PM minimaybee, buy him a few beverages of his choice and he can lead you to the best results possible.

Unfortunately, not much you can do about real fade without a repaint. But you can still make the car look fantastic.

 

I'm in Colorado... Otherwise I'd consider it. Plus, I'd rather learn how to do it myself so I can keep the look going all year.


That may be what happens. We'll see... I'll just deal with the fade I suppose. It's gonna suck though when I get new side skirts and the paint doesn't match.

 

I think you have some names mixed-up. Phil operates Detailers Domain, located in NJ. Nick and Heather operate Detailers Paradise (now called Prima Car Care) located in Denver.

By the sounds of it the car's paint has been neglected for some time. It will take a good sized investment of products, towels, and tools to bring it back.
It is also going to take a lot of work, and not just a few hours, more like a few days.

I don't want to dissuade you from taking it on, just want you to know how much $$$ is involved, several hundred, and the amount of time it's going to take.

You really should consider having the car professionally detailed, then start a regular detailing regime, building up your skill/confidence level, trying and deciding what products work for you.


Mark

 

Whoops! Thanks for the clarification. I know there'll be a lot of money and time involved, and I'm ok with that. I've thought about doing a professional detail, but every decent package has been waaaaaay more expensive than I am willing to pay at this moment. I'd rather put the time and effort in myself if it can be helped anyways, but if Prima CC is located in Denver I may just have a chat with them. Cheers!

 

You should give them a call, they may just do the paint correction/polishing for you, then you can deal with the rest.

Mark

 

I'll talk about the issue of sun fade ...

I've been playing with auto painting for some 7 years now and in my experience base/clear systems don't suffer from severe color fade; at least not near as much as on step color did. The Miata is a great example. To my knowledge the Miata was one of the last cars to change to a base/clear system and a GEN1 (or A) Miata will fade horribly. I know, I owned a red one for 12 years and still know the guy that bought it... and just repainted a fender.

Your MINI probably doesn't have color fade but a rather trashed clear coat. What does that mean in the short and the long? Hopefully U just need a good buffer job. (no chuckels kids) On the other hand if the clear is beginning to lift, or if the buffing (which actually removes some of the clear) exposes the very thin color coat then you are looking at new paint. Won't matter how much you detail or buff .... you can only shine up the clear, not the color. If the clear is gone you R gonna repaint.

 

Yikes!!! I hope it's just the clear then! I noticed the fade back when I removed the "Cooper" badge from the rear hatch a year ago. There was this darker, richer colored "ghost" left over, so maybe it is just the clear. If that's teh case, hopefully someone can just buff it out and I can do the rest of the detailing myself.

 

I would definitely head in to Detailer's Paradise and talk to Nick and Heather. They can for sure point you in the right direction!

 

I echo Lotsie. Bite the bullet and pay up to get the paint corrected professionally. Then take on learning on how to care for it.

I've been screwing around with it for the last 2 years and while I think my car looks pretty good I am def still learning.

Taking a neglected car and teaching yourself to detail is going to be a very, very, very long road to get it looking the way I hear you say you want to get it.

The investment in time spent (yours) and materials acquired is going to be about a wash I reckon.

Nick and Heather should square you up

 

Sounds good. I'll get in touch with them. Cheers all.

 

Good luck with the rehab. Silk Green is a great retired color! Nothing like it since. Keep her looking good!

 

I think you've got a great car to learn on, light green and white, perfect. It's not rocket science. Spend $300 on supplies and have enough product to detail your car for year or pay someone $300 to do it once. I would get Octane Guy to set you up he's a vendor here and will offer support.
He's got a good video too. Take your time. Clean every nook and cranny.

The better you get at detailing the more little stuff you see.
The neighbor kid will wash his car with dishsoap and an old t-shirt and oogle over his swirled up car all day, thinking it looks fantastic.
I get a bird poop mark on the roof and am devistated till I get the buffer out.

Be careful though, its addictive.

 

It can become addictive

I feel though you will get many years out of most products. With most high end products, you use very little in each application, and if proper care is taken with things like towels and pads, they should last a long time.

Mark

 

Very true, most of the cheap stuff is watered down.

 

Prima Car Care is the manufacturer of Prima. Since you are both in Colorado, it makes sense to work directly with them. As a Prima retailer in California, I'm glad to help anybody, anywhere with Prima! Since I also polish paint and use Prima exclusively for doing so, I'm very familiar and knowledgeable about the products.

I agree with what's already been said. Paint fade is probably not the issue here. I'd say bonded contaminants and swirled out clear coat is most likely what is being seen.

I'm at the airport right now in Japan with about 5 minutes of laptop power left, so I'm signing off now, but feel free to PM me if you have questions, regardless of whether you purchase through me or directly from Prima.

Btw, Phil does outstanding polishing work, but you must have missed the writeups I've done here as well over the last several years. Here's a link to some of them.

http://www.showcardetailing.com/inde...e=SCDPortfolio


Richard

 

Thanks for the link Richard. This is basically what I'm looking at, but in Silk Green/ White: Velvet Red MINI Detail. Amazing job there, and if I was in California instead of Colorado right now, I'd stop by and have you fix mine up for me tomorrow (or next week :P). If the gang at Prima can do that or recommend someone to do that here, I'll deffo get it done before AMVIV.

Cheers

 

Yep, most people confuse paint fade with scratched/neglected clear coat since it looks dull under bright light. Though with the proper expertise, most often it can be restored but under the wrong hands, irreparable damage can be done. Nick at Prima can do it, not sure how much he's detailing these days though, but certainly he's got the talent. Note to do what I did, microns of paint need to be removed..think of it as the scratched/marred paint being evenly leveled so they "disappear".

Although I'm a pro, using professional tools, there are tools that are safe for the consumer like the Porter Cable random orbital polisher.

Download the free defunct Aliiance Issues 1 & 2 here
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/alliance

Richard

 

My first attempts at removing scratched/swirled/neglected paint. This was about 5 years ago.





Mark

 

Awesome. Thanks again!

 

My R56 MC is beginning to acquire a few good stone chips. I have the BRG paint and I believe its clearcoated.

Questions -- is there a good source for touch-up paint for the Mini and is there any particular technique for repairing the chips and then reapplying some sort of clearcoat to seal the repair?

 

use a paper match cut at a angle

 

I'm not sure if the MINI brand touchup paint is a pen or bottle... maybe just order some from Morristown MINI.

I've had good luck using toothpicks to apply. If you want it done well you probably need to blob the paint a little then sand it down flush with the surrounding paint with some 1000-1500 grit sandpaper. I wouldn't worry too much about reapplying clearcoat to small chipped areas, but you could reapply that too if you want. Polish after everything has set.

You should ask orangecrush, he owns some paint shops.

 

Check out this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...questions.html

Good luck. I hate chips...

 

I bought the "Autovisuals" BRG felt-tip paint pen (#A67) from AtlanticBritish ... about $18, does a very nice job touching up the small chips in the hood, and comes with a spare pen-point. They also sell the clearcoat pen for the same price.

 

Use factory pen and then use the blob eliminator kit. Most places sell them.