Paint Correction 2001 Sapphire RT/10

[01sapphirebob]

I had a little extra time this morning so I decided to take a couple pics of my '01 so everyone can see what I will be working with. One of my friends thinks i'm crazy and that my paint looks fine. I can see the "damage" and I think the pics will show this as well.

THE TEST SUBJECT

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HERE IS THE FRONT FASCIA. A LOT OF WORK WILL NEED TO BE DONE ON THIS. I AM NOT EXPECTING IT TO BE PERFECT WHEN I'M DONE BUT CLOSE TO PERFECT WILL BE GOOD.

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RIGHT FRONT FENDER

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PASSENGER SIDE DOOR.

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[01sapphirebob]

Trunk lid.

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right rear quater panel.

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left rear quater panel.

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left front fender.

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getting ever so closer to starting this project. I'm still conflicted on how to dry the car. I tried a leaf blower last night and that seemed to be worthless. The pooling rinse seems to work pretty well but it will not get everything. Stll have some time to decide.

 

[Slithr]

Bob, I'd agree with you, you're friends just don't know how a Viper 'should' look. I think you'll surprise yourself, as most of that looks like it'll polish out well. Take my advise and don't try to do the whole car, I've learned (the hard way) one panel at a time is best. Good Luck, looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Junkman2008]

getting ever so closer to starting this project. I'm still conflicted on how to dry the car. I tried a leaf blower last night and that seemed to be worthless. The pooling rinse seems to work pretty well but it will not get everything. Stll have some time to decide.

Air Force Master Blaster baby! That thing is the bomb!

 

[azvipermike]

here is mine after 12 hours of doing the same!

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[01sapphirebob]

here is mine after 12 hours of doing the same!

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Looks good. Can't wait to get to work on mine!.

 

[01sapphirebob]

So I'm hoping to start my project tomorrow. With an 80% chance of rain however I'm not so sure. Fingers crossed.

 

[01sapphirebob]

Project started today. The rain held off long enough for me to get the car washed. I have some pics I will post later. Polishing is going o.k. I think i'm rushing my work so I hope to slow down a bit tomorrow. Still seeing swirl marks when i'm able to since there is not a lot of sun light today. Or for the rest of this week for that matter. Pic's later....!!!!

 

[Slithr]

Slow down .... take your time, there is no prize for finishing first. I made the same mistake, I thought I had the car flawless under garage lightning, just to pull it outside and see many missed swirls. When I do it again, I'll go one panel at a time and inspect in the sun in-between. Its too much work to not be satisfied when finished.

 

[01sapphirebob]

Slow down .... take your time, there is no prize for finishing first. I made the same mistake, I thought I had the car flawless under garage lightning, just to pull it outside and see many missed swirls. When I do it again, I'll go one panel at a time and inspect in the sun in-between. Its too much work to not be satisfied when finished.

Agreed. My hands are killing me from the little bit I did. I touched four panels with the polisher and got some stuff that I knew was there to disappear but like you mentioned after getting out in the sun I don't want to be surprised by more swirls that I thought were polished out. At one point I gave up on a particular panel and moved on to another. Hoping to get an early start tomorrow. Pics coming soon...

 

[01sapphirebob]

O.k. So as I mentioned earlier I started my paint correction today. Literally after I finished washing the car I pulled it into the garage to dry it off and it rained about a minute later so luck was on my side. Now...we get to some pics.

The Beast is getting read for her initial rinse. I installed my inline water softener before the initial rinse. I know I don't necessarily need to do that but with a dark color on the car I like to reduce the water spotting as much as possible.

Next I gave the car a foam bath. I still love to use the foaming sprayer.

Next we were on two the TWO bucket wash method. I had two buckets and a total of four different washing pads.

After the wash I moved on to the final rinse.Again, the inline water softener really helps with cutting down on the water spots.

As I mentioned I moved the car onto the garage to dry it since the sky was looking pretty grey and the wind was picking up a bit. Now, this is an area where I cut a corner to save on time plus I figured since i'm correcting the paint anyway whats a few more towel marks gonna hurt. So I dried the car with the cheapo Micro Fiber towels I had.

From there I moved onto Paint Cleaning Clay. This stuff is amazing. The difference in feel and look of my paint was night and day. Just running your hand over the area that was just clayed versus an area that was not is mind blowing.

I took a couple pics inside the garage after claying and a couple outside. Again, amazing results.
INSIDE

OUTSIDE

 

[01sapphirebob]

After the clay I was ready to move on to the polishing. I am using the Griots system so the kit I purchased comes with their "Machine Polish 3" which is a pretty mild polish and is used primarily for removing toweling marks so this polish is right up my ally.

The Griots 6" random orbital

Machine polish 3

I was only able to get to a few panel today but here are the results so far. Not what I was expecting but like with everything it's gonna take time. I'm hoping to slow my pace a little tomorrow but still get the whole car polished and maybe start on wax. The car does look fantastic in the pics however.

So more work tomorrow. I think the rain will clear out for a little while so I will be able to get the car into some natural light to see what kind of progress i'm making. Stay tuned......

 

[01sapphirebob]

Well the weather was beautiful here today so I was able to get back out to the garage and work on the paint again. I spent a lot of time out there and feel I have hit a speed bump/road block. I spent a good amount of time on several panels and while they look much improved as you will see in some pics...I still have swirl marks. Maybe Junkman can offer some suggestions. There are a couple things that come to mind. Perhaps my paint is in worst shape then I originally thought and so a more aggressive polish is needed or my technique is not good. I'm pretty sure my technique is o.k. Polisher is turned up to six. Applying pressure when needed on difficult areas. So all I can figure is I need a more aggressive polish.

I have put down the orbital for the season I think since time will be scarce now but I will continue to clean up my '01 during the fall. The whole underside needs a good cleaning so thats what i'm moving onto. I do have some before and after pics however....

TRUNK LID BEFORE

AFTER

RIGHT REAR FENDER BEFORE

AFTER

PASSENGER SIDE DOOR BEFORE

AFTER

I decided to wax all the panels I polished since I put the clear coat through all that work. Alright, so if anybody has any other suggestions please pass them along. I would really love to hear what everyone have to say to help me get this project on the right track.

 

[thompsonracing]

Nice results! I do recommend saving those cheap microfibers for engine bays and door jams. One of the reasons you are probably still seeing swirl marks is you have caused swirls too deep for the PC to remove. Buy some quality microfiber!

 

[01sapphirebob]

Nice results! I do recommend saving those cheap microfibers for engine bays and door jams. One of the reasons you are probably still seeing swirl marks is you have caused swirls too deep for the PC to remove. Buy some quality microfiber!

Thanks for the compliment. Would moving to a more aggressive polish help things along? Griots has four polishes with #1 being the most agressive. If you use 1 you have to follow it up with 2. If you start with 2 you have to follow it up with 3. I started with three since I didnt think my
paint was that bad and according to Griots for lite scratches that's what they suggest starting with.

 

[thompsonracing]

I haven't used Griots in a long time, but yes, a more aggressive polish will remove deaper scratches. You will need to follow up with 2 and 3 if you use 1.

You made the right decision by starting with the least aggressive polish. You can always go more aggressive.

BTW, we're holding a clinic in central PA in a couple weeks. I recommend attending. You'll learn a ton of tricks on proper polishing techniques. Dylan from Adam's will be running the Polishing segment of the clinic.

 

[Stretch]

Car looks fantastic Bob!!

 

[01sapphirebob]

Car looks fantastic Bob!!

Thanks Stretch!!! The panels that I have done regardless if I think they are perfect or not do look amazing. Heck, the whole car looked ten times better just after ising the Paint Cleaning Clay. It's not done either. It's sleeping for the winter now so I have some time to figure out how I want to finish the car. Can't decided if I should move to one of their more aggressive polishes or not. I probably will though. The panels I did do I must have went over five or six times with the polish that had come with my kit. Anything to cut down on the time i'm spending on one panel. I did not even touch the hood. Too big of a piece to start and not finish. Looking forward to getting her finished though.

 

[01sapphirebob]

I haven't used Griots in a long time, but yes, a more aggressive polish will remove deaper scratches. You will need to follow up with 2 and 3 if you use 1.

You made the right decision by starting with the least aggressive polish. You can always go more aggressive.

BTW, we're holding a clinic in central PA in a couple weeks. I recommend attending. You'll learn a ton of tricks on proper polishing techniques. Dylan from Adam's will be running the Polishing segment of the clinic.

Thanks for the advice and for the heads up on the detail clinic!! Right now i'm leaning more towards moving to a more aggressive polish. If I had all the time in the world I would continue with the polish I have right now but with two little ones running around it's just not possible.

 

[01sapphirebob]

*UPDATE*

So with the weather beginning to break and the cars coming out of hibernation I had the winter to decide what direction I wanna take this project. I plan on taking the slow approach and do one panel at a time and get my RT/10's paint up to ***** that way. I also decided to purchase the entire line of Griot's polishes to cut down on time. So heres to happy polishing and I can't wait to get started back up.