Today we have a lovely 156 GTA for display.
When it arrived I was very pleased as it looked in ver good nic! and the owner stating that some panels had been resprayed which makes my job easier....but after a wash and removing the waxes that resided on the car we found this....
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3957_zpsab133553.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3957_zpsab133553.jpg.html)
Sorry bout the blurryness.
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3959_zps1580f913.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3959_zps1580f913.jpg.html)
So it was in need of some pretty serious paint correction, but nevertheless we carried on. The problem was that the paint did not respond as well as other black alfas and I really spent a lot of time figuring combinations out and even when finished I wasn't able to pinpoint which combination was the correct one as every panel received so much "love". To say I got 'stuck into it' is an understatement :P
Here is a 50/50 of 1 pass.
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3961_zps76b6e5c9.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3961_zps76b6e5c9.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3964_zpsa244b147.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3964_zpsa244b147.jpg.html)
As you can see there is still a lot for the paint to give and I went to some serious cutting agent for the wheel arch as that was just being very very stubborn and was ruining the whole panel for me.
Damage to the front fender and bumper:
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3967_zps13a3a2a7.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3967_zps13a3a2a7.jpg.html)
What you see here are 'love marks' and they are common in every car, just more obvious on black. This is why I stress to use proper techniques! Dirt is HARDER than paint.
Not a great picture but the fender after some serious cut:
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3969_zps377251e4.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3969_zps377251e4.jpg.html)
Rear 3/4:
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3975_zpsa9e5e358.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3975_zpsa9e5e358.jpg.html)
Now after all this cutting you do get a decent finish but with an irritating haze:
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3985_zps803abd02.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3985_zps803abd02.jpg.html)
This occurs due to the coarseness of the compound and pad leaving light scratches in the body work. The ideal situation would be to polish it now and the finish it with finishing polish, but unfortunately after 18 hours of work I was running out of time. So I did a combination of both and worked in a light cut polish with a non cutting pad for AGES which gives you something like this...
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3989_zps350befbb.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3989_zps350befbb.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_3995_zpse227abab.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_3995_zpse227abab.jpg.html)
The softer light helps a little with the effect.
Anyway here is the finished product with 2 layers of wolfs hardbody and a layer of FK1000 that should hold up to the daily driving duties of this beast.
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4000_zps610aa7d6.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4000_zps610aa7d6.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4005_zps2ee698d5.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4005_zps2ee698d5.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4002_zpsc9a97873.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4002_zpsc9a97873.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4003_zpsf1d5ac0f.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4003_zpsf1d5ac0f.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4006_zpsd942fae8.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4006_zpsd942fae8.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4009_zpsa2745b5a.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4009_zpsa2745b5a.jpg.html)
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4011_zps6d9caf5f.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4011_zps6d9caf5f.jpg.html)
I wanted to see what it would look like in my garage if it were mine...
(http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k546/orgigeorgie/DSC_4017_zpsecf6c0d8.jpg) (http://s1115.photobucket.com/user/orgigeorgie/media/DSC_4017_zpsecf6c0d8.jpg.html)
Pretty bloody good. One day - but in red.
What you need to take away from this: Quite often I see sills that are so badly scratched and damaged that the amount of correction required often takes into the realm of just respray it, it'll be cheaper. These sills are intricate and the smallest of pads struggle to get good contact area making polishing very difficult (doable) and you'll struggle to get a great finish. This occurs because a lot of dirt resides on the sill being so close to the ground and wheels and naturally we want to wipe it off.
You will need to loosed as much of the dirt as possible when washing the sills, I haven't quite perfected this but some APC (all purpose cleaner) loads of suds and a brush should do the trick. Then very gentle clay. Or...WASH REGULARLY!
Enjoy
- George
Billy Goat Detailing
info@billygoatdetailing.com
0405 539 779
well done.
having been an owner from new, of a black 156 GTA, well done, it looks better than new.