help with a stupid thing i did!

ok i dont know if anyone can help but....as some of u might know a friend and i have our own car detailing business. well i clean one of my former bosses cars about once a month and he always has some nasty *** tree sap **** on it.

so anyway i used a scrubing pad that i shouldnt have used to try and get this off and it ****ed up the clear coat. its only on the roof and the trunk but its prety bad its just like dull swirls everywhere.

does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this or how much it would cost to be fixed? im thinking it need to be wetsanded and re-cleared but i duno....he wasnt real pissed but i told him i would find out about how to have it fixed....any help would be appreciated.

P.S. no need to tell me how much of an idiot i am and how stupid of a thing that was to do...i already know this.

go to a bodyshop, only way to give advice is to actually look at it and see how bad it is, and judge accordingly, any advice you get here will be a guess at best, which you can do yourself. im assuming that its beyond just waxing it, and buffing the swirls out, so beyond that, im not a body guy so i have nothing to offer, sorry man.

I partly agree with 89Iroc.. the only way anybody could offer any knowledgable advice is to look at it and see how bad it is..

I could suggest a professional polisher and some 3M medium or fine cutting paste followed by mequires car polish and a buffer.. But if you dont have experience with cutting paste, your liable to take the rest of the paint off with the clear coat.. then your ##@#$@ed

Or you could just cross your fingers and try buffing it out with car polish alone by hand or with a buffer

BTW.. You are a detailing center.. Dont you deal with paint detailing? Most of the detailer's here do power polishing and buffing.. etc.. that would take care of that

yeah the clearcoat on my car is fucked up its starting to chip off of my hood, and i also found out that well the paint on my car was just strayed over the old paint so i dunno how long its gonna stay on anyways kinda pissed about that one

if it is a factory clear coat job, you just messed it up hard core. At the factory, they do not put enought clear on to be able to sand out scratches. Hell they barely put enough on to allow you to buff it out. Go to a body shop, they will be able to tell you.

chipping off clearcoat is a lot harder to solve than clearcoat that was scratched off..

spraying over the old paint is usually ok as long as it's prepped properly.. i'de suggest priming it first though

well i dunno if it was primed and its only on my hood and a little on the front bumper so i don't even worry about it that much its not that big of a spot

chipping off clearcoat is a lot harder to solve than clearcoat that was scratched off..

spraying over the old paint is usually ok as long as it's prepped properly.. i'de suggest priming it first though
you should always prime, or your paint job will end up like a maaco job

did you konw that macco has some of the best painters and paint equipment in the whole automotive painting world? They way they save money is by cutting prep work, which we all know that prep work is the key to an awesome paint job.

you should always prime if you go down to metal, but if you just take off the clearcoat, and arent changing the color, just reapplying the clear, i dont see why you would primer over the body color. rather just spray the clear over the body color. i mean, isnt primer just a paint that bonds to metal? so if you dont go down to metal, you wouldnt need it. Im not a body guy, but i would assume that you could do it that way.

Thats what I was thinkin..

And Hypsi, I agree there.. They do some very very nice work... If your willing to pay for it that is, But most of the people that go to them, go there because they want it done Cheap.. they roll your car in, tape it, tack it and spray it.. throw it in the oven for 5 minutes and back out to the parking lot.. Its almost a drivethrough service..

go to wal mart and get some spray on clearcoat for like $7 and spray it on, it would be cheap might not last though.

i dont think you can wax that kind of clear coat though.

^ i would't recommend that

get some meguiars glaze # 2 professinal fine-cut cleaner... buff it using a low powered buffer or by hand.... then go over with meguiars professional machine glaze #3.. that might work

go to wal mart and get some spray on clearcoat for like $7 and spray it on, it would be cheap might not last though.


That should be on the list of what NOT to do

Did you try using a high speed buffer to heat up the clear and take out the scratches??

yea i have 2 buffers and what im thinks about doing is using some compound and then goind over it with multiple couts of swirl remover and polish, i think that might help, but i highly doubt it will be what it was.


anyone know what the BEST swirl remover is?

Well, the only real question I have is this... You own a detail shop but you don't know how to properly clean vehicles???? Man you know how such an easy sell it is to someone that gets sap or anything else on there car a quality wax job?

OK, nough of that. What I do on late model factory paint is to see actually how scratched it is. Can you catch the scratches with a finger nail? If so, you should lightly wetsand the clear with 2,000 grit sand paper just to the point that they almost dissappear. If you can't get your finger nail to catch, you should get a rough cut machine compound like http://shop.store.yahoo.com/levineauto/3mperiiiexcu.html to be used with http://shop.store.yahoo.com/levineauto/3mperfoamcom.html and a low speed buffer. Again, you want to lightly buff these scratches just until you can't see them. Then use something like http://shop.store.yahoo.com/levineauto/3mperiiimacg.html to be used with http://shop.store.yahoo.com/levineauto/3mperplusrou1.html
After all of that, you'll want to wax it with something real durable like http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Z-2&Category_Code=Zaino

You know, usually you can use any citrus oil type cleaners like goo gone, denatured alcohol, and even mayo(because of the acid).

Seriously, you should attend some formal training on car cleaning tips and tricks. If you buy premium car cleaning stuff from places like CarBright or other venders that supply detail and car shops, usually they'll give you all kinds of tips and tricks. If you get a good rep, they'll set you up with all kinds of samples to use.

You guys should have seen the one I worked on last week. Some idiot went through town letting his HUGE tank of road sealer to leak all over the place. This guy in a Black PT Cruiser had to be almost right behind him. Man, there was tar on this thing all the way up to the windows!!! Down low and inside the fenders, it was almost a 1/4" thick. I was actually able to get 95% of it off.

Did you try using a high speed buffer to heat up the clear and take out the scratches??

thats what the stuff i listed does...

dude try the meguiars shit i said... it works... it fixed my clear coat...

Guys, the last thing you want to do is "heat up the clear coat". Actually, you want to try to keep it as cool as you can. Heat is just a byproduct but using a high quality foam pad with high quality buffing creme should keep heat to a minimum.

You know, usually you can use any citrus oil type cleaners like goo gone, denatured alcohol, and even mayo(because of the acid).

Sorry, I meant to elaborate on this. I meant to use the above to remove tree sap.

BTW, should have seen the Miata in the shop. He decided to use SOS pad on the front and hood to remove bugs! Needless to say I had to take it out of the detail area and into the paint booth :banghead:

tree sap that got on my car came off with nothing but cool water.

Sorry, I meant to elaborate on this. I meant to use the above to remove tree sap.

BTW, should have seen the Miata in the shop. He decided to use SOS pad on the front and hood to remove bugs! Needless to say I had to take it out of the detail area and into the paint booth :banghead:


ah man.. some people just should not drive cars...

My brother in law decided that an sos pad would be best to clean his finished aluminum rims.. Stupid thing was, he waited until he was done scratchin' the shit out of the 4th rim when he decided that maybe he shouldnt have used it..

note to all : SOS pads are STEEL WOOL..

but luckily it is just aluminum and can be fixed with a little elbow grease

well i wasnt stupid enough to use steel wool, but im just hoping that this wont need to go to the paint shop.

anyone have anyideas how much it would be just to re-clear the roof and trunk?

i got some good news, my friend works at a toyota dealership and he said i can tell the guy to bring his car there and they will work on it for free, as long as it doesnt need painting.

what kinda of car is it?