Paint Correction Questions

JRad405 · Mar 26, 2012

So I was looking at my mom's car and the paint is pretty worn down. Like areas where there are hard water stains, areas with deep scratches and some paint fade in other areas. There are spots where the paint is just gone and even areas where this car wash took off the clear coat entirely (I have no idea how that happened) which is the worst but I'm just trying to salvage what is left. I wanted to see if I could at least make it better. Would it be better to do one of the following:

A) Use just Optical Polishers (V34, V36 & V38) I have from Chemical Guys
B) Buy some sort of Paint Correction and then use polishers
C) Don't bother but I really want to at least try.

And if I use a paint correction, whats a good one to use. I know I'll be finishing off the entire thing with Black Light, Jet Seal and Hybrid V7. I'm a Chemical Guys preferred person, but I am open to suggestions from other brands.

And does anyone know if there is a forum discount for Chemical Guys?

Sinned83 · Mar 26, 2012

Post up some pics. If clear coat is gone your outta gas.

JRad405 · Mar 26, 2012

There's a clear coat but some areas it is gone. I'll try to go out and grab some tomorrow for better reference. My camera is pretty bad.

2v_takeover · Mar 27, 2012

option A sounds fine to me, but I would caution you to be careful, maybe not go to near to the areas where it's missing paint altogether.

justinschmidt1 · Mar 27, 2012

Sounds like its too far gone to be worth your time really.

Slykin · Mar 27, 2012

I don't think it's worth it honestly...

JRad405 · Mar 28, 2012

Yea I was thinking of that it was too far gone to even bother. The car got that way mainly from my mom never really cleaning it but I don't blame her (taking care of 2 kids and working a full time job). It sat outside getting beat on at the train station most of its life. I just wanted to try to give it a little life. Thanks for the input guys!

CC'S95GT · Mar 28, 2012

I have repaired some small areas on my GT where the clear coat was coming off and other places where the paint was was chipping off too.
The biggest problem I had was finding paint that matched my car.
How big, how bad and what color?
Pics would help too.

JRad405 · Mar 30, 2012

My mom's car is some sort of red. I have no idea what Volvo calls it. Honestly its chipping in a lot of area, the clear is off like it just peeled in one section. If I did polishers I guess what would really happen is I would only use it in certain areas like the roof or doors. The hood is the worst part of the car. Thats were the paint is chipping and clear is peeling.

CC'S95GT · Mar 31, 2012

sounds pretty bad to try to just "touch up".
Your best bet would be just a repaint the whole car.
I'm sure the paint is also faded to the point of not being able to match it either.
If you do the prep and body work, you local Maaco can do a decent job for a couple hundred bucks.

JRad405 · Mar 31, 2012

Yea I was considering Maaco. The paint is real bad. The hood is faded the worst and everything else is pretty okay. Maybe I should plastidip the hood. Lol or the entire car. I'm really considering that. At least it would look sharp. A flat black station wagon. All I need is some 17 inch wheels and I think the car would look pretty good.