2018 Black Camaro

**Goonie75** · 11-09-2018, 08:31 AM

Good morning all...

I'll keep this concise folks... 40 miles on this one

My boss owns a Chevy dealership... a few... opened a detailing spa for us really and it's been great... slow to go but great...

first of the week they ask us to fix a bodyshop car... a 2018 Camaro. It had such bad etching on the horizontal panels that they had to repaint them all...

safe to say it looked horrible... like they drove through the woods with barbed wire wrapped around them... pics should be attached...

the thing is, it's the oldest car on their lots... 587 days old... they said just make it better but are now asking if it can go in the showroom to really try and sell... well...

i can't seem to get 100% of the scratches out... i've hit it 3x with various compounds and pads and can get almost perfect but not perfect...

is the idea to just keep compounding if we have enough clear, which in this case seems to be 10.5-11.5 mil on the horizontals and 4.5-6.5 on the sides... so it seems there is plenty to work with... but wow...

we have 2 of the gg6, boss 15, makita po500c and the ibrid nano short neck...

i've tried Menzerna HC400, Shine Supply Hard Clear Compound, D300, Fast Correcting Cream... used UroFiber and Lake Country Microfiber and even a purple wool made for the forced rotation from LC... nothing seems to remove all scratches...

so should i just adjust my expectations?... lol

4-6 passes typically, with what i think is medium pressure... speed 5 1/2 or 5 usually on the GG6...

I've not thrown the M105 at it yet?... the Boss microfiber with D300 did seem to do okay when he sprung it on me last night they'd like it for the show room... ha ha ha!...

any suggestions on how to better tackle this or simply say this is what you get?....

thanks so much in advance....

peace

Ryan

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**supercharged75** · 11-09-2018, 10:15 AM

Your after looks pretty good, I'd hit that with a polish and see how it looks.

Are any of the scratches under the clear from the body shop, I've seen that before.

Lastly, remember a lot of the stuff you see most folks wont and as the car is in the showroom and people touch it your work will be ruined.

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**Goonie75** · 11-09-2018, 10:22 AM

Thanks Supercharged. Under the clear? I'll have to check and see....

It's ok t ok hit the hood again since there is so much clearer right?

Any good way to see if scratches are under or not instead of grinding away to see if they disappear?

Thanks again for the good feedback. Means a lot.

Ryan

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**supercharged75** · 11-09-2018, 11:04 AM

Use a polish on the hood next if you don't have a paint gauge. Not sure how much you have already taken and the hood will be one of the first panels touched by salesman and customers so leave as much clear as you can.

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**Goonie75** · 11-09-2018, 11:13 AM

Thank you. Since our body shop repainted all the horizontal panels due to the etching, there is around 10 mil on those panels about 5 or 6 mil on the side panels... and yes... we do have a paint guage...

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**SWETM** · 11-09-2018, 02:47 PM

It depends on how the bodyshop prepared before painting. They could have only sanded it down to a flat surface. Then primed and base coat and clearcoat painted it. The downside is that you have no idea to know the top clearcoat thickness. But generally speaking you have a lot more clearcoat to work with than you have on an oem clearcoat.

Looks great for beeing compounded the last pictures. The haze should be cleared up when finishing polish it. Or maybe I missed if there is deaper defects left on the pictures. And as noted above it can be under the clearcoat. Try to use the light and very different angles to see if you can see it under the clearcoat. Think it's also easier to see them if you finishing polish it first. If you have a light with a warmer light like 2700k. Or if you have some orange street lights outside the shop. You can sometimes see different depths of defects with the different lights. Mark where you have most trouble to get a defect away with a little bit of masking tape. Take it of when polishing and put back on when you have used a panel wipe product to get the polishing oils off. That way it's easier to know where you are at.

Looked a little closer to the pictures. In one picture it seems like the defects are after the polishing. It can be little tricky to spot if the swirls are straight or half circles. So see if you can spot how the swirls goes and not just how they are lighted up. And there is one more reason to do a finishing polish on an area like that to see how it gets you from there.

If you are going to be compounding more. The purple foam wool pad on the G15 and the compound which is most coarse. I think will cut the most. But first the finishing polish test spot to see how that gets.

Man what that paint was trashed! And only 40 miles? Have the owner been thinking on how to take care of the car lot cars differently now? The detailing spa all the cars would be a benefit to go through to keep them fresh and nice. And that would be if they have a great washing and drying technique in the detailing spa. Could be a sell point for the dealership. That they take care of the cars in the best way possible before the customer buys it. Seems like a lot of dealership don't do this. And that would stand out to the interested customer if they are been told that. Then when they are at another dealership they will notice if the cars is swirled up there. It could be a niche for the dealership you work at to deliver swirl free cars to the customer. And how sad is it to just write it is strange LOL.

/Tony

**Goonie75** · 11-09-2018, 03:06 PM

Thanks SWETM. I'm gonna hit it with finishing polish and see what happens....

I have suggested that in conversation we will see where it goes. To the owner about putting out cars that don't have swirls

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**Paul A.** · 11-10-2018, 09:26 AM

What I am about to say here goes against me and everything i stand for but...

If the owner wants to display it in the showroom to unload it quicker, maybe just fill in the few that remain with a filler wax. You've done a great job cleaning up the huge amount of imperfections. Plus, if you're like me, it seems a challenge to get them ALL out but the owner simply wants to sell it and the new owner may be happy with the condition...even after the first wash!

I know, it sounds unethical but you're doing this work for the current owner, not the future owner.

**Goonie75** · 11-10-2018, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Paul A.

What I am about to say here goes against me and everything i stand for but...

If the owner wants to display it in the showroom to unload it quicker, maybe just fill in the few that remain with a filler wax. You've done a great job cleaning up the huge amount of imperfections. Plus, if you're like me, it seems a challenge to get them ALL out but the owner simply wants to sell it and the new owner may be happy with the condition...even after the first wash!

I know, it sounds unethical but you're doing this work for the current owner, not the future owner.

Thanks paul. I'm pretty happy. 580 days on the lot... ready to move it. I will post the whole project soon... it was nuts

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