1987 Buick Grand National

**jlb85** · 07-27-2010, 10:51 AM

This Grand National was in great shape. Mostly original, mint interior and engine bay, nice wheels. It had been repainted from the doors back at some point in its life. The paint thickness was higher in these areas, and they looked better than the original, orange-peel-infested, factory paint. But the front fenders and roof were original. The owner wanted to correct the orange peel and repair damage from a previous detailer. During the initial inspection I discussed options with the owner. Since the paint on the fenders was so thin, it would be hard to wetsand. We would see what we could do. I had some ideas involving some sanding discs imported from Europe recently, but I was doubtful it would turn out to our standards.

We arrived on location a few days later. The vehicle was clean.

A previous detailer had "wheeled it out" recently. Not only did he not correct the swirls and RIDS, but introduced his own hint of gray to the car. I did not think we could repair damage this severe on this car.

Trunk/rear spoiler area:

Hood:

Dirty:

We started by washing the wheels and tires:

Washing consisted of our normal foam-rinse-foam-wash-rinse-clay-foam-wash-rinse-dry procedure:

clay after a segment of the hood:

**jlb85** · 07-27-2010, 10:52 AM

(continued)

This car has lots of trim, and all of it original. Much care needed to be taken to keep the polishing pad off the trim and prevent burning and splatter. Good thing we have a large selection of tape widths.

Paint thickness measurements show higher than factory side panels:

The front fenders show typical paint readings for the 86-87 paint, as did the roof:

Hard to read, but it reads 80 micrometers. Scary thin paint.

The trunk had some areas with excess paint. High readings just inches from lower readings. It seems the painter pooled paint when spraying the c-pillar to trunk transition, with the trunk on the vehicle:

We divided up sections of the vehicle for testing methods. Since the paint varied from area to area, we were afraid we would have to attack each panel with a new combo. Here Marc works a section of the hood with a blue pad, verifying the compounding process can be cleared up:

The hood cleared up quite nice with one combo: Menz 203 on orange:

IP cleared up the defects much better:

The door required more power, the RIDS were too severe. But with the paint being rather thick, we pulled out the big gun: M105 on a Surbuf pad with the Griots DA. The orange foam pad was just not cutting enough.

**jlb85** · 07-27-2010, 10:54 AM

(continued)

For the fenders, we were to try to remove the orange peel. We had recently ordered some foam sanding discs from Europe, which are designed to work on the electric DA. We pulled out a few sheets of the 3000 grit. Remember, this paint is ultra thin.

Using fine sanding discs permitted us to polish out sanding marks with the safest of methods: M105 on the DA with an orange pad.

After the process was fine tuned, we attacked the other fender. Here is the fender after being polished for swirls and RIDS. Notice the reflection:

Inspecting after first pass of sanding:

Polishing after a few sanding passes:

Looking much better:

Marc refines the area to achieve max clarity:

The intention was to mimic the orange peel on the rest of the car. Very little paint was removed with our process, and the result was better than expected.

Other areas of the car were still not up to standards after heavy compounding:

The roof was the worst area both in terms of paint being thin and oxidation of the single stage paint. Marc went over it with M205 on a white pad. It is hard to see in this light, but the difference is still great:

Roof before:

**jlb85** · 07-27-2010, 10:55 AM

(continued)

With the great results from the fender and our very slight material removal rate, the owner decided to take this car to the next level. We wet-sanded the entire car except the roof.

Nose:

Passenger side door and fender done:

Working on trunk:

After sanding, Marc polished with the Griots paired with M105 on a Surbuf. I followed with M205 on a white pad on the Makita rotary, followed by Ultrafina on a blue pad on the Makita. So yep, we sanded and polished with a DA, the refined with a rotary. Worked like a charm.

It was dark by the time we finished with the polishers. We pulled the vehicle out to give it a final wash:

After drying, the vehicle was sealed with Menz Power Lock via PC. The end result was beyond what we had expected. The owner was floored. We could almost see a tear in his eye as he saw his baby bought back to proper glory.

Again, the intent for this wetsanding was not to totally eliminate the orange peel, but make it look factory original to match the rest of the car. Making the finish smoother would require heavier sanding discs or many passes with the 3000, either would require more compounding and finishing up as well. With the approach we took we were able to have the car done in 10 hours, correct in the 98% range (excluding roof), eliminate any remains of the damage done by the previous detailer, and really bring back the finish on this beauty. The owner was beyond satisfied.

Thanks for looking!

**eversio** · 07-27-2010, 12:15 PM

WOW! is all I can say!

We could almost see a tear in his eye as he saw his baby bought back to proper glory.

That's what it's all about!

Mike Phillips · 07-27-2010, 01:07 PM

Amazing work.

There's a local guy with the same car in the same condition that I've been hoping to get here for an extreme makeover... this inspires me to contact him...

**Indy YZF** · 07-27-2010, 01:18 PM

Freaking amazing. I'll be showing my wife this thread, she loves those Grand Nationals.

**Tom Weed** · 07-27-2010, 01:21 PM

I second that, WOW is right... Very impressive!!!

**Yellow06GT** · 07-27-2010, 01:27 PM

Incredible job. I am really impressed. It took a lot of guts to wet sand it with paint that thin but it looks better than new.

I live in Shelby Township. The next time you guys do another clinic, and I am in town, I would like to come out.