So I should start off by saying I finished up this paint correction back in November/December but I'm just now getting around to taking pictures and loading them up. Oh well, better late than never.

This all started due to my OCD about having a clean/nice car. I started getting into detailing over this past summer while trying to find a way to keep my LARGE daily driver (full-size crew cab Sierra) cleaner for longer since it sits outside 24/7 under tree cover and when I do wash it, I am forced to wash with my very hard well water. Long story short, I found a thread in the Silverado/Sierra forum I'm a member of that opened up a Pandora's box of detailing related topics. In the process, I learned all about different washing processes, polishing processes, polishers, microfiber towels, waxes, sealants, coatings, and the many companies that supply these products.

After doing this research and learning more about all these detailing topics, I began to get more comfortable with the idea of paint correcting my GTA. The paint on this GTA is not the best but it's what I had to work with. And since I can't afford a repaint (at least not to the level I would want) the next best thing was to correct the paint and make it look as good as possible. My goal was to rid the car of all the swirl marks, compound out as much (or at least hide as much as possible) of the failed clear coat, and remove the oxidation from the original paint.

Part of the car had been repainted due to a run in with a deer. The nose, hood, most of the left side, as well as the spoiler had been repainted and were in good condition but had a lot of swirl marks from improper care. The roof, top of the back bumper, and mirrors had clear coat failure. I knew there was nothing I could do about this so I was just hoping I could improve the appearance even minimally here.

Overall, I'd say I have somewhere between 40 and 60 hours into this correction. That's due to my inexperience in paint correction, the really bad clear coat failure (which ate up a lot of time trying to compound), and the "beginner" level polisher I used which does not have a lot of reach or cutting power. That said, I obviously didn't complete this in a single day. It was completed over the course of several weeks in sections. Regardless, my process was the same for each section:

1. Rinseless wash with Gary Dean's Infinite Use Detail Juice (I have since switched to Optimum No Rinse)
2. Clay bar using Nanoskin medium and then fine grade clay sponge. I clayed until it was completely smooth using the baggy test.
3. Compounded using Optimum Hyper Compound on a 5.5" Hex-logic Orange pad on a Porter Cable 7424XP.
4. Polished using Optimum Hyper Polish on a 5.5" Hex-logic white pad
5. Waxed using Optimum Car Wax.
6. When I was completely done, I pulled the car out of the garage so I could wash it, as it was covered in dust. I then sealed it with Optimum Opti-Seal and topped that with Optimum Car Wax.

Now for the good stuff...the pictures! I'm not sure how well this will actually show since I wasn't focused on the flaws in the paint at the time I took these pictures but you will probably notice that there's not a lot of shine, some oxidation and also some clear coat failure.


Before:










Here are the only in-process photos I have, but you can see the difference is night and day on the roof:










This picture is a good representation for the entire passenger side of the car. You can tell how oxidized the paint is, see a little bit of the swirling and the hard water spots that had to be compounded out.

 

Here are the after shots. Keep in mind it's still not 100% due to the clear coat problems but also because I only had one polisher and pad size to use. There were a lot of smaller areas that either got skipped or didn't get corrected as well as they could have simply because I couldn't get in there with the polisher.

After:
















From the corner of the window running to the back glass is where the blend is for the original paint to the repaint. This used to be VERY noticeable. Now you can't even tell it's there.

 

More "after" shots:

 

Pretty dang good job. Night and day difference. Looks great.

 

The paint looks good, but what's going on with the headlight doors?

 

Excellent work. Love threads like this.

Very impressive how the faded clear improved. Amazing difference.

Paint correction is a very satisfying process. I've read about many of the products you used but have never saw any pictures of results. I'll pick some up now. Thanks for the details and photos.

I'm a huge fan of flame red and it looks spectacular on 91/92 GTAs!

 

Thanks. It was a lot of work but I'm (mostly) happy with the results. Always striving for perfection lol.

It's a result of a run-in with a deer most likely. The PO said they "rebuilt" the left front and probably had the whole front end apart to fix the damage. It bugs me sometimes but not enough to go fix it...yet.

Thanks. I love seeing the before and after of other people's projects as well. I did a lot of research on the companies and the products before buying anything I used. Optimum Products are top-notch and I use nearly all of their stuff now. Even the IUDJ is good stuff and I actually think it smells better than the ONR, it's just too expensive, imo.

 

Your car looks great! '91 - '92 GTAs look so good in that color.

 

Thanks Carlos! I love the way your car looks too, especially with those 17" GTA wheels.

 

There is adjustment in the headlights. It takes some patience, but you should be able to get them lined up better then they are. Hopefully they straightened the crossmember enough that there is still adjustments to be made.. The car looks good. Too bad the clear is shot on the roof because the rest of the paint came back.

 

Thank you, sir.

 

I'm sure if I actually messed with it, I could get the headlights lined up better.

The roof actually came out really well. You can hardly tell that the clear has failed there from a glance. It's the rear bumper and mirrors that still look somewhat bad. That's because I didn't bother to compound all the dead clear off because then I wouldn't have any clear at all left on those panels. So I just buffed and polished them a little bit.

 

You had this for sale a while back rite? I had a friend that went up to Rock Hill to pick up a hunting dog and I almost tagged along to come and look at your car. I would have probably bought it! Very nice GTA I love the 91-92 models.

 

Yes, I did. Part of the reason I tried selling it was because the paint looked so bad. As I've said before I couldn't afford to have it repainted and being the perfectionist I am it drove me absolutely insane looking at all the scratches, swirls, water spots, and oxidation. Truthfully, I never really wanted to sell it and it just so happened that I wasn't getting any good offers. So after I started learning about paint correction I decided I'd try to save what I could. The clear coat was already failing so I figured I had nothing to lose trying it.

I'm glad you didn't buy it! I knew if I did sell it I'd regret it since cars like this are exceptionally hard to come by, especially in this condition. Next time you're in the area, make sure you bring the T/A and shoot me a message. We'll have to get together.

 

I agree you would have regretted selling it. I have regretted selling every third gen I ever had honestly. Very nice car you have there. I fought with my clearcoat a couple years and this past fall went ahead bit the bullet and painted it.

 

Awesome job! Thanks for the detailed writeup!!