Hahah, yeah I can picture that...NOT!!! LOL

1.) Well it really comes from experience. Most of the time I can look at a car and determine whether it should be restored with the right tool by looking at the age, paint type, number of defects, how complex the panels are. I always want to use the least aggressive tool to start with to get the job done right. Sometimes, I may start with the PC to see how things work, and realize when doing my test spot that it's not working well enough, and I need a rotary. Sometimes I find I can do an entire car with a PC, and only use the rotary on certain spots that need more aggressive work. If sanding is involved, a rotary is my preferred tool for removing sanding marks. Some paint types like Corvettes are notoriously hard, and only a rotary can be used to restore them.

2.)I wouldn't use M66 on a CR MINI. Depending on the condition I would use either M80 or M83, then go directly to Epic. I might try a pass of Amigo after M80/M83 on a small spot and see if it looks noticeably better or not. The only time I might use M66 on a MINI might be because I either don't have time to do a full polish/wax job which would never be the case on a customers MINI--but maybe my own. Or if I'm working on black paint and once again, can't fully polish it out for whatever reason.

Richard

 

Does this apply to the 2007 ZO6?

 

This applies to all Corvettes in general, regardless of year. The 2007 Z06 I did had hard paint that was still scratch sensitive.

 

Sounds good. What are some other notoriously hard paints?

 

Like I said it varies. I worked on a black 2002 MINI with super hard paint, and it wasn't until about 30 minutes into it, that I realized that 2/3rds of the car had been repainted and my first test spot was on the original soft factory paint.

Lotus paint is pretty soft. LOL.

 

haha. i will keep that in mind. there is a lotus elise down th street and i am abotu to write the owner a letter... hopefulyl all goes well and i can detail his car for him.

 

Yes!! I wholeheartedly agree that Lotus has soft paint. On top of that, the Elise's paint responses can vary from color to color and whether or not it was painted early in production vs late in production, etc. In other words, if you figure out one Elise don't assume you've got the Elise paint figured out! The next one might be completely different.

Either way, it's PITA soft paint! :impatient Our Bordeaux Red Pearl Elise would scratch when someone breathed on it. No joke.

If you end up doing your neighbor's Elise, give us a call and talk to Nick. He has lots of experience with the Elise paint and can help you navigate your work.

Another soft paint is Ferrari paint. It'll drive you nuts getting it perfect. BMW paint is another soft one, although not as much as Lotus and Ferrari. BMW paint, especially on newer models, also comes with orange peel as a standard option. True fact. So that can be a frustration too.

Have you experienced the same of Ferraris and BMWs, OctaneGuy, I mean, Richard?

Oh, and resprays, aka after-market paint jobs, also tend to be very soft too. It's always interesting to work on a car with just a door panel repainted, like from a repair. You'll use a completely different set of products/tools on the door panel vs the rest of the body in most cases.

Hope that helps!

-Heather