Detailed my Jeep to sell it. Looks better than before, but I suck at paint correction!

Hi everyone, thanks for having me.

I took it upon myself to detail my first car, a Jeep Patriot. Top to bottom, seats out, shampooing/extracting, dressing the dash/etc, paint correction with a rotary. It sure looks better than it did before, but I was really disappointed with my results with a rotary (on black paint, I should have known better as a beginner).

The car looks entirely better than before, but I can't wait to get rid of it. That was the whole point anyway.

Can't wait to learn more about paint correction because I suck at it right now!

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Originally Posted by planestrainsandcars

Hi everyone, thanks for having me.

I took it upon myself to detail my first car, a Jeep Patriot. Top to bottom, seats out, shampooing/extracting, dressing the dash/etc, paint correction with a rotary. It sure looks better than it did before, but I was really disappointed with my results with a rotary (on black paint, I should have known better as a beginner).

The car looks entirely better than before, but I can't wait to get rid of it. That was the whole point anyway.

Can't wait to learn more about paint correction because I suck at it right now!

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Any pictures of all the holograms that you instilled in that black paint?:laughing:

Ah, I wish! So you guys could give me tips. I just waxed over it. It's looking good now, but I gave up on correcting it. It looked better than it did before. In the dark garage, it was down to the orange peel (no more oxidation, just nice black mirror-like orange peel.). Didn't want to go through the orange peel as I'm a beginner and didn't know where to stop, but I was satisfied with just seeing it. But to my horror, when I took a shop light to the paint and really looked at it, I could see every pass I made with the rotary!! I went from turtle wax rubbing compound --> meguiars 105 --> meguiars ultimate polish. Don't ask me how I came up with those steps, I had no idea what I was doing but tried my best. I believe I spent way too much time in the rubbing compound stage, leaving tons of rotary scratches and haze, and then sped through the other stages (105, UC, UP), which left me with tons of scratches from the first round with rubbing compound. I think that's at least one of the problems. Feel free to call me an idiot. Really just a naive beginner I guess. Rushing the job too.

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. Everyone makes a big mistake or two :)

I left buffing compound on my car in the cracks between body panels for a few days after it was painted and I had finished up wet sanding it. Well by the time I finally (attempted to) remove it, the compound turned rock hard and to this day 3 years later there's still some compound stuck on said car.

Least you didn't wax the plastic trim.

Rubbing compound and Megs 105 with a rotary? You're lucky there's any paint left on there at all. :laughing: Always start off with a less aggressive approach and ramp it up from there.

Oh well, you said you plan on selling the vehicle, so chalk it up to a learning experience and don't make the same mistake on your next vehicle.

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Originally Posted by MIsnowman

Rubbing compound and Megs 105 with a rotary? You're lucky there's any paint left on there at all. :laughing: Always start off with a less aggressive approach and ramp it up from there.

Oh well, you said you plan on selling the vehicle, so chalk it up to a learning experience and don't make the same mistake on your next vehicle.

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Definitely a huge learning experience, all of it. I went in with zero detailing experience, interior or exterior.

We started with meguiars ultimate compound and a light foam pad. Wouldn't take anything out. Then tried 105, better, but couldn't get all the deep stuff out and everything still looked like crap.

I'm not sure if some of the scratches just couldn't
come out, (did the water spray test, they disappeared, which I suppose means they are in the clear, rather than through it?). But this jeep, for being 8 years old, was ABUSED. Never parked in a garage. Treated like ####. The rotors were fused with rust and needed a gear puller to come off, and still took a lot. The paint was terrible. So even with my god awful rotary fiasco, this terrible car actually looks better (in direct light!) after two thick coats of paste wax.

But I will never mess around like this on my new car. My girlfriend and I are both getting into paint correction and we aren't sure where we should go from here. We want to study the trade of the rotary and get good, have looked at lessons and classes....but we're thinking maybe a DA is what we need instead. Either way, we will be practicing on junkyard panels in the time being...

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Originally Posted by planestrainsandcars

Definitely a huge learning experience, all of it. I went in with zero detailing experience, interior or exterior.

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Read your butt off on here, and ask questions.

It sounds like that Jeep was totally gone, but going at it the way you did would certainly be harmful to a car with correctable paint.

Will do. We were in a hurry to sell it for other financial reasons, but being in a rush was problem one.

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Originally Posted by planestrainsandcars

Definitely a huge learning experience, all of it. I went in with zero detailing experience, interior or exterior.

We started with meguiars ultimate compound and a light foam pad. Wouldn't take anything out. Then tried 105, better, but couldn't get all the deep stuff out and everything still looked like crap.

I'm not sure if some of the scratches just couldn't
come out, (did the water spray test, they disappeared, which I suppose means they are in the clear, rather than through it?). But this jeep, for being 8 years old, was ABUSED. Never parked in a garage. Treated like ####. The rotors were fused with rust and needed a gear puller to come off, and still took a lot. The paint was terrible. So even with my god awful rotary fiasco, this terrible car actually looks better (in direct light!) after two thick coats of paste wax.

But I will never mess around like this on my new car. My girlfriend and I are both getting into paint correction and we aren't sure where we should go from here. We want to study the trade of the rotary and get good, have looked at lessons and classes....but we're thinking maybe a DA is what we need instead. Either way, we will be practicing on junkyard panels in the time being...

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Yeah, sounds like the paint was probably too far gone to be brought all the way back.

Junkyard panels are a good place to gain some time behind the polisher and learn proper technique.

Also, nothing wrong with a rotary. I prefer the “feel” of the rotary over a free spinning DA and I still use a rotary quite often. I was first taught how to polish paint with an air powered rotary buffer by a neighbor who used to own a body shop for years. We used wool pads and ancient abrasive technology that is not even close to comparable to what’s available today. Try using that combo as a novice if you want to see holograms. :)

My best advice is to read all you can on here because there is a wealth of knowledge and ask questions because there are many people on here that are very willing to help and many of them are the best of the best in the polishing business. Next would be practicing which you’ve already mentioned you plan to do, so I think you’re well on your way. Welcome to a crazy new addiction!

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