Scratch repair and detailing
Discussion
Hi all,
My black Celica GT-Four is looking a bit sorry for itself and I am looking to get it looking half way decent / protected for the winter. I am based in Bristol and looking for someone who can help sort it for a reasonable price.
A while ago, someone scraped the door whilst it was parked and of course they didn't leave a note. I have four or five 10cm long scratches on the door that have gone down to the undercoat, with a tiny bit of corrosion starting to appear in one place. It may be fixable by a 'smart repair' rather than re-spraying the full panel, but the problem I have is that the car is badly in need of a good detailing as well: the black paintwork is looking quite oxidised, and not very black!
If I was to have it repaired first, then detailed I cant see how they would be able to match the cars 'real' colour. If I get it detailed first, then repaired, the repair would strip away all the good quality wax that I will have just paid a lot of money for. So is there anyone who you can recommend to do both jobs at the same time?
I have used a detailer in the past (in Oxford) who did an excellent job for about £250 and would be happy to pay around the same again.
Thanks,
Adam
My black Celica GT-Four is looking a bit sorry for itself and I am looking to get it looking half way decent / protected for the winter. I am based in Bristol and looking for someone who can help sort it for a reasonable price.
A while ago, someone scraped the door whilst it was parked and of course they didn't leave a note. I have four or five 10cm long scratches on the door that have gone down to the undercoat, with a tiny bit of corrosion starting to appear in one place. It may be fixable by a 'smart repair' rather than re-spraying the full panel, but the problem I have is that the car is badly in need of a good detailing as well: the black paintwork is looking quite oxidised, and not very black!
If I was to have it repaired first, then detailed I cant see how they would be able to match the cars 'real' colour. If I get it detailed first, then repaired, the repair would strip away all the good quality wax that I will have just paid a lot of money for. So is there anyone who you can recommend to do both jobs at the same time?
I have used a detailer in the past (in Oxford) who did an excellent job for about £250 and would be happy to pay around the same again.
Thanks,
Adam
Bit far from me, sorry.
Sounds similar to my Dad's missus' black A3 I did some work on last weekend. Came up sweet.
As for the paint matching, the state of the paint should be N/A, as they'll match to the paint code of the car, not the actual paint now. Obviously though
if they are putting fresh paint in places, the rest of the paint should be cut back to get it back to "as new" 
PS: detailing won't sort scratches down to undercoat. It won't even sort it down to basecoat. It will work well for the general lethargic / dull paint though.
Sounds similar to my Dad's missus' black A3 I did some work on last weekend. Came up sweet.
As for the paint matching, the state of the paint should be N/A, as they'll match to the paint code of the car, not the actual paint now. Obviously though
if they are putting fresh paint in places, the rest of the paint should be cut back to get it back to "as new" PS: detailing won't sort scratches down to undercoat. It won't even sort it down to basecoat. It will work well for the general lethargic / dull paint though.
Hi Adam.
Will check the PC when I get back from this job later.
Otherwise, you can contact me through http://www.classic-details.co.uk.
Thanks.
Will check the PC when I get back from this job later.
Otherwise, you can contact me through http://www.classic-details.co.uk.
Thanks.
ad_p said:
Would a bodyshop not need to match the colour it is now, rather than just use the original?
You are probably best off starting with the bodyshop/smart repairer and finishing with the detailer.A good sprayer will be able to get a close match to your paint (assuming it isn't patchy or suffering from clearcoat failure or other issues), whether that is by using the original colour code and blending, mixing up a paint to more closely match what you have now, or various combinations of this (if it's particularly tough they may recommend doing a whole side). The sprayer will also be able to advise you on whether there is likely to be an issue with the match both now and in the future.
It's worth noting that any fresh paint is likely to fade at a different rate to the original (especially when the original is much older, thinner or generally lacking in clearcoat), so a permanent match isn't always guaranteed.
If some of what you see as oxidisation turns out to be pigment fade and that is below a clearcoat, then detailing won't resolve it. It's usually fairly quick to tell if this is the case though.
Once the bodyshop have finished a good detailing is well recommended, but you should leave it 8 weeks or more before any fresh paint is polished/waxed.
If you are in the Bristol area, it would be worth popping in to see J B Autos for the spray work. I'm sure Poshtwit will be able to assist with the rest.
ad_p said:
Re paint: my car is almost 20 years old. The black paint is quite soft and a little thin in places. Would a bodyshop not need to match the colour it is now, rather than just use the original?
The colour at the heart should still be the same as it came out the factory. It just might need bringing out from underneath the dull top layer.I ended up doing this with serious sandpaper on my 924, to give an idea.
Layer being removed
and once I'd spent about 10 hours on the bonnet alone....
TDIfurby said:
The colour at the heart should still be the same as it came out the factory. It just might need bringing out from underneath the dull top layer.
From memory non-metallic Toyotas from that time were single stage which should mean that it is possible to bring a lot of the colour back with polishing depending on what the paint depths are, how relatively deep the oxidation goes and assuming there are no other issues.Whether it truly goes back to the factory colour would depend on a number of factors.
It also depends on the quality of the detailer, I have seen some shocking results from a few so called detailers who didn't seem to have much understanding of paint or take the necessary readings and conduct patch tests where necessary.
JDs Paul said:
From memory non-metallic Toyotas from that time were single stage which should mean that it is possible to bring a lot of the colour back with polishing depending on what the paint depths are, how relatively deep the oxidation goes and assuming there are no other issues.
Whether it truly goes back to the factory colour would depend on a number of factors.
It also depends on the quality of the detailer, I have seen some shocking results from a few so called detailers who didn't seem to have much understanding of paint or take the necessary readings and conduct patch tests where necessary.
Very true. Many unknowns. I did a test patch on my porsche, and it just got a bigger and bigger test patch until the whole bonnet was done. Whether it truly goes back to the factory colour would depend on a number of factors.
It also depends on the quality of the detailer, I have seen some shocking results from a few so called detailers who didn't seem to have much understanding of paint or take the necessary readings and conduct patch tests where necessary.
I think the red Toyotas suffer from the same red/pink thing the vauxhalls do - so would imagine the non metallics are single stage. In which case there is good hope for a thorough machine polish to bring back the lustre.
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