Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 8
1951 Mercury - Black Lacquer Paint - Extreme Makeover
This is a 1951 Mercury Sports Sedan with only 4,600 original miles. It has single stage paint, not sure if it's lacquer or enamel but it is old as this does appear to have been repainted at some point in time. It has a nice paint job it's just the way it was buffed inflicted a lot of swirls into the paint.
The entire car has been buffed out at one time using a rotary buffer with a wool pad and some type of rocks-in-the-bottle compound. I can tell because the swirl scratches or holograms are D-E-E-P in the paint.
If this car was painted in the 1960's or 1970's and then buffed using the pads and compounds that were easily available back then then that would explain the deep swirls.
I wanted to use the new formula for Pinnacle's Liquid Souveran Car Wax and I wanted a black car to test it out on. Here's the process I used...
Step 1: Meguiar's M100 Pro Speed Compound with Flex Rotary Buffer with LC Wool Pad.
I used this step to remove a majority of the swirls, oxidation and water spots. Not only did the entire finish have swirls in it but the paint was oxidized and had some type of spots all over the paint. These were not water spots but some other form of contaminant left round imprint spots all over the horizontal surfaces.
Step 2: Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover with Flex Rotary Buffer with LC Foam Polishing Pad.
I used this step to remove my own swirls left by the wool pad I was using to cut out the previous swirls.
Step 3: Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish with Griot's Garage DA Polisher and LC 5.5" White Polishing Pad.
I used this step to ensure there were no holograms left by the previous step.
Step 4: Machine Wax using the new and improved formula for Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Car Wax.
This new formula really spreads out easy by hand or machine, dries in about 15 to 20 minutes and leaves a deep, dark wet shine. It made this black paint look like a black chrome.
Used Detailing Clay over all smooth surfaces
Before the polishing steps I wiped the paint clean and then clayed everything that was smooth including the glass and all the chrome and stainless steel trim.
Machine Polished all Chrome and Stainless Steel
I also ran the wool pad on the rotary buffer over all the chrome and stainless steel trim, bumpers and grill and then did the same using a foam pad with Pinnacle XMT 360 One-step Cleaner/Wax. The wool pad and polish removed all kinds of oxidation and staining on the brightwork and the one-step cleaner/wax further shined and protected the chrome and stainless steel so it matches the paint in shine quality.
Machine Polished Glass
I used the new Pinnacle GlassWork Water Spot Remover with a wool pad on the rotary buffer to machine polish all the exterior glass.
Before, Process and After Pictures
I had 8 solid, constant hours into this this car from start to finish. Didn't take a lot of before, process or even after pictures as I was on a tight time schedule.
Here's what I did get though...
This is before, paint looks good on camera but horrible in person...
100% Swirled-Out Finish
Here's my Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light revealing the true condition of the paint. Every panel had swirls like you see here and all the horizontal panels had these round crater defects.
Test Spot
IF you look at the front part of the hood and fenders, this is the dull, hazy look the entire car had. You can also see my tape-line where I taped off a section to dial in my process using a Test Spot.
See my article here,
How To Do a Test Spot
(and why it's so important)
Touch-up Paint Blobs
There were some blobs of touch-up paint on the driver's front fender. I took pictures of them to document them and that they were there before I worked on the car. In this shot my camera flash also reveals the swirls on the side of the fender.
Protecting Raised Body Lines
Classic cars have what's called a Rain Rail, or a Rain Gutter on the sides of the roof which channels the water to the front or rear of car instead of on your head when you're getting in and out of the car. This thin piece of steel edging is almost always burned through from people that don't tape this trim off.
Here's the rain gutter rail taped-off and in the process of taking the picture again I've captured the swirls in the paint.
This is the roof rail above the two doors plus a great shot of the swirled-out paint...
Removing Trim
The paint looked so awful on the hood and under the hood ornament. The only way to get under and around the hood ornament was to remove it.
This is the cropped out section of the swirls in the above picture...
The Reverse Test Spot
I've buffed out cars like this before where the owner won't be around and my experience has shown me that too often everyone forgets just how bad the paint actually was before being properly detailed using professional grade products, pads and tool. So I did what I call The Reverse Test Spot. I'm not sure why I called it this except it's the reverse of making one small section or spot look good, it's making or preserving one small section or spot that looks bad. I have an article on this here,
The Reverse Test Spot
This is kind of tricky to do so be careful but it does do a very good job of documenting the original "before condition" which contrasts very strongly to the current condition.
Pigment on pad
I cleaned my pad with a Spur after each section I buffed. This makes the job take longer in the short run but enables a person to work cleaner plus your buffing pad will work better with any fresh product you apply to buff.
The Beauty Shots...
Now the paint is clear, deep and dark looking with excellent shine and gloss...
On Autogeek.net
Compound
Meguiars M100 Pro Speed Compound Remover
Medium Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover
Fine Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
Waxes
Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Car Wax New Formula!
Pinnacle XMT 360
Tools
Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher
Griot's Garage DA Polisher
This is a 1951 Mercury Sports Sedan with only 4,600 original miles. It has single stage paint, not sure if it's lacquer or enamel but it is old as this does appear to have been repainted at some point in time. It has a nice paint job it's just the way it was buffed inflicted a lot of swirls into the paint.
The entire car has been buffed out at one time using a rotary buffer with a wool pad and some type of rocks-in-the-bottle compound. I can tell because the swirl scratches or holograms are D-E-E-P in the paint.
If this car was painted in the 1960's or 1970's and then buffed using the pads and compounds that were easily available back then then that would explain the deep swirls.
I wanted to use the new formula for Pinnacle's Liquid Souveran Car Wax and I wanted a black car to test it out on. Here's the process I used...
Step 1: Meguiar's M100 Pro Speed Compound with Flex Rotary Buffer with LC Wool Pad.
I used this step to remove a majority of the swirls, oxidation and water spots. Not only did the entire finish have swirls in it but the paint was oxidized and had some type of spots all over the paint. These were not water spots but some other form of contaminant left round imprint spots all over the horizontal surfaces.
Step 2: Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover with Flex Rotary Buffer with LC Foam Polishing Pad.
I used this step to remove my own swirls left by the wool pad I was using to cut out the previous swirls.
Step 3: Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish with Griot's Garage DA Polisher and LC 5.5" White Polishing Pad.
I used this step to ensure there were no holograms left by the previous step.
Step 4: Machine Wax using the new and improved formula for Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Car Wax.
This new formula really spreads out easy by hand or machine, dries in about 15 to 20 minutes and leaves a deep, dark wet shine. It made this black paint look like a black chrome.
Used Detailing Clay over all smooth surfaces
Before the polishing steps I wiped the paint clean and then clayed everything that was smooth including the glass and all the chrome and stainless steel trim.
Machine Polished all Chrome and Stainless Steel
I also ran the wool pad on the rotary buffer over all the chrome and stainless steel trim, bumpers and grill and then did the same using a foam pad with Pinnacle XMT 360 One-step Cleaner/Wax. The wool pad and polish removed all kinds of oxidation and staining on the brightwork and the one-step cleaner/wax further shined and protected the chrome and stainless steel so it matches the paint in shine quality.
Machine Polished Glass
I used the new Pinnacle GlassWork Water Spot Remover with a wool pad on the rotary buffer to machine polish all the exterior glass.
Before, Process and After Pictures
I had 8 solid, constant hours into this this car from start to finish. Didn't take a lot of before, process or even after pictures as I was on a tight time schedule.
Here's what I did get though...
This is before, paint looks good on camera but horrible in person...
100% Swirled-Out Finish
Here's my Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light revealing the true condition of the paint. Every panel had swirls like you see here and all the horizontal panels had these round crater defects.
Test Spot
IF you look at the front part of the hood and fenders, this is the dull, hazy look the entire car had. You can also see my tape-line where I taped off a section to dial in my process using a Test Spot.
See my article here,
How To Do a Test Spot
(and why it's so important)
Touch-up Paint Blobs
There were some blobs of touch-up paint on the driver's front fender. I took pictures of them to document them and that they were there before I worked on the car. In this shot my camera flash also reveals the swirls on the side of the fender.
Protecting Raised Body Lines
Classic cars have what's called a Rain Rail, or a Rain Gutter on the sides of the roof which channels the water to the front or rear of car instead of on your head when you're getting in and out of the car. This thin piece of steel edging is almost always burned through from people that don't tape this trim off.
Here's the rain gutter rail taped-off and in the process of taking the picture again I've captured the swirls in the paint.
This is the roof rail above the two doors plus a great shot of the swirled-out paint...
Removing Trim
The paint looked so awful on the hood and under the hood ornament. The only way to get under and around the hood ornament was to remove it.
This is the cropped out section of the swirls in the above picture...
The Reverse Test Spot
I've buffed out cars like this before where the owner won't be around and my experience has shown me that too often everyone forgets just how bad the paint actually was before being properly detailed using professional grade products, pads and tool. So I did what I call The Reverse Test Spot. I'm not sure why I called it this except it's the reverse of making one small section or spot look good, it's making or preserving one small section or spot that looks bad. I have an article on this here,
The Reverse Test Spot
This is kind of tricky to do so be careful but it does do a very good job of documenting the original "before condition" which contrasts very strongly to the current condition.
Pigment on pad
I cleaned my pad with a Spur after each section I buffed. This makes the job take longer in the short run but enables a person to work cleaner plus your buffing pad will work better with any fresh product you apply to buff.
The Beauty Shots...
Now the paint is clear, deep and dark looking with excellent shine and gloss...
On Autogeek.net
Compound
Meguiars M100 Pro Speed Compound Remover
Medium Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover
Fine Cut Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
Waxes
Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Car Wax New Formula!
Pinnacle XMT 360
Tools
Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher
Griot's Garage DA Polisher
