So a guy I work with asked me if I could help him with his truck. Seems it has been a while since he waxed it. Sure, no problem, I got a PC and he can bring some Guinness. Then he shows up - OMG

I should have used Cut, but all I had was Swirl and an orange pad so we tried a spot:



Well at least it looked better . So lets try half a hood and about 30 minutes it looked pretty good. Not swirl free and there was still some spots that had some oxidation but not bad considering:



So after another 30 minutes we finished the hood, then did the roof. He was so impressed that he will be going to DetailersParadise to get the necessary supplies and then we can finish the work. The sides should go pretty quick. Not really going for show quality, just 3 foot good.

I thought you would enjoy seeing some really crappy paint and the improvement since most of use are only concerned with taking our MINIs from looking good to looking really good. Here was a case of looked like crap to looks fine (for a work truck).

PS. I was detailing my MINI at the same time so I really felt good with how good my MINI looked.

 

wow, now those kind of cars are fun to do cause you can see such a
nigh/day difference. so, how did it turn out at the end? any
after shots?

 

Now if that isn't a before and after picture for DP's website I don't know what is. Amazing.....

 

We didn't really finish. Just did the hood and roof before we ran out of energy (plus I still had my MINI to finish). We'll get it done after he makes a trip to DP and stops using up all my stuff!

 

I've always wondered if the paint could be decently restored when I see cars like that, that's awesome!

 

Great job! Those before pix looked like early signs of clear coat failure. Did you end up claying as well?

Richard

 

I could not get enough lube going to even try clay. I bet though, you could clay now that the rough stuff is gone. He said the the roof and hood had been repainted 6 years ago so I'm sure it was of lesser quality. There is still clearcoat, you can see it where he has gotten paint chips. Like I said, this is never going to be show quality, but he was ecstatic and ready to buy some Prima and a PC - good for him, hope he uses it more than once a decade.

 

Nice turnaround!! Cases like that really are lots of fun, aren't they? And I can imagine your friend's face after doing just a spot... it's good being the hero.

Thanks for the referral too! We'll keep a lookout for your friend and help set him up for the rest of the job.



-Heather

 

man, im looking forward to the 'after' pict.

 

So, Heather! Don't you think this is worthy of a little kickback maybe? Oh, say, a monster fluffy and some Slick?

It is great to see a transformation like this!

 

Looks very good.

 

You guys (read: NAMers) are so unique... on most forums the person with the idea or promotion or whatever would do some nudge-nudge on getting a "prize" for the idea/promo for himself. Here on NAM, fellow NAMers are trying to get prizes for others! Talk about a true community!

I'd say MiniMaybee already gets a treat... we opened DP right near him! Ok, so maybe we opened here and THEN he found us... not the other way around. Still....

-Heather

 

I get to play with their dogs!
Thanks for asking Wanna!

 

I'm going to do hubby's friend's Dodge Ram this weekend. It's this pretty metallic green but it's oxidized much like those photos. There are a few spots that I think might be oxidized right through the paint but I'll be sure to take pictures.

I remember when I first came to this forum, trying to pretty up my POS before I sold it so I could get my MINI. The finish was a little oxidized on the roof and hood, and boy did a good polish make a big difference!

 

OK folks, final results. We re-did a lot of the panels today using Cut which has much more power behind it. Used it on the orange pad. Then we switched to Swirl on the orange pad and then the white pad. I'm not going to tell you it was perfect, but considering the initial condition it looked brand new in comparison. We then finished with Amigo on the white pad and Epic on the black pad. Here are a couple of snaps with more in my Flickr:

Note my MINI in the reflection on this side

A lot of work, but very dramatic results.

Chuck

 

WOW! That thing looks like it just came off a used car lot. That is an amazing turn around from where that truck was before.

 

Looks like fun Great work

 

Jeez. That's insane! Nice job!

 

great job!!! looks better than new.

 

so... when is the Chicago store going to open?

 

Awesome results MiniMaybee!!!

That truck went from an oxidized nasty kind-of-reddish-white to a rich berry red.
(makes me want to say how berry berry nice it looks but that would be silly, now wouldn't it? )

I'm glad you had an opportunity to play with Cut. Now that you've had several months worth of experience with the various pads and Swirl & Finish, using a polish at Cut's level of abrasiveness really continues the teaching process. In other words, you probably learned so much more and developed more skills just by using it... whether or not you realized it in the midst of all the work.

Pretty soon you'll be a pro! It really is too bad you'll miss the MINI5280 detailing tech session at the end of the month... we could use an assistant instructor.

Great work!

-Heather

 

When you going to come do my truck??? Looks great!!!

 

Well, when will you be ready to quit your (boring!) job and open one for us???

Nick's sister lives in Chicago... we should have her stock some products for us and then have "store hours" at her house whenever she's at home. You wouldn't have the Denver advantage of seeing the goofy store dogs though.

-Heather

 

yah, with all this internet we as so close together.
we got the IPP bunny over here in the midlands.