Dan's Garage - Black MPS Paint Correction + Opticoat

[Caffeine Fiend]

This was this weekend's project. A metallic black MPS with around 5000k on the clock. The owner picked it up as a demo model and brought it to me for a correction and Opticoat





The car didn't look too bad initially, but a quick walk around with the owner saw some areas of concern. Mainly this scratch on the LHS rear quarter which was deep enough for my fingernail to catch on lightly.





There was other light scratching on the boot deck, and a few marks on the doors from careless people in carparks (hate that).


Anyway, the usual decontamination and foam wash ensued








After the wash I pulled it into the garage for a look under the lights. The marring was reasonably bad for a car that had only done 5000kms. Being a demo model and being black obviously didn't help matters.

Roof swirls




Bonnet








Tops of the doors



First I thought I'd tackle that scratch on the left rear quarter. I decided to wet sand this one rather than trying to compound the hell out of it



I started with a 2000 grit, then worked up to a 2500



Then some Optimum Compound II on an Orange LC Kompressor, followed by Compound II on a white LC CCS, then Hyper Polish on a Black CCS saw the following result:










I was unable to completely remove the scratch as is was just too deep, however it is now so small as to be almost completely undetectable from every angle unless you know exactly where it is and are looking at it from a certain angle under a certain light. I know exactly where it is yet it still takes me several seconds of looking before I can spot it. Was quite happy with that result

Some 50/50s of the bonnet








Opticoat on and tucked in to bed for the night at 10pm

[Caffeine Fiend]

Final shots











Close-ups of the LHS rear quarter now more or less scratch free






Time Taken = 16hrs

Dan

[slixx]

Damn
After seeing that, I want my front bumper & bonnet resprayed

As usual, great job Dan


Peter "SLIXX"

[SarcasticOne]

Still have a love/hate relationship with these posts

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[dazza]

Beautiful, black comes up a treat doesn't it !

[RedDjinn]

You really are a master Danny old chap

[Yeldarb]

Dan, this is becoming to easy. You need a challenge.

Top work again mate.

[Caffeine Fiend]

Thanks All

Brad, every job brings its challenges

I'm still debating as to whether I completely wet sand the orange peel out of my own car...... will take some paint depth readings and continue to ponder this one

[Yeldarb]

What's the end game with that Dan, Orange peel, is that the fleck that is on the Black Mica or something you have polished in since?

[Caffeine Fiend]

Nah, orange peel is the mottled surface you see on all cars. Some are worse than others. It's a factor of the spray painting process.

It looks like the peel of an orange up close, hence it's name:




It's nothing bad or unusual. It's par for the course


Here's the same panel where the orange peel has been wet-sanded out. Pay particular attention to the reflection of the overhead skylight and notice how much more defined and clearer it is




There's a very good thread up on Detailing World from a guy who wet sanded his Golf GTI. The results were nothing short of stunning.

Kelly@KDS Keltec and Midlands Car Care Wet Sand Tuition Detail - Edition 30 Golf GTI - Detailing World


It's a BIG commitment though. Once you start, it's all or nothing.

[Yeldarb]

Holy shit!!! That is amazing. If anyone can do it, you can!!

If you go too far, you could always go bare metal...

[Caffeine Fiend]

Too Fast Too Furious!!