Need4spd28

Ok, just picked up my MY03' NFR about 1 month ago with about 7k miles on it. After further inspection of the car after purchase, the paint is not in as good of condition as I had thought at the dealership. Instead of being really pissed off about it which would be my natural tendency, I would like to cure the problem. There are two main problems. For one, I don't think the previous owner ever waxed the car. So there are paint swirls and hairline scratches all over the car, which granted is fairly common anyways with this particular color if the paint is not obsessively cared for. First of all, I plan on either having a professional clay bar the car for me, or I'm going to do it myself. The only thing is that I have never personally performed a clay bar treatment myself, and I'm a little nervous about learning how to do it on my S. Anyways, I've been to the auto parts stores and seen the umpteen number of different products there are to remove paint swirls. So what's the best?

Secondly, the car has numerous nicks and scratches on it. At least one I would say on every body panel almost. Some are worse than others, and a few appear to be right down to the metal. Of course I want the car to be in perfect condition, or as close as possible anyways. So without having the stupid car repainted (which I don't want to do, nor can I afford), what would be the best method to remove these nicks and scratches? It was suggested to me by a guy in the Orlando area who owns and operates his own detailing business that I could carefully touch up the nicks/scratches with touch up paint from a Honda dealership, allow it to harden for a couple days, and then he said that he would wetsand and buff those areas. Now I have personally done this on my Eclipse to touch up some stone chips and had moderate success doing so, although I'm not a pro when it comes to wet sanding either. Is this a good method to use in order to remove these nicks and scratches that I'm talking about, or is there a better way?

Any and all suggestions and welcomed, and greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

Brian

wanabe

wow, lotsa questions at once!!
if i miss one, just holler:

clay is really a lot easier than it sounds. the most important tip is if you drop it, trash it! (so dont drop it!).
you should clay yourself, cause it really is easy. wash the car, then i use a detailers spray in a small area- good instructions here:
http://properautocare.com/usclaybartor.html

after that, i would wash the car again (use a high quality car shampoo). then i would do a complete swirl removal (this will also get a lot more of the scratches out than you might think). i like these instructions cause they give you the hand method (not the best choice) or machine method:
http://properautocare.com/removingswirls.html

one hint to swirl removal- you need to really work the area (one of the reaons that the machine is a good idea). dont just wipe a bit and assume its done (its not!).
after this you need to rewax the car... all of this will be about a 4 hour or more (prob a lot more without a machine) project, so i would not include chip repair (which is why i would wax the car now).

then as a separate project i would do the touch-up. and thats a whole separate subject! i would first do the clay, swirl removal and see how it looks-

Need4spd28

It is pretty long, I appreciate you taking the time to read through the entire post. Great advice as well. If it's that easy, there really isn't any point in paying somebody to do it for me. What is the best product on the market for swirl/scratch removal? A good friend of mine used Meguire's Scratch X on his Formula Firebird and it worked pretty well for him, but there are a ton of products on the market for this such job and I'm just wondering which is the best.

For the scratches that go straight through the paint, what is going to be the best method for repairing them? Wet sanding and buffing...? I'm more than open to suggestions.

Thanks again to all!

Brian

Ubetit

wanabe covers most of it but...

one piece of advice on the clay. Cut it into 4 or 6 smaller pieces. I use one smaller piece on a body panel or two (depends on how bad the car's paint is) and then throw it away. Not many like to do this but Claymagic is only $10 a pop. I'd rather not take a chance on using clay that has a bunch of debris in it.


For swirls start with a chemical cleaner with the lightest polishing and filling qualities (Clearkote's Vanilla Moose, Klasse AIO or S100 SEPC). If that doesn't work move on to stage two which is a light abrasive like Meg's Swirl Free Polish or 3M Perfect-It III Machine Fine Cut Compound. If that doesn't work my next step is Meg's Dual Action Cleaner Polish, Scratch X or any Medium cut compound. Next step is the heavy stuff that usually would do better with a rotary. You can't get into much trouble until the rotary. Leave that to a pro.

For stone chips and knicks to the base metal or primer you'll have to touch up. To do it right is an involved process. Fill, level, fill, level, fill, level, swirl remove, polish then wax. It can be done. The problem I have with the spa yellow is that the touch up paint is crappy. It is way too thin and it doesn't really match.

YELOSCREAMER

Here is another option for your paint chips. I'm pretty sure theese company's are all over the country so you should be able to find one in your area. It's a company called Aero Colors. They are able to touch up your car(using there own process) and you can barely if at all tell where it was done. It's done with an airbrush and then blended. The average cost (up my way ) is around $150.00 to do the entire car. If you cant find them in your local yellow pages, try going to your dealer and ask the used car manager. We have one that comes to my Dealership every week.

s2ksimon

IMO, all minor scratches, swirls and blemishes can be ridden with use of a Porter Cable w/ the right product.. I swear by it..

s2ksimon

too bad you're in FLA or I'd do it for you no probs..

dt49396

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Need4spd28

Need4spd28

[QUOTE]Originally posted by YELOSCREAMER
Here is another option for your paint chips. I'm pretty sure theese company's are all over the country so you should be able to find one in your area. It's a company called Aero Colors. They are able to touch up your car(using there own process) and you can barely if at all tell where it was done. It's done with an airbrush and then blended. The average cost (up my way ) is around $150.00 to do the entire car.

Vampgrrl

I guess I'll breathe life back into this thread.
My black Prelude is swirl city. I've killed myself trying to fix it by hand, so these Porter polishers can be used by the inexperienced? I've never used a machine polish/buffer before but spending 3 hrs outside killing myself is for the birds.