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The Junkman Tackles Some Nasty Scratches!!!


Junkman2008

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...with the help of Adam's Polishes! :thumbsup:

 

Okay boys and girls, another one from the desk of The Junkman. A friend of mine showed up in her 2002 Black Corvette Coupe with what appeared to be the damage caused by a truck which had backed up onto her front bumper. The damage was deep and nasty. I washed the bumper and dried it off just so that I could get a clean look at how much damage was actually there. Here's what I was looking at:

 

vondavette1.jpg

 

vondavette2.jpg

 

 

Here's a short video of the same damage:

 

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As you can see, this was not going to be a walk in the park. :willy: Armed with my Batman utility belt filled with various Adam's products, I confidently stepped up to the plate! :pc:

 

 

Step 1. The first thing I did was wash the bumper so that I could see what damage was actually done. The next thing I did was claybarred the bumper in order to remove any impurities in the paint. Remember, the prep is the key to the success that you will see when the work is done. This Vette is a daily driver and is not garaged so my final goal was not perfection, it was to make the bumper appear to have never been hit at all.

 

vondavette3.jpg

 

Here's video of me hitting the bumper with Adam's Detail Clay Bar.

 

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_pFgsjlJk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_pFgsjlJk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

A funny side note: After I dried the car off from the clay bar work, my friend gasped and then stated with concern in her voice that the scratch was still there. Since I hadn't done anything to remove the scratch up to that point, it was still supposed to be there. I said to her, "Ye of little faith need to remain in the boat." She being of strong religious conviction, immediately got my joke and laughed. Those of you who don't get it didn't pay attention in Sunday school! lol.gif

 

Step 2. The next thing I did was hit the bumper with some Adam's Swirl and Haze Car Polish (SHR), a Adam's Orange Dual-Action Swirl Killer Pad, and some Adam's Detail Spray.

 

In an earlier thread that I posted, I talked about using detail spray on different pads along with SHR. The premise was that you could adjust the cutting action of a pad/polish combo by adding detail spray to the pads (thus thinning out the SHR). In this case I used a wet orange pad (pad sprayed down with detail spray), because I didn't feel that this situation warranted the need for the full cutting action of a dry orange pad.

 

I basically made two passes over the bumper with this combination. After wiping the bumper down, I took some pictures of the bumper up to that point:

 

vondavette4.jpg

 

 

Step 3. I finished the job up with a coat of Adam's Fine Machine Car Polish. Took a few more pictures too! Again, this is a daily driver which is not garage kept. Although that is the case, you can see that the job turned out pretty nice. The little imperfections that you see in the pictures below are actually things being reflected off my garage wall.

 

vondavette5.jpg

 

vondavette6.jpg

 

...and finally, one happy new customer and a true admirer of Adam's products. She's a hands on gal and can't wait to get started on her ride.

 

vondavette7.jpg

 

The Junkman :thumbsup:

Edited by Junkman2008
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Dude, your write ups are TOP NOTCH!!!

 

Agreed, you are the man A.J! You really, truly add a ton to our forum, and I can't begin to tell you how impressive your photo/ video write-ups are! Thank You Very Much.:bow::bow:

 

lol...good point...I guess I would really like to see Adam, or a similar pro, take on a really jacked-up finish. I know that a lot of ppl on here have sweet Vettes that are garage kept and otherwise pampered, but Im sure we all have a DD that is less perfect and requires more elbox grease....

 

Hey Adam, how about a full detail on that beast Excusrion of yours??? I wonder if you could lift up your lil girl after clay barring that monster?

 

I'll be doing the full detail on it soon, trust me! Claying is different on different finishes, absolutely. Trust me, I bet A.J. doesn't need to go as hard on his Vette, which lives in his garage!

 

The Ferrari that I clay in the video was also garage kept, so it didn't need quite the scrubbing.

 

The more contaminants, the more scrubbing that's needed!:2thumbs:

 

Again, A.J., you are the MAN!:rockon:

Edited by Adam
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If someone had hired me to do a full detail on an excursion I would seriously hire one of my buddy's to help me, especially a black one. I am going to post pictures of mine before and after but its tan, so its hard to see swirls at all in the finish.

Edited by Superdutytd
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Agreed, you are the man A.J! You really, truly add a ton to our forum, and I can't begin to tell you how impressive your photo/ video write-ups are! Thank You Very Much.:bow::bow:

 

Thanks Adam! :2thumbs:

 

I am really enjoying working with your products because of the results that they are yielding. Very easy to use and understand, and the results that I am getting is causing me to go hunting for cars to go work on. I can't get enough of this stuff!

 

 

... Trust me, I bet A.J. doesn't need to go as hard on his Vette, which lives in his garage!

 

You are dead on. I clayed my car one time and have never had to do it again. Contaminates don't have a chance to become an issue again because I really don't drive it in inclement weather, it gets washed about twice a week and it stays covered up in the garage. Contaminates hate me! ;)

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Will the s&h remover work good by hand as well? Since I still don't have a PC

 

It will work but it is A LOT more work to do this by hand, especially some damage as bad as what you saw me take care of. Right now, Adam's has the PC for sell for as cheap as I have ever seen them. You should really consider buying one.

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Really tight on money now but will do... What exactly would I have to do to do it good by hand... one coat of it then wipe it down and do another or will it be more? Thanks

 

More like apply one coat, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, then wipe off.

 

Apply a second coat, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, and then wipe off. Inspect your work and realize there is still quite a bit of damage left.

 

Apply a third coat and rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, rub, and then go get a beer because your arm hurts so bad.

 

While getting your beer, stop by your computer and order a PC because all that rubbing is for the birds.

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Also I would need to apply lots of pressure for the S & H and the revive polish after right? Thanks AJ

 

Yes you would. It would be quite a workout for something really bad. It totally depends on how bad your swirls are. I gave you instructions for a worse case scenario. Something on the other end of the scale could be easily done by hand. Most folks however, are on the worse end of the spectrum with their paint.

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The trunk on this black Vette is what I call worse case scenario. This thing looked hideous sitting on the lot. I told the dealership that they needed to knock $3000 off the price just for how crappy the paint looked.

 

swirlcity4.jpg

 

swirlcity5.jpg

 

That is what you call "swirl city" and you couldn't pay me enough to do that by hand. This one below on the other hand is a much easy job to fix by hand. Keep in mind that it was only like this in that one spot.

 

swirlcity2.jpg

 

Now compare that black Vette's paint to mine, which has been corrected with a polisher.

 

wet_vette.jpg

 

That black Vette had 73,000 miles on it. Mine has 99,200.

Edited by Junkman2008
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AJ, I am shocked that you didn't have to wet sand those bad boys out. Dang it, now I have to go back out and work a little harder on the Silverado, it has some scratches that aren't that bad, and didn't think I could get them out without wet sanding.:cheers:

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AJ, I am shocked that you didn't have to wet sand those bad boys out. Dang it, now I have to go back out and work a little harder on the Silverado, it has some scratches that aren't that bad, and didn't think I could get them out without wet sanding.:cheers:

 

You may need to go to some FMP as it is concentrate compared to SHR. You also need to do multiple applications. That's the thing about orbital polishers, they are safer but may require multiple applications to correct an area.

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Yes, doing it day by day for now... Until I can get the pc:(

 

By hand I can tell you to clay, then go with FMP if the swirls are really bad, SHR if not. At that point I'm not totally sure which wax will work best by hand. At $109 bucks, I would sell my left arm to get a PC. I haven't seen them that cheap anywhere.

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