Silver Lining

**biff** · 06-02-2003, 05:46 AM

Bonehead move # 1: Locked myself out of the truck.

Bonehead move # 2: Used a very sharp coat hanger to get in.

Silver Lining: Now I can practice my paint touch up and wet sanding.

Here are the before pics. Any suggestions?

I was going to fill with touchup paint then clearcoat, sand with 1500, then DACP, #9, Hand Glaze and S100.

**JeffBruce** · 06-02-2003, 07:17 AM

I am looking forward to after pics on this one...
This looks challenging....

1. Are sanding it too..Ive glue`d a little piece of sand paper to the end of a pencil to sand mine..
2. Will you be using the paint brush method, Toot pick method to apply the paint??

wow....this could be "post of the year" if you can fix this up...
jeff

**biff** · 06-02-2003, 07:22 AM

Uh oh, what did I get myself into? ;-)

I`m going to use the end of a paper match method to add the paint.

I`m not expecting miracles, anything would be better. Its inside the door jambs so I feel comfortable experimenting a little. I`ve got nothing to lose, and if I do OK, then I`ll tackle some exterior scratches.

I used a little DACP before this picture to get rid of some of the scratches that didn`t go all the way through the clearcoat.

**Beemerboy** · 06-02-2003, 09:46 AM

You can use a artist paint brush, they come in all shapes. SOme are really small and can get into the crack really easy.

**tacscar-tim** · 06-02-2003, 05:53 PM

i feel your pain. a month or so ago, i was vacuuming out my truck and hit the lock button. since the vac was on i couldn`t here the click of the doors locking and bam i was locked out. no biggie, i`ll just get my spare key. after turning the house upside down, it was apparent i had lost the spare. i just forked out the $25.00 for pop-a-lock to come out and open the door for me.

get some after pics, i`ll be excited to see how it turns out.

**MattS** · 06-03-2003, 06:04 AM

One of the things I have alway been very worried about when working on a customer`s car is locking the keys inthe car. I generally will move the car forward and backward a few times as I do not have enough space fore and aft to really see things. The one thing i have been very particular about is to take the keys out of the car everytime and put them up on my workbench. I ahve been very surprised at the number of times I have hit the locks when inside detialing and not noticed! Saved myself a fwe times. The only drawback is no radio from the car, but on the bright side I got an old boom box out of the closet and use it, no worries about running down batteries now.

Good luck on the scratches! I am very interested to see how it turns out.

-Matt

**biff** · 06-03-2003, 07:14 AM

Well after running all over the place to find the touch up paint, I found it and started the repair.

I applied some paint with a paper match on the opposite side of the jam. (not pictured). It looks awful (as expected) just kind of globbed all over the place. I`m hoping the wet sanding will improve things greatly.

The factory paint doesn`t seem like a perfect match but maybe it will dry closer to what I want. I`m really just hoping to add some color into the scratches, then level things off an hope that the compounding and polishing will blend things out.

I picked up some 3M 1500 and 2000 grit and I`ll be sanding tonight or tomorrow, and I`ll keep you posted.

**biff** · 06-03-2003, 10:28 AM

I couldn`t let a perfectly good lunch break go to waste.

I went out to the company parking lot (co-workers think I whacked!) and started leveling some of the scratches I filled last night.

I used a rubber sanding block and 3M 2000 grit that I had in the truck. I had to improvise on the water, so I just sprayed it down with lots of QD.

The results are encouraging. All the paint blobs are leveled down and the area has a smooth haze that I`m going to try and compound out tonight.

I wouldn`t recommend substituting QD for water allthough it did work, there are probably things in there (wax) that aren`t the best for this job.

I would also say to stick with the 2000 grit, it works well with a little patience. You may get into trouble with the 1500 if you`re not careful.

**Beemerboy** · 06-03-2003, 02:33 PM

I did some scratches the same way and the paint never really matched. But iun light if what it looked like before was a welcome site. The 2000 grit is also the trick takes it off slow so that you can control the leveling.

**biff** · 06-05-2003, 07:47 AM

I tackled the leveled "hazy" section with DACP (by hand) then a little #9. They buffed out perfectly with almost no effort.

I would have to say that its going very well except for a few scratches that need to be "Built up" some more with clearcoat touchup and a couple of spots that look like I may have started to burn through with the 2000 grit. Gotta be more careful, the paint must be REALLY thin in the door jams. Oh well, that`s why I`m practicing on an inconspicuous area before tackling the big job.

I have to take a break for a few days becasue my S100 just arrived and I`m picking up a PC today or tomorrow!!!!

I put a thin coat of S100 on this morning with no prep other than washing. There is actually a coat of 3M Hand Glaze and Mothers Pure Carnuba on there already, so its not an ideal situation, but I wanted to hide some swirls temporarily until I get a chance to do it right and test the new wax.

Its got an interesting look to it, where the 3M/Mother`s combo gave a really deep glassy look, now it has a really "silky" look to it that really softens the contours of the truck (looks like a big really nice soft silk pillow). I didn`t really have time to look closely for depth.

Once I get the PC, I`ll clay everything off, then go at some more noticable scratches with DACP(by hand, there really aren`t enough of them to fire up the PC), then do swirl marks with the PC, #9 and a purple cutting pad, followed by 3M Hand Glaze with a polishing pad and finally S100 by hand. I`m open to suggestions on any of this though.

I can`t wait! Then I`ll get back to the door jambs, (and customer vehicles) ;-)