Red 2000 Si Paint Restoration

[matt@autogeek.net]

Did this on Friday and it took me about 6hrs total...it was a free job as I owed my friend a favor.

Anyways, he's had this car for 5 years, and it's been running for 2 out of the 5 years. In its downtime it just sat outside...and the car was waxed once in the 5 years he's owned it. It's on its 3rd or 4th motor...I lost count. It's fully built with a pretty big turbo and definitely surprised me for a little 4-banger...I need to get a few runs in with him sometime.

Here's the approach I took:

Washed
Clay'd with Wolfgang Elastic Poly Clay
Polishing step1: Optimum Hyper Compound w/Cutting pad
Polishing step2: Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0 w/cutting pad
Polishing step3: Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 w/polishing pad
Finished it up with tried and true Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax












Uhh yeah...this clay = toast

[matt@autogeek.net]

Mickey Thompsons in the back...




Not sure if you could see it in the before pics, but the front lip was pink / extremely oxidized. He was really happy that I got it back to new.












Overall it sucked but the end result was definitely worth it. Many people underestimate the power of the PC, but this just shows that with the right product choices, a PC can be perfectly sufficient.

I will be detailing my silver Z06 and a swirled blue '07 WRX this weekend, so if anyone has any product requests, just let me know.

[Jordan88]

Great job! How long did it take you? I currently have a UDM and it does a great job at paint correction, but I am finding that I am taking more time than I'd like with paint correction, especially when I am doing a 2-3 step. A Flex or rotary is tempting...

[matt@autogeek.net]

I agree...it took me 6 hours. I will definitely try to get my hands on a Flex to make my future jobs go faster, because this one resulted in lots of lower back pain!

[matt@autogeek.net]

Oh and another thing I wanted to add...you can't see it in the pics, but the roof had some nasty scratches from a toolbox being dragged across the paint. Two passes of Hyper Compound took care of them, but I reminded him that metal toolboxes SHOULD NOT be used as buffing tools.

[supercharged]

Very nice job!

[blkmiata]

No tape? How do you keep the product off the trim? I'm new at detailing my cars and it probably takes me a good 1.5-2 hrs just taping the car off. I'd love to be able to skip that step.
By the way looking good.

[matt@autogeek.net]

I'm pretty careful around trim...but some parts are impossible to miss. I usually go over these areas with some DP Exterior Surface Cleaner, and then top off with Black WOW. This takes less time and always leaves the trim looking way better than it was before. (nothing was used yet in the before/after picture posted as those pictures were taken during the polishing process).

[Jimmie]

Yeah, that paint looked bad in the before pictures. That was an incredible turn around Matt.

[zoomzoom mazda5]

Very nice turnaround Matt, it's a true sleeper there..........