Paint question:

[Vimeous]

If a silver car is suffering faded/dull paintwork is there any way of bringing back the shine and lustre without a respray?

One car we like has faded on one door into the rear 3/4's

[MD]

cutting compound might work, best to get in the professionals for that though, should cost you much less than a respray...

[hitman67]

A good wash, Some Autoglym Deep Shine and maybe Silver T-Cut can do wonders to it.

[Vimeous]

This is the faded bit:http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9.../PreludeX2.jpg

Should be all shiney...

Is it because the paint has gone thin / lacquer worn away?

[filbert]

Looks like it's had a bad paint job, has it always been like that?
You could try to buff it up but I'd say it needs spraying.

[BenW]

yea i'd say thats a bad paint job too. Probably needs flatting (wet and dry paper - wet) then polishing up with a machine polisher

[Moby-Dick]

whats more worrying is the cruise website url.

Looks like a bad rattlecan job to me.

[SilentDeath]

looks like it has been sprayed (either diy or pro) but ran out of money to get it laquered after (normal metalic paint is not shiny before laquer is applyed).

My passenger door looks similar, I resprayed a big scratch, (took a few attempts) but I gave up while its not too noticable. I should give it a laquer coat sometime...

wax will not help that either, only thing to do is get it laquered although if the paint job is not too bad you can buy a can of acrylic laquer for a few quid. If you want it looking good/not noticable you will definatly need to get a pro to do it.


I have no idea how well new and old laquer blend together, but for non-painted wheels or whole- painted panels (with no laquer) its very easy to do imo (*much* easyer than metalic paint)

[Vimeous]

The car is pretty original from the info and photos I've had back.
K-plate Prelude 2.2 BB4 import.
160k km (100k miles), new parts (rad, clutch + cylinders) as expected at 80k miles.
Rear arch rust was spotted and dealt with early. The faded paint mentioned above. Had rear parking dent which needs a little tidying.
Interior looks pretty good.
Sterio to be replaced before sale.
Alarm, imob etc

I understand the Cruise site concerns and if we go and see it I'll be looking for mods than have been removed. At present it has an air filter and cat back exhaust.

As for the quality of the paint job I'll have to see it in the flesh. However I suspect it's 'thin' paint similar to what I've seen on other Japanese motors. Regardless I'll be looking for obvious signs of a respray. It's something I can't really judge from photos.

Price wise, I wouldn't be considering it if it wasn't good value for what it is. Whether any additional work breaks the budget is another matter!

[Zak33]

thats bloody awful. Thin paint my left one..... it's a HONDA.....they dont do thin paint. It's just paint.

It's been resprayed by Stevie Wonder, and I bet Ray Charles prepped it. The door and rear quarter have taken a whack and been painted cheaply (not a spray can...too smooth I think) Ypu can cut and mop it all you want..you cant polish a turd.

And when you get there...I bet you can see where the filler's been "combed in" Look for a good light source, crouch down and waggle your head back and forth and you'll soon see the filler...it'll look like a ploughed field.

And dont be shocked but the DOOR HANDLE is surrounded by thick paint where the masking tape's been peeled off and the handles weren't taken off to paint it.
it should have a GAP where the handle was put back in AFTER the paint job. In FACT I think the handles got painted too!
/shudders.

[Vimeous]

Ahh
I consider myself better informed.
Is it still worth looking at?

[TiG]

If Zak is using those terms NO.

RUN AWAY....

TiG

[SilentDeath]

... maybe but it would be a very good point to get the price down a lot cheaper, especially if your buying from a trader.

dependds how much you like the rest of the car.

It will be noticable, but it atleast appears to be the correct colour. you wont notice when its wet or from many angles. go for a test drive and ask if you can take it to a body shop for a quote* (take him with you).

* when i took my door to a few places, including a local paint specialist, I got a few different awnsers but most said the paint job (that i did) was not bad just that it needed lacquer. few people said tcut or rubbing compound but they were not pros (one being a welder that hates anything to do with car repairs)

preferably also have a good look under the bonnet or take a mechanic with you, might have other dodgy repairs...

[Vimeous]

Still pondering certainly ref the price.
Preferred mechanic not available sadly.
Needs more thought.
I wouldn't be considering it if the budget wasn't as tight as it is.

[Zak33]

well....dont be shy....how much is it?

if it's £150, it's a steal....know what I mean? everything has a price.

[SilentDeath]

even so... you cant see paint from the inside, whilst driving... who cares

So you can see what I mean, heres some pics of my paint attempts, which is unfinnished, sprayed by me.. I might finnish it one day, but im scared of ruining it (more) by putting lacker on.

I have seen many good diy paint jobs (other members of fiesta si owners club), usually from spare parts that were the wrong colour (doors/bumpers etc.. these are 12 year old cars! ), just takes the correct tools and lots of practice


door: taken from the worst angles (the angle shows more of the reflection but hides the actual colour and makes it look less smooth)





Wheel arch (fixing rust) - first spraying attempt on car. I used masking tape (you can see the border, + the edges are showing white (reflection) where I tryed to beld the paint (= wrong). doesn't look so noticeable in RL. Either way, looks better than bubbling paint and rust.