Vandalized 2006 black Corsa (Popular Car) - Removing Super Glue

[Tato]

Greetings.

This work was a bit different from what I receive generally (full details).

Long history short, owner came to me after looking for other 2 professionals who suggested a new paint job for her entire car, after it being vandalized with 'Super Glue'.

Looking at what happened, I though I could at least try something to save that poor Madam... It's not a luxury car, neither a classic, it's a popular GM Corsa 'Joy' 2006.

But 'if it has paint', it can (and have to) be polished!

On that day, I was able to test and remove the glue from the hood and polished it to a high gloss. She went home very happy after what happened and scheduling full removal.

I don't have before pictures from that day, just the after when the car arrived for full service. It was badly glued like the rest of car you can see on pictures.

Just to advance, I've tried some solvents with much care (like Acetone), but results were little to absent. The risks of using it was much higher than benefits in this case.

Yesterday she came with the car for the full work.

Follow the before / after,

Pictures:
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Car's fully messed up with Glue, more on horizontal panels but also some drops on vertical panels as well






Here's the after from my test spot (whole hood) the day she came after me, a bit dusty, but looking good!:


Thoroughly Wash followed by clay to start


Sanded every spot of glue I could find around the whole car, 1500/2000/3000.


Used Flex 3401 + Hybrid Wool Pad with Menzerna FG400 to compound the whole car where 6.5" fitted.


Depending on area being compounded, I've used more (picture above) or less (bellow picture) product.


Less for this area:


Hybrid wool pad was used on 4 speed, medium pressure and 6-8 passes. It just kicks swirls **s, defects were literally vanished from the paint. However, in some points it finished a bit hazy.

After compounding, the whole car was polished with White Hybrid Pad and SF4000 (3-4 passes on speed 5), and haze / minor swirls was absolutely gone.

On smaller parts, I've equipped the Flex with 5" Hybrid Orange Pad and FG400 on a LC 4" backing plate.


Door 'Pilars' swirled and spot sanded:


Swirls went away, but I had to re-sand a bit more to get rid of all the glue on that place. Here's the de-swirled RE-sanded part:


Finished part (notice minor swirls to be removed by SF4000 later on):


Here are some finished pictures after sealing the job with Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint sealant. I've used 3401 on speed 3.2 (lol) with Meguiar's 6.5" finishing pad.







That's it.

Owner went away very happy with her 'new paint job'.

Hope you've liked,

*Forgot to say (sorry), glue was removed from glass using a razor blade with #34 Final Inspection. Then it was cleaned with Pinnacle Waterspot Remover and sealed with the same sealant used on paint (WGDGPS3.0).

Questions, comments, critics, suggestions... always, welcome!

Thank you everyone for watching.

Kind Regards.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Dang Rafael! Very nice work removing the glue from the paint! That little Opal looks great now.

Looks like you are quickly getting used to the Flex!

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

Awesome job and you sure saved her a good bit of $$$.

[Paul Mitchell]

Great job. It looks so much better!

[Angler]

What a turnaround! Great job!

[JSou]

The real deal. What a way to bring it back. Great job.

[cire]

Dude, great job!

quick question,,?,, when she first came by for you to evaluate her car, you said you fixed a spot on her hood, correct? For this, did you also spot sand and compound that small section as well or just compound it? How long did it take to spot sand all those areas even before the compounding?

I would have loved to have seen her face when you presented the completed job!

[billboard2001]

Nice work on pulling that glue off! I sometimes don't understand why people do what they do to others' cars :-(

[Tato]

Greetings, thank you all for feedback.

I appreciate your answers, and it really adds to my knowledge knowing your thoughts.

@cire, while evaluating I first thought of using a chemical agent. I went with Acetone (first that comes in mind for cured glue stains), on the least visible spot I could get. Being very cautious treating stain by stain was going to be an impossible mission. Also, I couldn't notice any worth improvement in this case.

It became clear that I would have to abrade it somehow, and as always, I've tried the least abrasive method (some polishing pad and medium polish) and the 'test spot told me' I had to step up, a lot.

I went right through MF cutting pads (4" LC) and M100 compound. On that day, I was using a G220v2 DA.

Just compounding made stains brighter, but didn't got the 'pick' for precisely pulling them out. If I was to be compounding until trying to completely remove the stains, I'm pretty sure the paint around would 'came out' first...

Then I've opted to spot sand one stain. The hood was chosen for test, mainly because:

1 - It was giving the worst look to the car, and that was making client afflict.

2 - It's position allows me to do my best performance due to it's height and size. This to reduce the amount of factors controlling the outcome.

3 - It looks great polished!

All decisions and testing were made in a question of little minutes. In no time I was gently scrubbing the first stain with 1500, refining through 3000 and now doing less passes with DA just to get rid of 3000 scratches.

When I've noticed that worked, I've quickly sanded every stain over the hood (not many, maybe 15, 20) down to 3000 then removed with MF and M100.

The same haze observed in one of my pictures above with wool occurred with MF and M100, but in that case I've 'lighten' the haze with white flat polishing pad and M205, mostly 4-5 passes the entire hood at the same time.
PS: Compounding was done by sections.

To follow Meguiar's line I was using that day, I've quickly hand waxed with Ultimate Paste Wax and while scheduling and arranging everything I've let it cure a bit and wiped off, leaving the hood 'flawless' (modesty apart, please).

I estimate total sanding time for whole car was around 1:30-2:00 hours, but I can't say precisely. There were many stains and some were in difficult to access areas. I've done everything slow to avoid letting something pass away, but also measured risks/benefits - some stains I've sanded less, some I've sanded more.

I've also worked 3000 grit for slightly more time to make removal of sanding scratches as easy as possible, without letting marks.

Hope I could answer your questions, thanks for that.

Kind Regards.

[Tato]

Greetings,

After looking around here I've found more pictures I would like to share with you. Some outside pictures and a before/after of a touch-up I did to avoid bumper peeling, and also removed some scratches.

I've recommended owner to search professional help to re-paint this bumper. This small repair / touch up was done just to 'hide' temporally and avoid even more damage.

Hope you enjoy:

Bumper condition when vehicle was being prepared for paint correction:


Job done, car already outside:


More distance and it's even less noticeable:


Front view:


Thank you all for watching,

Kind Regards.