I believe the GN's were all single stage paint, and only the GNX was afforded clearcoat. Either way, wiping an area with polish will show paint transfer (black to towel) if single stage.

on paint at that level of abuse, you can make it better, but likely refinishing is the only true choice. Most of those marks are not from just the tree's but show years of improper washing and environmental abuse. Considering at shows alot of these guys use Windex and Pledge on paint, it just needs a lift.

[blk45]

Originally Posted by Surfer

Every seen a shop repair damage, buffer trails from hell . Actually, do the work and have your friend have the shop reimburse for your charge, though they'll pry haggle you to death to allow them to fix the paint instead.

Good point!