Dan's Garage - Paint Correction - Datsun 260Z

[Caffeine Fiend]

Hi all,

This weekend just gone saw me kickin' it old-school, giving the full beans paint-correction process to a 1976 Datsun 260Z.

The car was re-sprayed 14 years ago in a metallic green, similar to that of the original colour. Since then it's been driven as a weekend fun-car, used from everything from track days, to long-distance car club events covering hundreds of kms in a weekend.

The owner kept the car relatively well, always garaging it, and washing it generally before taking it out every month or two. Unfortunately though it has been at least about 12 years since it's seen anything more than a wash and very occasional polish. It's never been clay-barred since its respray. It's certainly never had any sort of paint correction work done.

After washing, the surface itself looked ok in terms of scratching/swirling, however there was a roughness to the paint that took away much of the clarity of the original paint job.

I don't have any 'before' photos as to be honest you'd be fairly hard-pressed to see swirling/scratching. Mainly the paint was just hazed up with 12-14 years of grime and oxidisation.

After spending the better part of 16 hrs over two days on the car, here are the end results:


Roof line





Roof Outside:





Side - still in progress, note some swirling still apparent above the door handle (I was working my way down the car removing swirling after I'd gotten rid of the oxidised layer)




Finished Result











The oxidisation was so bad that a claybar would not fully remove it. It only got about half of what was on there. The remainder was so strongly bonded to the car that it required machining to remove. Underneath though, the paint was remarkably well preserved for a 14 year old paint job and the clarity and depth of colour that emerged was almost factory fresh. When the owner came to pick up the car he was blown away, saying that he hasn't seen it in that sort of condition for at least 12 years

Sure, I'd used enough product to go through 2.5 standard cars. Sure, I'd effectively destroyed two polishing pads on this single car alone. but it was a lot of fun, and the owner was beaming as he was going over his car.


In anticipation, he also brought a friend along with him to take some photos there and then. Here's one he took out the front of my place.


Artsy shot





Have asked for copies of the other photos he took to add to my detailing library

Dan

[slixx]

Quality work!
Well done look great!

[rogwick]

It does look a lot better than the previous photo you posted up. Looks really good an old paint job. What was the original colour?

[Jrbris]

looks good dan, for 14 years that is a very professional job

[Caffeine Fiend]

Thanks Guys.

Andre, the initial photo I posted up on Friday was ironically probably closer to the original factory colour (slightly darker flat green)

Reposted:




I say ironically because it took about 14 years of built-up crud to turn the lighter metallic green it was resprayed in, back to a flat, darker green colour

[Yeldarb]

WOW WOW WOW! How do you do it? Quality work mate.

How much would a detailing shop charge for this? $500 $700

[Caffeine Fiend]

WOW WOW WOW! How do you do it? Quality work mate.

How much would a detailing shop charge for this? $500 $700

Thanks Bradles


That's a really interesting question actually. I've been thinking about this a little of late (as in where do I fit in to the grand detailing scheme).

Most standard detailing shops probably won't go to this sort of level of paint correction simply because of time. They will get cars in and out in a single day, and they have to do the entire car (including interior). As I pretty much specialise in the car's paintwork, I can make that my focal point and not have to worry about doing interiors etc.

That's not to say I don't do anything else. I still do wheels/tyres, windows etc, but unquestionably 90% of my time is spent on the paint/clear coat. For a standard detailing shop, that figure might be closer to say 60-70%

Mobile detailers won't get to the level I can simply because they don't have the lighting to be able to see what they're working on. Even with a portable lighting setup they will still struggle unless they fill their trailer/van with different light types (Halogen, fluoro, metal halide, LED etc). Even then, I've seen mobile detailers work in some atrocious conditions, the most common being either searing direct sunlight, or dimly lit parking garages. They also work to an even greater time constraint than standard detailers. All of these things are hardly conducive to a very high quality job.

So that leaves the high-end guys. They would most certainly get to this level (and let's face it, probably beyond). These are the sort of guys who work on Ferraris and Lambos as per for the course. They would spend days working on a single car and charge accordingly. Talking detailing services in excess of $1500-$2000 (easily) for the whole shebang. These are probably the only guys who would spend the sort of time on the outside of a car that I would for what they would call a "standard" detail. Take out the interior stuff and you're probably still up over $1k

It's probably fairer to compare what I do externally to a car's paint work to what they would do. Multiple light sources, controlled, clean environment, quality equipment and product, time and effort.

Not blowing my own trumpet here, but as I said I've been thinking about it a bit lately. Not many places I know of would spend upwards of 14 hours on paintwork alone

By the by, my prices won't change from what they currently are lol. I get a lot of enjoyment out of what I do.

[slixx]

Thanks Bradles


That's a really interesting question actually. I've been thinking about this a little of late (as in where do I fit in to the grand detailing scheme).

Most standard detailing shops probably won't go to this sort of level of paint correction simply because of time. They will get cars in and out in a single day, and they have to do the entire car (including interior). As I pretty much specialise in the car's paintwork, I can make that my focal point and not have to worry about doing interiors etc.

That's not to say I don't do anything else. I still do wheels/tyres, windows etc, but unquestionably 90% of my time is spent on the paint/clear coat. For a standard detailing shop, that figure might be closer to say 70%

Mobile detailers won't get to the level I can simply because they don't have the lighting to be able to see what they're working on. Even with a portable lighting setup they will still struggle unless they fill their trailer/van with different light types (Halogen, fluoro, metal halide, LED etc). Even then, I've seen mobile detailers work in some atrocious conditions, the most common being either searing direct sunlight, or dimly lit parking garages. They also work to an even greater time constraint than standard detailers. All of these things are hardly conducive to a very high quality job.

So that leaves the high-end guys. They would most certainly get to this level (and let's face it, probably beyond). These are the sort of guys who work on Ferraris and Lambos as per for the course. They would spend days working on a single car and charge accordingly. Talking detailing services in excess of $1500 (easily) for the whole shebang. These are probably the only guys who would spend the sort of time on the outside of a car that I would for what they would call a "standard" detail.

It's probably fairer to compare what I do externally to a car's paint work to what they would do. Multiple light sources, controlled, clean environment, quality equipment and product, time and effort.

Not blowing my own trumpet here, but as I said I've been thinking about it a bit lately

By the by, my prices won't change from what they currently are lol. I get a lot of enjoyment out of what I do.

Well... Blow all you like mate
Combination of Technique, Skill, Attention to detail & of course... passion

If I was you, I'd be thinking about it as well!!

[Ski82]

Where can I get this done in Brisbane?
I would do it myself but lack the experience and know how.

[Caffeine Fiend]

Well... Blow all you like mate
Combination of Technique, Skill, Attention to detail & of course... passion

If I was you, I'd be thinking about it as well!!

Hahaha, thanks Pete . You're right, passion is a very big part of it

Where can I get this done in Brisbane?
I would do it myself but lack the experience and know how.

Maybe drop a line to Joel (ZAS) and see if he has any recommendations mate. The places he would recommend though would be fairly high-end and priced accordingly. But you never know

I know MissMPS also does this sort of work and is every bit as anal as I am and has just as much passion when it comes to cars she works on. However, I'm not sure how she's placed as I know she's pretty busy with life . Maybe you could PM her and ask