BRZN Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 This is the story of what one might call a modern day "Barn Find". Charlie Reichler's friend John found and purchased a 1 of 119 1999 Pontiac WS6 30th Anniversary Trans Am Convertible w/29,000 miles at the end of November last year for a steal of a deal. When John purchased the car Charlie was with him. It was an overcast day and the car was dirty. They could both see the paint was in rough shape, but not to the full extent until John got the car home and washed. The above picture is what Charlie had sent me last fall right after John's new ride got home. John's has gotten the car clean, with Charlie helping out some. The engine bay John tackled himself and it looks brand new right now. Charlie helped John out with cleaning of the interior: four hours Charlie told me they spent in there. The previous owner has a construction company and had actually set a 5 gallon metal bucket on the passenger side rear white leather seat where the rust transfered from the bucket bottom to the leather. Remnants are all but gone. John and Charlie began the car's paint correction this past summer by spending one afternoon cleaning the car and giving it a thorough Clay Bar session. The following day the two of them spent eight hours on the cars finish with a PC using the Swirl & Haze Remover on an orange pad and the Fine Machine polish on the white pad. I don't remember if he said he tried the old yellow pad with the Swirl & Haze Remover or not, but do know they didn't have the Severe Swirl Remover or green pad. Charlie contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in trying my hand at the car's finish before it's sent for a repaint. He explained it appeared the car had been washed with a Scotch Brite pad. It's full of scratches that run in all directions, and they're everywhere. Their attempts with the PC and products they had John told me got it to 40% correct after their combined eight hour attempt. John brought the car out to our SVGTO All Pontiac Car Show back at the end of August. I was able to look the car over. Picture courtesy of nikivee Charlie also had Eric Thompson of Thompson Racing our local Adam's distributor try to work a section of the hood with the Flex as a demo of the Adam's Products he had on display and for sale there that day. The Flex wasn't powerful enough! It was working but would take forever to reach anywhere near 100% correction. It was also pretty hot that day and the hood of the car was very warm, the product would flash over almost immediatly and not have much working time. The rear deck lid was the worse area and was where I would see what it was going to take for full correction. Charlie and I arrived at John's yesterday at noon. John had washed the car already and it was sitting there just waiting for us. We started with a chemical strip to the wax on the trunk lid. A quick baggie test found that the two of them did a real good job claying the car earlier this past summer, the paint was smooth. After looking over the paint: use of a Scotch Brite pad may have been an understatement! More like 1200 grit sand paper. The scratched ran in everty direction, this was definitely not from and automatic car wash. It was done manually with improper wash technique over the years. Even the vinyl stripes were a mess. The scratches went across the paint right over and on the blue stripes. After watching a bit Charlie tried his hand at a pass with the rotary He quickly handed it back! The rotary was set at 1400rpms, we used a wool pad and liquid compound that on the companies scale of 1 to 10 was at 12! Kinda like the amps volume control in Spinal Tap! It took four passes to get where I felt we could move to the PC with the Severe Swirl Remover and a green pad. I gotta go right now: I'll continue when I return... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRZN Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 Okay, I'm back. We went to watch my 16 year old daughter play soccer. It's 48 degrees and breezy with a light misting rain, nice. They won 4-1. After what I saw could be done with the rotary on the white sections outside the blue stripes and how long it was taking I decided to jump it up another notch. For the white section between the stripes I wet sanded. Started with 1500 grit then moved to 2000, to 2500 and finally finished with 3000 grit. Then back to the rotary/wool pad/aggressive compound combo and another four passes to remove all the sanding marks. This is what the entire car is going to need to be completely corrected: Wet sanding from 1500 to 2000, to 2500, to 3000 grit Four Passes with a rotary using a wool pad and a very aggressive cut compound. Three passes each with the PC of: Severe Swirl Remover and a green pad Swirl & Haze Remover and an orange pad Fine Machine Polish and a white pad Charlie may pick up a Flex this winter. If so, we'll use the Flex to work the Severe Swirl Remover on the Green pad and have John follow us with the PC steps. Charlie's teaching John: I think he's ready. That should take us from this: To this: We spent four hours figuring out how to perfect the process and complete the trunk lid! The stripes came out nicely, but not to the same level as the paint. We actually began to remove some of the stripes edges. John will most likely re-stripe the car within the next year or so due to their damage. The Hood and Nose/Front Bumper of this car are going to be a challange! Just starting to think about the barrels of the wheels: This story will be continued. John may do the wet sanding this winter from about the door handles up, as well as the front bumper and rear bumper top. Charlie and I will work with John on this again then in the spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian6 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 nice work keep going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris@Adams Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Wow what a nice find! Nice job guys!:thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frid Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Beautiful car. Great job so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase@InsanePaint Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Daaaaaang. That makes me wanna BEAT the previous owner, lol. Just don't understand what runs through some people's heads...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK427 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Do what ever it takes, and then reap the benefits by never having to correct that car again(with proper car wash techniques) of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Tegeler Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 beautiful car! I love american muscle always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRZN Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 Do what ever it takes, and then reap the benefits by never having to correct that car again(with proper car wash techniques) of course. Once we get it corrected, I don't know how/if John could ever get it back to this poor of a condition. The clear on this car is like trying to polish a piece of glass it's that hard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMA82 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Nice Car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reichler Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Yup, the clear on this car is hands down the hardest I have ever seen. When John and I attempted to correct the car this past spring, we actually went with an old Yellow pad and Severe Swirl Remover on my PC which is the most aggressive pad/polish combo you can go with in the Adam's product offering. When we he got the car, the paint was basically matte white due to how many swirls and scratches were all over the paint. I wish I would have gotten high resolution pictures before we began with the PC. The PC was able to quickly bring back the gloss and remove some of the smaller scratches and swirls. We simply could not remove the deeper scratches which were (and still are) all over every single panel of the car. Eric (Thompson Racing) was befuddled when he worked one section of the hood with a Flex, a Green Pad, and SSR. I believe we did about 5-6 passes on one small 12" x 12" section and could only marginally make any impact. Right then we realized our only hope, besides a full repaint, was to tackle it with a rotary and sandpaper. We now have the rear trunk lid about 99% perfected and absolutely can't wait to get the rest of the car looking as good as the trunk. We estimate a good 30-40 man hours left to complete the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHChevyguy Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 A great ride that will look amazing once the tlc is all done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianT Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 WOW!!!! Sweat car, but a ton of work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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