The Reverse Test Spot

Mike Phillips · 12-15-2009, 09:54 AM

One time I had a chance to work on a very cool 1954 Corvette for Corvette Mike. I had never met Mike before and he hired me based upon a recommendation by Mike Kennedy from Meguiar's.

I showed up for the job with my Brinkman Swirl Finder Light to inspect the finish myself but to also show Mike the true condition of the paint before I started working on it. I found out that Mike would be out of the office till that evening.

While I knew that he knew the finish was a wreck otherwise why would he hire me to work on the car, I also knew that it's easy to forget how horrible a finish started out after it's been restored. Because this was the first time I worked for this gentleman I wanted to make a great first impression and since I couldn't do a normal Test Spot on the hood or deck lid to show him the before and after results BEFORE buffing out the car, I decided to tape off a section on the hood and then buff out the entire car except this one spot.

Then when he arrived I would show him the true before condition of the paint with the Brinkman Swirl Finder Light and after showing him I could then quickly restore that one section to match the rest of the car.

I called this The Reverse Test Spot but never found time to post the write-up for this project. Since I still have all the pictures I'll post the write-up on here in the near future because there's some very interesting procedures I did to this particular car that I think others might enjoy seeing.

Until then, here's what the Reverse Test Spot looks like; instead of taping off a small section to work on while leaving all the surrounding paint undisturbed, you tape off and cover a small section and then disturb all the surrounding paint.

(The word disturb in this case means to correct and polish the paint to a high gloss

)

The Reverse Test Spot

Here's what the paint looked like before when highlighted with the Brinkman Swirl Finder Light

After shots...

Think outside the spot...

**Wax Gorilla** · 03-10-2010, 04:58 PM

Now that is agreat Idea !

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 05-14-2010, 10:35 PM

wow, just wanna give props on the job you did...that was some horrible looking paint...I'm really just starting off with my PC and some 105 and 205 and working on the couple of cars ive got at home...hope one day i can crank out some results like that! Nice job man

Mike Phillips · 05-15-2010, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by MrWillsi3

wow, just wanna give props on the job you did...that was some horrible looking paint...

Thank you. I love restoring antique and original single stage paint, if not done carefully it's all to easy to destroy and once you make a mistake it's kind of hard to put the car into a time machine and undo the mistake.

I actually have about 100 more pictures of this project including claying the interior paint and glass as there was black overspray all over the car.

Fun car to work on and Corvette Mike always has a great collection of cars on hand...

**Wills.WindowsAndWheels** · 05-15-2010, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Mike.Phillips@Autogeek

Thank you. I love restoring antique and original single stage paint, if not done carefully it's all to easy to destroy and once you make a mistake it's kind of hard to put the car into a time machine and undo the mistake.

I actually have about 100 more pictures of this project including claying the interior paint and glass as there was black overspray all over the car.

Fun car to work on and Corvette Mike always has a great collection of cars on hand...

Ya it looks as thou he has an awesome collection, looks like a lot of fun. I love vetts, but when you put a 50somethin next to a new one, theres no comparison...the oldies, as in most cases, always take the cake

So you said you did some claying to remove paint over spray....as i said earlier I'm just recently getting into the deeper aspects of detailing and actualy my friend just got a ride where the people seemed to have tried to spray some rattle can junk on the wheel well covers and the running boards. I'm not too concerned about those pieces cause we're gonna get rid of em and put something different on, but what i DO want to get rid of is the overspray on the BODY that they apparently didnt tape off.

All ive got is just a mothers clay kit which is working fine for claying dirt and such, but its kinda not 'cuttin' it with the over spray...not trying to jack the thread but do you have any suggestions...do I need aggressive clay, and could you (when you have time) post the overspray pics

Thanks man...this seems to be getting more fun all the time

**rohnramirez** · 05-17-2010, 07:20 AM

Wonderful idea Mike. I will adopt that if you don't mind.

**Calendyr** · 04-05-2016, 06:48 PM

A very good idea Mike. Will have to use that in the future.

Mike Phillips · 10-04-2017, 10:14 AM

.

For those that took my 3-day class this last weekend, when I told you about how to do a reverse test spot, this is the article I was referring too...

**Mr_Anderson** · 01-20-2019, 02:20 PM

And when you did this, it didn't leave behind any barely visible lines? (From the finish being imperceptibly uneven where the tape was applied.)

Mike Phillips · 01-21-2019, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by Mr_Anderson

And when you did this, it didn't leave behind any barely visible lines?
(From the finish being imperceptibly uneven where the tape was applied.)

No. A long time ago I learned the lesson of not buffing directly on top of the tape-line because as you allude to, you can leave a line.

In fact... I have an article on this topic... and if you'll notice, I put an exclamation point at the end of the title. !

The LINE ---> How to avoid the line!