I need to figure out if the paint on the hood of a Black 2007 Chevy HHR can be saved. Looks like a company had their logo stickers on it for while and when they removed them..the glue shadows were left even after the remains were completely removed. I imagine its clear coat damage. Is is worth saving or just a waste of time and effort. If it can be saved or almost saved what would be a good recommendation to start of with..
If that was my hood I would go with a chemical paint cleaner first then do it as usual starting least aggressive to see what could be done without removing excessive clear unnecessarily. Are you sure that that is not a wrap job?
I had thought about orange and Menz. Power G...? Rotary or DA?
What buffer do you have?
Originally Posted by tuscarora dave
If that was my hood I would go with a chemical paint cleaner first then do it as usual starting least aggressive to see what could be done without removing excessive clear unnecessarily. Are you sure that that is not a wrap job?
He is right try the least aggressive method first, I should have said that. A chemical paint cleaner is a good idea, and if that doesnt help hit it with a buffer and ideally you would try different polishes working your way up in aggressiveness.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
Anytime a panel needs work it's always worth a try with the exception of extreme and obvious cases or course. Any damage that penetrates the color or clear coat of obvious mechanical damage and will require painting.
I would perform a test spot directly over the ghosting from the sticker.
Clean throughly with something like Pep-Sol body wash or mineral spirits
Spray some APC on the area and wash with your normal car wash solution
I was able to save a white van with lettering that imprinted like that but being that yours is black and on a hood it may be more difficult .
If buffing doesnt work you may try colorsanding with a sanding block and then buffing with a rotary again .
maybe just try a little area first so you dont waste a lot of time if it cant be corrected.
Great advice...
Defects are either topical, that is on the top surface, or into the layer of paint itself. Imprints will be like a depression in the paint, I've seen reverse imprints also where it looks like the paint raised...
Also, one other issue is fading... it's possible the color coat under the clear coat will show different colors, shadowing from where the sun shined on the color coat and where the sun was blocked from reaching the color coat.
If there's fading, because the color coat is under the clear coat, there's nothing you can do to fix the problem except repaint.
Do a test section, even tape off over an area and only work on one side of the tape that way you can more accurately gauge your progress or lack thereof...
Well I followed a bit of everyones advise, mixed it all in and came up with..
- Flex Rotary @ 1200 rpm, several passes with LC orange pad and Mezerna PG.
- Flex 3401 DA and white pad with Mezerna IP.
- Flex 3401 DA and Black Pad with Mezerna FP.
- Flex 3401 DA and Black Pad with FMJ.
Results came out nice. Under close inspection you can still see the imprints below..still there..but nothing more I could do. Thank you all for the advice.
Do you think I used the right pads with the products or could I have gotten a better result with a different combination? I think I may have messed-up with the FMJ/Blk pad..
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Originally Posted by hudson1gua
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