pwmin Posted August 24, 2007 Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 the paint on my 91 is just terrible. some of its not the right exact color, theres chips and scratches and gouges and dents everywhere, along with runs in the paint. i did attempt some chip repair, but it seems like its endless. i just want it to look halfway decent. i was wondering if its worth claying paint that bad or if i should just buff it, polish it, and wax it. im not going to waste my zaino on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted August 25, 2007 Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 IMO, I think it would at least be worth a try to clean it up. Heres what I'd do: 1. Wash it really well. get as much crap as possible off the car, including tar, brakedust, and road grime. 2. Claybar it- get all of the rest of the crap off the paint. When you're done, your paint should be super smooth. 3. Wax it, buff it and polish it... do at least 3 coats of wax to deepen the shine. Give it a try its worth the effort! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted August 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 ended up getting off early enough to mess with it today. i washed it last night with dish soap and stuck it in the garage where the dirty cobalt goes . i didnt clay it cuz i didnt have any around and didnt wanna spend the money on it since i get paid monthly and i havent much money left. the paint really is fucked. i used a porter cable buffer/grinder to apply 3M rubbing compound on the spots that needed it, then meguiar's professional fine cut cleaner over the whole car, then meguiar's professional mirror glaze, then hand applied a coat of meguiar's gold class wax. the paint is pretty shiny where its nice. still couldnt get rid of the marks left by the old GTP emblems and theirs still a lot of blemishes. i need to wet sand and repaint the red part of the mirrors this weekend and wet sand the front bumper and repaint it, too . got some lighter paint that should match better. i will take some pics once it gets done. its looking a lot nice, but im really anal about that kinda stuff and it still looks like crap. dont know how much longer i can take it . one of the reasons i wanted the cobalt was to have something nice that i could keep looking nice and didnt have to worry about wear and tear from other people. the 96 was about perfect when i got it minus the clear problems on the heat extractors and spoiler, which i got taken care of right away. however, the bumpers started not too long after that thx 4 the input. ill probably put a couple more coats of wax on, then. once i get this stuff done and get the back lowered, i should be pretty happy with it. needs a lot more, but it will at least be presentable then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runt Posted August 25, 2007 Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 Don't bother with the Claybar. Buff it. Which is exactly what you did, but IMO the buffer will remove nearly as much crap from the paint as the clay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted August 25, 2007 Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 The only paint that I could get to look good on that car was the passenger side, the rest of it didn't respond to buffing at all. I remember buffing the living hell out of the hood and the only thing that cleaned up on it was the hard water spots. The rest of that paint is pretty much beyond repair. The clear on the hood and roof of the 96 is progressively getting worse too, so were both in the same boat here too, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted August 25, 2007 Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 nothing can do what clay can do but clay. the best thing about it is how it lifts off overspray and other contaminants and absorb it into the clay instead of highspeed sanding the paint with the contaminants like the buffer does. you will know when you got black paint. swirl marks suck. I only do polishing by hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted August 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2007 nothing can do what clay can do but clay. the best thing about it is how it lifts off overspray and other contaminants and absorb it into the clay instead of highspeed sanding the paint with the contaminants like the buffer does. you will know when you got black paint. swirl marks suck. I only do polishing by hand. i totally agree, but the paint just wasnt worth claying plus im sore as hell from lifting. The only paint that I could get to look good on that car was the passenger side, the rest of it didn't respond to buffing at all. I remember buffing the living hell out of the hood and the only thing that cleaned up on it was the hard water spots. The rest of that paint is pretty much beyond repair. The clear on the hood and roof of the 96 is progressively getting worse too, so were both in the same boat here too, lol. yeah, its toast, but anything i can do to make it a little better is worth it. the driver door platic piece is def painted different than the rest of the car. the roof now, too? i know the hood was getting pretty bad, but besides that and the tops of the bumper covers, it was pretty good minus the few scratches and stuff. the nice thing is when it gets repainted, it wont need any body work cuz there arent and dings, just one tiny tiny crease that you can barely see even when youre looking hard on the driver door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted August 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 got the mirrors repainted today. i also sanded down the strut tower tops and upper rad support and painted them. it all turned out pretty good. the new color is almost perfect, its just a tiny bit brighter, but a better match and whats supposed to be the right color. im going to repaint the whole front bumper cover hopefully next weekend. got some pics of the outside, too, that ill probably post up tomorrow. as soon as i get my buick f-bar installed and painted (along w/ strut tower covers), ill take pix of the engine bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted August 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 got some pix up. hopefully, ill have more to come next weekend of the engine bay and repainted front bumper cover. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v476/pwmin/91%20Grand%20Prix/After%20Buffing%2008-07/ also, here a pic of the sunroof sunshade. i rewrapped it w/ some microsuede since it was the closest thing i found to matching the stock color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 got the front bumper cover repainted this weekend along w/ the B4U piece on the driver door and the one right behind that. before pix can be seen in the post right before this one. didnt come out the perfect color, but its much better than what it was before. you probably wont be able to see the color diff very well, besides in the hood pic, cuz it was about dark out. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v476/pwmin/91%20Grand%20Prix/painting%2009-07/ here is a picture after painting pretty much everything in the engine bay (body/"chassis"). i took more pix, but none cam out since it was almost dark outside and im not totally familiar w/ my cam yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Professionally painted? Or did you paint them yourself? Cause it looks DAMN good! Glad to see you giving the ol' car life again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 That engine bay looks DAMN fuckin good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 thanks, guys im really trying to get the car back to its former glory. it needs a lot of body work and a total repaint, but it looks a lot better for now. i ordered the sleeves and nuts to do the rear coilovers, but theyre special order, so im going to order 175-350 progressive springs when the other parts come in. im trying to hold off till next month so i dont have to put it on my cc, but itll look so much nicer evened out. i painted it myself. i made a topic asking what to use here: http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php/topic,62703.0.html the color is just a little off, but its a gazillion times better since the top of the bumper and the valance were diff colors (and rough) and the rest of the cover was pretty scraped up. it came out much better than i had hoped (much better than i did on the 96 ). you can see imperfections where i covered up the holes from the arrowhead and the top of the valance is still has the old paint on it, but im going to repaint that and try to find a gm center support and get rid of the ghetto strap i have on there now. ill have to take some more pix in the light. im not sure if i wetsand it if itll come out much better and im afraid to mess it up. i dont wann try to buff or wax it and have the same problem i did with the fender flairs i painted. im going to have to put some clear on them as well as the mirrors, which i repainted last weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted September 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 got some more pix today in the light of both. i took a good pic to show the worst part: where the arrowhead used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeb80 Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 great job Paul!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulevard Posted October 7, 2007 Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 That came out great. Sweet job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted October 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 thanks! hopefully ill get to take some "scenic" pics soon for the cgp calendar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 damn that came out almost perfect in the pic lol. i dont recommend dishsoap for washing though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwmin Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 damn that came out almost perfect in the pic lol. i dont recommend dishsoap for washing though yeah, came out pretty good. i only used dishsoap to strip the wax off before i polished the car and all that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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