Bought a project car, tried a few things, could use some advice...

[P-Shooter]

Hey All,

Bought an 07 Toyota Matrix back in January. Totally neglected car and paint but it runs great! Working on paint correction now.

- has deep linear scratches on hood and roof in addition to all the smaller swirl marks and smaller scratches.

- Previous damaged drivers door repaired in parking lot with a rattle can from what seller told me.

- had buddy fix the dent and painted the 2 front doors and rear bumper to match. He also applied two layers of clear coat knowing I would be working on it more.

- Clay barred the whole car and now it's smooth.

Decided to try compounding before I tried wet sanding the deeper scratches out.

- Used D300 and a MF pad on roof to remove smaller scratches and clean paint.

- small scratches gone but now I see a lot of hard water/acid rain etching.

- Did another 4 pass set on same area, hard water/etching still there but the paint is shiny!

- tried M105 with MF pad on same area and etching still there

- Last try was with M105 and the Meg's foam cutting pad. Nada


Did all this with a PC. So is this the time I should consider wet sanding the roof and hood (Which also was in same condition as roof.)

[samuraik]

Re: Bought a project car, tried a few things, could use some advice...

I just completed a paint correction on original paint 20 year old German hard clear coat. Had swirls, moderate scratches, and other defects everywhere as the car is a driver. I have a PC 7424 DA and it was quite effective with the right pads.

I first used M2 fine cut cleaner and got the swirls out easily with 5" orange pads, but didn't do much to scratches. I switched to M105 and smaller 3" orange pads. With pressure and patience I was able to get most of the defects out. I basically did one pass on every panel with this technique

https://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/polishing-how-to-with-meguiars-m105-m205/

and then a second "spot" pass on specific scratches that didn't come out. Besides road rash damage which was most of my hood, I was able to get a nice "glass like" finish. My paint/clear is quite thick as my car was one of the last that was hand assembled and painted so hand a lot to work with.

I am sold on M105. I was skeptical to put pressure, but when you do and and trust the DA and the product to work, it will take the defects out.

[P-Shooter]

Re: Bought a project car, tried a few things, could use some advice...

Thanks for your reply. I actually took the car to one of Meguiar's Thursday Night Open Garage. After my 3.5 hour !@@#*&!@#!!!! drive through LA traffic, both Nick and I think the other attendee named Chris showed me how to remove or at least make them not so noticeable. We used the M100 with a microfiber pad. Yes compounding this really worked! I finished the rest of the scratches at my home the following weekend. That drive was worth it! Can barely see scratched if at all and most of the acid rain/hard water spots are not as noticeable as well....