Can this be restored?

[Max Archer]

I've been assuming I'd have to have my E30 totally repainted, but after reading around, I see some pretty rough stuff being brought back to life. My paint is all there, but it's really seriously oxidized. The guys at the mechanic buffed it up some while it was in the shop, and got the sides looking really nice, but all the flat surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) are still pretty bad. (Sorry the pics suck, I live in NorCal and the car's being stored at my parents' house in SoCal, my mom took these on her phone.)





As I say, I've been expecting to have it repainted, especially since the whole front bumper is the wrong color, so it won't kill me to hear that the paint is shot, but I figured I might as well get some opinions.

[Keith M]

It will never be perfect, but using a buffer can do amazing things. You can see the difference where I have buffed on this r3v'ers car. Sorry for the small pic.

[nomansland92]

Maybe try a more course buffing compound and work your way to a real fine compound for the finish. I real good buff will take about a full day

[devon.818]

clay bar the car
wash it several times after to get all the clay off
use a buffer and compound
polish
wax

will look awesome, down side to this is it will bring out every blemish on the car, so if you have bubbling/cracking/pitting ect any imperfections in the paint it will make them more noticeable.

i've been working at lexus washing cars for a few months, just started learning scratch removal, how to buff/wax, and detail cars. it is a lot of work, but if you enjoy it then no worries.

[reelizmpro]

Complete detail is in order. Wash/clay/polish/seal/wax etc. A good 6-8 hours and it should look good as new.

[Max Archer]

Thanks guys, I'll look into having a good detail done when I have a chance. It's certainly much cheaper than a repaint. I still need to find a place to do the bumper, unless I tackle it with paintscratch or something. Maybe I can do the prep myself and take it out for paint.

[Holland]

Wish my paint was this simple. Peeling clear coat is a bitch.

[Max Archer]

Wish my paint was this simple. Peeling clear coat is a bitch.

Oh, believe me, I've been there. I've owned a 240SX and two Miatas, I know all about peeling clear coat.

[Ceeker]

If you have peeling clear; you can sand the whole surface down; Get a can of "automotive" clear from carquest of equivalent auto paint supplier. make sure the surface is prepped properly before spraying; there is lots of prep work. such as wet sanding the surface with different grade sand paper to get the imperfections out. then lay the clear down. do a few coats. then wet sand again and buff/polish. if you are handy and have some finesse you can pull it off.

I had a vandalized trunk area along the side of the lid on the body line. I made it all purdy. Now its not perfect paint match considering the age; and it's not absolutely true because I am no body man. but in comparison to what it was and the cost of my supplies it did save me some $. If you have time, patience and a few bucks you pull it off. Steps I took I filled it was plastic metal, sanded, primed, painted, wet sanded, painted a few coats, wet sanded and then cleared it a few times with wet sanding in between. then polish.

my car was badly faded and thought it would need repainting for sure. I had time and thought, why not. I wet sanded the whole top of the car. From the trunk back to the hood. Astonishingly, after the wet sand and cutting compound the paint returned. It was lots of elbow grease and time but it can be done. Since I was planning on painting it anyway, I had nothing to lose in terms of damage. not only did I bring the shine back I also managed to fix a few nasty spots of peeling and chipping with the extra paint and clear I had. in the next post you can see the hood shots I took.

[Ceeker]

So as you can see from the pics; the chipping area, the same area restored and the over all hood. it cleaned up nicely. the repair work isn't perfect but certainly a tremendous improvement over what it was. oh and all the work was done outside; not down draft booth. no spray gun or compressor. All spray Baum and hand tools with the exception of the polisher.

[lbreevesii]

Some simple polishing brought a lot of life back to my diamond schwartz. Ended up respraying anyway though. I used meguiars polish.



after wet sanding and polishing:


50/50 on the trunk. Two quick hand passes of polish.



Now it looks realllyyy good! but thats cause I spent 3000 on it :-p