First Place for Worst Paint - 1942 Olds Extreme Makeover

[EVOlved]

Wow no responses to how this went tonight I guess it beat everyone up.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow no responses to how this went tonight I guess it beat everyone up.

I'd say yes... this was a tuff buff...

A couple of guys asked me if we could get better results by wetsanding the paint and the answer is "yes" except that I personally didn't want the responsibility for completing a full wetsand cut and buff without making any mistakes on paint this neglected and I also knew it that to do it right and to do it safely would require starting on a Saturday morning when everyone is fresh, not at the end of the day after everyone including me has already put in a full day's work.

So we cut her hard using M100, then polished and then waxed and stuck a fork it her and called her done.

Hang tight for the after pictures.... one thing for sure... I'm really glad I documented the heck out of the before condition... it's just too easy for people to forget where we started from....

[Pinpoint_Precision]

Wow, that looked disgusting for a beautiful car. I can't wait to see the after.

[Tato]

Wow, that looked disgusting for a beautiful car. I can't wait to see the after.

+1 here, can't wait! Just too busy today, but I'll be following the updates. Hope everything went fine.

[Mike Phillips]

First, here's the products we ended up using...




The shop sounded like a Hornets Nest with all the rotary buffer chopping on the car. Here's a shot of the buffing pads we used for the first step with the M100





Hang tight as I take process the after shots....

[EVOlved]

Had to sneak in a teaser there huh Mike. Looks like all the hard effort paid off.

[Mike Phillips]

First step was to compound this paint job hard. For this we used the Meguiar's M100 Pro Speed Compound which is specifically formulated for use with wool pads on rotary buffers. I know some of you guys use it with foam pads on dual action polishers and more power to you but I trust the chemists at Meguiar's to actually know what they're doing.


Here's Den chopping on the trunk lid.... Den knows a little bit about working on black cars.




Here's John running a DeWalt 849X, this is a beast of a rotary buffer....




Down if front is Jim and Jim actually works for Florida Sportsfisherman and not only is he a car guy he's also a boat guy!. Jim's using a Makita rotary buffer.





This is my buddy Jeff and Jeff is a truly a master behind a rotary buffer. He can make a rotary buffer dance over the paint while making using one of these tools as easy as using a Porter Cable 7424XP....





Up top working on the roof is Chris, Chris is also a "Car Guy" and we may see his 1941 Cadillac Convertible here at the show car garage in the next week or two....





Mr. Robert DiTerrlizzi! Wheeling the hood to perfection! I think Robert was given a rotary buffer to play with as a kid growing up instead of toys because he sure knows how to use one!





Back to Jeff chopping away on the paint on the hood....









Teamwork gets the job done right and fast....





This is Craig using a DeWALT 849X

Note his hand on top of the D-Handle? I recommend taking the D-Handle off of these tools and throwing them away. I keep on a few on some of the tools for teaching purposes. The fact is, the farther your hand is away from the head of the tool the more energy is required to control the buffer and the more the buffer will wear down your arm and shoulder muscles.




Place your hand on the head of the buffer
Now look behind Robert and see how Craig has slid his hand under the D-handle and placed it right on top of the head of the DeWALT rotary buffer? That's how you make controlling a rotary buffer a lot easier and a lot less taxing or exhausting to you.

Also in the below picture you'll see Robert, he's using the brand new Makita and not his hand is right on top of the head of the buffer.




#2 Production Flex PE14
This is my personal Flex PE14 with the #2 Serial Number for production units given to me by Bob Eichelberg, the President of Flex Power Tools North America when the Flex PE14 was introduced to the market.




Here's Frank working on the passenger side....




And back to Den working on the back of the Olds....




Al joined us too, here he is wiping compound off the hood....

[Mike Phillips]

We started at about 4:30pm and finished the rotary work by around 7:00pm and that was perfect timing to take a Pizza break!

[Mike Phillips]

Next up.... machine polishing.....

For this polishing step the first product I tried was Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish but it actually dulled the results down created by M100 and was a real paint to wipe off. My guess is that because this is an old single stage paint for whatever reason the paint just didn't take well to the M205 formula which is a real exception to the rule because M205 works on just about anything.

That's why we test to a small spot first before buffing out an entire car.


Next I tried M82 Swirl Free Polish and also M86 Solo Cut & Polish Cream and the M82 gave us the best results so that's what we went with using Lake Country Black foam finishing pads as well as Meguiar's black foam finishing pads. I let the guys pick whichever dual action polisher they preferred.

As you look through the pictures, notice the gloss and clarity of the paint....



Here's Frank using the Flex 3401





Jeff with the Flex 3401





In the back is Craig with a PC and in the front is John with a Flex 3401





Here's Al going to town with the PC....





Here's Chris using a Flex 3401 with a 5" Hybrid black foam finishing pad on the LC 4" backing plate.





John on the front of the roof....





Looking good and ready for machine waxing!

[Justin at Final Inspection]

WOW!!! Looks like you put the guys to work on this one Mike!!!!! Looking forward to the after shots!!