Detail stuff

[Pure Insanity]

I looked in the apprearance forum and it all seems to be about body mods, underhood painting and such. All Im looking for is detail info. Some IS MSP specific, so maybe it will fit here.

1st question, has anyone found a good match for the Racing Beat red? I want to paint my strut tower bar and calipers to match, prob do the rotors also. Looking for a maker, like DupliColor ETC, and a code if applicable. Worse comes to worse Ill have to crawl under it and match the sway bar but Id rather not be crawling under it in AutoZone parking lot when some moron drives by and runs my legs over.

2nd question, why hasnt anyone polished stuff under the hood rather than paint it? Atleast I havent seen or read of anyone doing so. I polished all the exposed alum. tubes I could find and a few min on the stainless steel heat sheild made some purty results. Now I need to take it off and do it right. Ill be yanking the cam cover soon to smooth it out and polish it also as well as painting the eng cover. Between some color and polishing it should look sweet under there.

3rd, I wiped the dash down w/ some slick'um and it sucked it RIGHT up, and is kinda blotchy. And yes, I DO know how to detail a car so no I didnt splotch it on there, it just has some super shiney spots that wont go away no matter how many times I wiped across them. I wiped on a reasonable amout to just deepen the color rather than blind me. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else or if I should use a different product.

I know I had a few more questions, but Im drawing a blank now. Guess I spent too long searching and spaced some out when I should have just posted my questions after the first 2 days of not finding anything.

 

[BlueSpeed]

Ok now i allmost wrote a frekin book last time when i wrote this in the "post reply"..i musta timed out and when i submitted it ..i had to resign in and i was screwed...so i'm gonna do this again...


Just wanna say i have LOTS of time in a very top notch body shop....

Ok you first quesiton...try PPG Milano Red.....

Second Question...I've done polishing on Anything with 2 or 4 wheels..and i mean everything..even paint ball guns..i really mean everything.....the same goes for stainless steal..this can be polished the same way as alumium...if your starting from scratch your gonna need alot of time...(especially for the valve cover)...i always started out with 180-320 grit depending on the surface...and after 400..i would wet sand bye hand...always comes out the best this way..u gotta spend alot of time on evey grit...and make sure you go all the way up to 2500 grit..and finish with a air buffer with white buffing rouge...and get some good aluminum polish..there used to be this stuff called "the brooklyn ball buster" something like that it was the best..i know a truck driver made this stuff him self or a company called "busch" makes some good stuff...alumium polish is not hard to make...you take polish rouge and mineral spirits and melt down the rough into it...but it takes a while to figure out the consisency...you can use white n brown rouge on aluminum....for makeing polish and useing it on a buffing wheel...


Your third question....here we go..
when i worked at the body shops i did ALOT of detailing...i'm going to tell you about the products i used and there purposes...
Spray nine..this was my all around do it all cleaner...in big jobs i would take out interior panels such as door sills and spray them down..let it sit a bit..scrub it off with a hard brislte brush..then hose it off..its alot quicker that way then useing a rag...and alot more thur-o...i would use spray nine on newer engines since they wouldn;t have much build up on them...for doing engines i would spray it one and let it sit then hose off with HOT water....for heavy build up you gotta use a degreaser i used "Gunk" brand engine degreaser
same directions as the spray nine after u use this its prolly gonna make your plastic hoses look weird...like whiteish..use some silicone spray to get em lookin nicenblack again/btw spray 9kills pretty much all dieseases in 45 seconds....i would use spray nine on the lower part of the car if there was heavey build up on the paint/praythat on first..so then when u went over it with the sponge and car wash it would come off easier...and use it on bugged up front bumpers or u coulduse a bug sponge..them things work great for everything ...wheels,paint ..cleaning off exhaust tips...whatever...hmm lets see...Simple Green is another cleaner i would use...i would use this for bad interiors that were very dusty and dirty....this is simalar to spray nine...never get this stuff on interior clear plastic..such as the plastic in front of the gaugues....it eats into it....its ok for the main part of the inteior..just no clear plastic or un-clear coated paint..and by clear coat i mean good ppg or dupont ..not some spray can s***...it will wipe it off....for the paint i like Meguiars buffing compound and cleaner waxes and i like the "high tech yellow wax "..works good...the get out scratches u gotta be able to gauge how deep it is and know the threshold before you break threw..now yer never gonna break threw by hand unless your useing super duty compound...so don;t worry about it unless you useing a electric buffer...and if you ever get your car buffed make sure you get them to hand rub it with some "glaze" because if you don;t ...you will see everywere the buffer was on yer car..cause there will be swirl marks out the ass..i guess that could tell from a professional job to a half asser....in my personal use for a paint job that is in good shape....i use alot of Eagle One products...to start what you have to do is..wash your car with eagle one car wash..then wax your car with "eagle one wet wax"..then for the future what u need to do to prolong your wax is wash your care with the eagle one car wash..then use "wax as you dry" before you shamy...it works good...Rain-X is awesome for windows..but theres a secret to this stuff....i found out..after you apply it..i always take a shamy over the glass and use a paper towel to dry the water..it gets all the residue off then so no marks are left behind, i also wax glass(only on the out side) and u can use the same thing with the shamy to keep the streaks off..if u wax the windows a day or so after u rain-x your windows it will bead a lot longer....another thing about glass...alcohol + water mixed..is good for cleaning glass..it won;t leave ne streaks.....if your wheels are really hardcore on the brake dust use spray nine and the bug sponge(its a neted sponge) if that won;t cut it..you can use rubbing compound to get the s*** off.......and another thing for like plastic moldings.if there all dried out n brittle..u can use that silicone spray or u can use this stuff called "black again"..its like honey..it works really good...its better to use that cause then u can just put it on a rag and apply it.. u can do that to with the spray....i wouldn't recommened sprayin the moldings cause you'll get it all over the paint.....for the seats and carpet..for overall cleaning and bad stains use TUff Stuff and don't be afraid to soak it in....then i scrub the rug and suck it up with wet/dry sweeper....same thing for stained seats/or floor matts...some times i use some concentrated citrus stuff can;t remember the name but i would use a scraper to scrape the stain out..a nice flat one..it works..just be gentle....and for grease and pen mark or something of that nature....use lacquor thinner..it works good..if that ain;t getting the stain out..nothing is..and also to my detailing knowledge i can paint very good also..with ppg and dupont..if ne one wants to hire me..hehe..well thats enuff......later
Dan

 

[pluto316]

PERIODS, SENTENCES, CAPITAL LETTERS.


USE THEM.

 

[Zray]

Heh - great info Dan. And ya, periods are a lot more useful when used one at a time

I've been looking for exactly a thread like this now for a while myself...

 

[Pure Insanity]

Now THAT boys and girls is a REPLY!

Wow tons of info. GREAT stuff!

I too was a body man and painter until about a yr and a half ago. Spent almost 15 yrs suckin fumes and couldnt take the insureance BS anymore and walked away and never looked back. When I was doing 3 stage and pearls w/out even thinking about it anymore I got bored and stopped painting and started doing body work. When I was the guy that the old guys came to, and the guy the manager would get to fix others messes and/or help them, I got bored again. About that time my dad was needing someone so I went back to wrenching for dad. Hopefully by the time I get bored w/ that (LOL) my "other" shop (nites and weekends starting this) will be off the ground and running well.

Milano red, that was a Nissan color IIRC wasnt it? Up until about 3 yrs ago I could tell you the PPG # for any Ford by the paint code. Hell I could recite what tints went into 3680. (3680= 9L, YO and from what I was told became another color code) That may not even be an active formula # anymore, I havent used PPG since like 97 when I discovered Sikkens. Im hoping to stick to stink bombs for what Im doing but Ill break out the paint guns if I have to. Hope they still spray, all the seals are prob dried out... its been a LONG time. HAHA!

I use the Simple Green, Castrol Purple stuff, and some Orange cleaner that I have here at the house. I mostly use Meguiars products or Mothers for polishes and wax.

How you suggested to do the cam cover is almost exactly what I planned to do. I may not go all the way to 2500. LOL! I planned to use 4-600 to start followed up by 1000 then 1500 and see how that looks.

One thing Ive found that I prefer over compound for crap on the surface is clay bars. Awesome stuff.

Swirl marks suck. Even tho I painted for yrs, I was never a very good buffer. I could do it, I could make it look good, but there were guys that made me look like a chump. Just made me spray better so I wouldnt have to buff. LOL!

Be glad you didnt have to detail behind me. I was ruthless. Close the window? Cover the door opening w/ plastic? BAH! And filler dust is SOOOO hard to clean up. I actually look back now and feel bad for the detailers I tortured. LMFAO!

In all seriousness, you should do a killer write up for the site about detailing tips and tricks.

 

[Protege5Gurly]

Click the link in my sig ... there are pics of my engine bay with the chromed parts. Chrome looks better than polished, imho, and also requires less upkeep(polishing).

Also on my site is a full detail guide that you might find helpfull.

Pe@ce

 

[ONRAILS]

Hey Protege5curly,

I wanted to look into getting a dvd/screen unit. What kind do you have there? Did the dvd come with the screen/stereo unit. Sry... I'm kinda new to all this.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[gjmoreo]

** off topic **
hey Protege5Gurly - who did ur system instal? and how much dough? ** end off topic **

 

[BlueSpeed]

that milano red i was saying about is from a 89 geo spectrum....blah blah blah about the periods n such....
Dan

 

[Heathen23]

look at my sig and if you like that red just let me know and I'll tell you the paint source and such. If not, no worries.

 

[Protege5Gurly]

D-stickney, the headunit/tv is a seperate unit from the DVD unit. If you check the mod list on my webpage you can see the model numbers I used. However, Alpine does have a KILLER new piece out that is a 7" Widescreen with built in dvd, etc for like $2g.

gjmoreo .... the shop that did the install was Auto Sound in Kendall Park NJ. They have a website but im not 100% sure of the address. They have done alot of high end cars --- alpine demo's, Wu-Tang clan members cars, NFL players cars, the Bad Boy Entertainment Van, etc. The full install (everything listed under my Audio Mods) plus full featured alarm ... installed was approx $6k.

Pe@ce

 

[Pure Insanity]

look at my sig and if you like that red just let me know and I'll tell you the paint source and such. If not, no worries.

Is that a pretty good match to the RB red on the other parts? looks good in the pics but they can be decieving. Your car is lookin awesome. Some nice details and the leather looks sweet.

So what is the paint source?

 

[Pure Insanity]

Click the link in my sig ... there are pics of my engine bay with the chromed parts. Chrome looks better than polished, imho, and also requires less upkeep(polishing).

Also on my site is a full detail guide that you might find helpfull.

Pe@ce

DAMN! Do you own or work at a chrome shop?! Looks sweeet in there. Chroming is much easier to maintain which is why my play toy 4 wheel drive has chrome. Had alum, never maintained them, they dulled. LOL! Altho I prefer the look of polished alum for some reason. The MSP Ill take care of, the truck gets washed when it rains or if I cant see out of it for all the mud.

LOL! Ill have to post a few pics in this thread for grins of how nasty my truck gets. It would make a funny comparision in a detail thread.

 

[Pure Insanity]

OK for grins...heres my toy.

Its supposed to be white. I somehow ended up w/ a mud chunk the size of a baseball on my center console lid that day. Maybe I should roll up the windows when I dive in a mud hole......

 

[toucci]

oh man that thing must have been fun around town covered entirely in mud,... I would have been impressed

 

[Pure Insanity]

Yeah its a blast to do. Seeing a truck covered in mud around my town isnt too much of a shock. Pretty common around here. LOL!

I HAD to wash it after that one. Normally it stays a few days before Ill rinse it. Usually when people start cussing me for dropping dried mud chunks on the road as im driving. HAHA! When I washed it off after that one took forever. It was dried like concrete.

Worst one involved me having to remove my entire interior and throw out the carpet. I was in WAY too deep that day. (About 5 feet deep.) Got stuck and had to bail out. I had MtDew bottles floating out of it. LMFAO!! It never stalled tho. Stayed running the whole time. My MSP would have been totally underwater as deep as I was.