autogeekonline car wax, car care and auto detailing forum Autogeek on TV
car wax, car care and auto detailing forumAutogeekonline autogeekonline car wax, car care and auto detailing forum HomeForumBlogAutogeek.net StoreDetailing Classes with Mike PhillipsGalleryDetailing How To's
 
Results 1 to 5 of 5
  1. #1
    Newbie Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    23
    Post Thanks / Like

    1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...

    So, I was able to acquire a 1998 Mitsubishi 3000GT in Caracas Red. It has been quite an experience getting it back on the road and the paint, while in good shape, needed some help.

    When I got it a month and a half ago, I washed it, clayed it, and put some Bead Maker on it. Washed it weekly since acquisition and hit it with Bead Maker every other wash. Two weeks ago, ordered a GG9 and GG8 along with some 5.5 inch ThinPro pads. I also ordered a 5.5 inch vented backing plate as the body of the car has several smaller areas. To be honest, I have virtually no experience using polishers, so I knew it was going to be a challenge but tried to do as much research as possible on this site.

    The car has single stage paint, which made me more apprehensive due to not having real hands-on work time with polishers. However, thanks to Mike Phillips and all the others on this site who shared their experiences, I felt I could put together a game plan.

    Upon inspecting the paint, I noticed multiple water spots on the hood and on some other areas. I ran across a thread started by another member about hard water spots, and asked some questions in an effort to see how I should approach the water spot removal. Mike was kind enough to make some recommendations on how to get started with remediating the water spots while leaving as much paint on the car as possible. Some of the following is copied from that thread to save some typing time, so apologies in advance if some of you have seen that thread.

    I originally planned to do a chemical decontamination, but saw some feedback that iron removers might leave stains on single stage paint. Do not know if that it correct, but decided against it as a precaution. After washing and claying to remove Bead Maker (to be honest, only confirmation I had that the Bead Maker was gone was less water beading) I used the GG9 polisher (with 5 inch vented GG plate and 5.5 inch pads) and tried a test spot with the white LC ThinPro Pads. As I saw Mike’s recommendation for an AIO since we were dealing with single stage paint (and I have no paint thickness gauge) I went with 3D HD Speed. Test spot on the hood turned out pretty good, so proceeded cautiously over the rest of the car.

    As I worked my way around the car, it was going well, as the hood came out quite nice. Moved to the doors, and all was well as the 3D HD Speed was easy to work with for this inexperienced polishing person. Since I have shade/sun challenges behind the house, I decided to work on the roof of the car next, which rendered more paint than the previous areas. It polished/AIO'ed up nice, but seeing that much paint was a bit scary (to be honest, If I had started there I probably would have stopped for fear of not having 25 white ThinPro pads). Continued with the back of the car, which also rendered more paint than expected but was workable, as I followed Mike's advice in other articles about having a good amount of pads. Had 10 of the 5.5 inch pads to start, and wound up going through 9 of them. Use the GG8 and 3 inch ThinPro pads for the smaller areas where I could.

    Overall, the 3D HD Speed AIO left some expected imperfections, but considering the inconsistent paint (some areas seemed to behave like single stage, some like clear coat) I am happy with how it looks. The water spots are gone, save for a couple in different areas of the vehicle. Here are some of the pictures:

    1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...-11886ecc-8ef2-4882-bdc6-52e3eb87078b-jpeg


    1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...-59e78f94-b445-4860-9c03-89dee339ab8e-jpeg

    1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...-2fbcbc5a-054f-424b-ac5c-ec81f8b5ae79-jpeg


    1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...-bf3a0a14-6fe8-46b6-adfe-9d4b7f683002-jpeg

    I do want to thank Mike for his guidance/advice, as it helped remove some of the concerns I had on doing this car as my first paint correction. I know it can probably be better, but I feel like I've done well without removing too much paint (I have no ideas of the paint history of the car, and don't have a paint thickness gauge...yet).

    Also, thanks to the other forum members who posted questions and advice throughout the site which made things easier and helped quell some fears I had in doing this.

    Some final observations (from someone with virtually no experience):


    • Know Your Outcome and Limitations - I obviously want the car to look as good as possible. I did as much research as I could, and tried to recognize what I could reasonably execute given the tools I had and my experience (or lack thereof).
    • Supplies - Make sure you have plenty of polishing pads, clean and inspected microfiber towels, and other supplies. Try to lay out what you can in advance, as once you get into a rhythm you don’t want any avoidable momentum/concentration busters (in my case I had limited space and did not prepare an area to place used towels and pads, basic right??).
    • Be sure to monitor your plan as you go along. For us inexperienced folks, this means regular evaluation of what you are doing and the results you are achieving. I can guarantee my car isn’t anywhere near perfect, but it is quite an improvement from where it was.
    • Have Fun And Enjoy!


    Thanks for reading this, hopefully it can help others!

  2. #2
    Super Member WillSports3's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Toronto, ON
    Posts
    1,453
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: 1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...

    I love seeing things like this, because there is always a first step. Most people don't start off by picking up a paint thickness gauge and 3 polishers and start doing an 100% paint correction. This is a great way to do your first polishing job, and the car came out great.
    2016 Mazda 3 Sports GT
    2015 Lexus IS250 F Sport

  3. Thanks jps832 thanked for this post
    Likes oneheadlite liked this post
  4. #3
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: 1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...

    Nice Show-N-Shine article.


    Thank you for such a nice job writing up and sharing your project car, which by the way is a very cool car in its own right.

    Taking on the ownership of becoming your own detailer versus finding a professional detailer and trusting them with your car and also trusting that actually know what the are doing is a step not taken lightly.

    You did your research and then invested in tools, pads and products. You also researched the proper techniques to detail your own car via machine polishing.

    Your car has single stage paint with light water spotting and again - instead of jumping in head-first, you joined this forum and continued your research to find out as much information possible about this type of paint and also the type of water spots on/in the paint.

    After all the research you took action and the results speak for themselves.

    Nice work.

    I'm confident others will find this Show-N-Shine thread on our forum and will be inspired by your success and more important - copy your path to success by starting with research and learning.

    I know it sounds like a broken record when I say or more specifically, type, I have an article on this topic, but I do have an article on this topic and probably a few. But here's the one that comes to mind,

    Detailing cars starts with the brain - not the buffer -Mike Phillips





    And - here's something that's very true - while you can find great detailers, people that know what they are doing and will treat your car as if it were their own, (I have an article on this too), the truth is - no one will ever care about and even love your car as much as you do and because of this - YOU will take more care and pay more attention when doing the detail work to make sure that everything that can be done is done to take your car's finish to it's maximum potential.


    Thank you for joining our forum when there are so many Facebook Groups you could have joined to seek help.

    Thank you for your trust. And thank you for your business.



  5. Thanks jps832 thanked for this post
    Likes PaulMys liked this post
  6. #4
    Super Member Sizzle Chest's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Naples, FL
    Posts
    5,880
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: 1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...

    Great work jumping in on that cool car! Looks very good and you should be proud that you did it on your own and were rewarded with a great looking finish!
    Scott Harle
    Autodermatology
    #autodermatology


  7. #5
    Newbie Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    23
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: 1998 3000GT Paint Correction Experience By The Inexperienced...

    Really appreciate the comments!

Similar Threads

  1. 1998 Civic Paint Correction (Newbie)
    By kevin_1981 in forum Show N' Shine
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 04-25-2014, 11:45 PM
  2. 1998 VMAX correction
    By kirkatizer in forum Show N' Shine
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-30-2014, 09:57 PM
  3. Replies: 13
    Last Post: 04-20-2013, 01:09 PM
  4. First Paint Correction Experience
    By jbnery6465 in forum Auto Detailing 101
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 01-15-2010, 10:43 AM
  5. Replies: 11
    Last Post: 09-26-2009, 09:54 PM

Members who have read this thread: 0

There are no members to list at the moment.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

» March 2024

S M T W T F S
2526272829 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 123456