Hey everyone,

Long story short I had to park my car for a year, and like a complete Idiot I forgot to cover it. Looks like there are deep stains in the paint, I was wondering if you guys think that It can be salvaged? This is after me taking a clay bar to the thing.

 

Do they come out at all if you intensively clay bar in a single area? I sorta think that needs more clay bar but it's hard to tell without feeling the paint.

In any case, try hitting it in an inconspicuous area with some cutting compound and see what happens.

 

Now I feel kind of stupid haha. So going over it with the clay bar for a couple minutes doesnt do much but the compound does what it's supposed to. I used a microfiber cloth to apply it and it got a good chunk of it out. I think if I buy a buffer from harbor freight I'll either destory the pain or get it out. Here's a before and after/

 

Looks good, I do recommend a random orbital for sure. Be aware it speeds up your work by 50x, since you were able to get that far by hand I'd go for a light cut pad to start and let the sauce do most of the work. Follow up with no cut pads for the polish and wax.

 

If it doesn't work, sanding before buffing will help. Either use 1500 then 3000 grit wet or just 3000 grit wet before buffing. Be careful with it so as to not go through on the paint.. But judging by what you did by hand, just a buff and polish should do the trick.

 

Get a DA polisher (Porter Cable $100, Griots G9 for under $160 or a G15 $240) and use some Medium Cut Orange Lake country pads with Meguiars D300 Correction Compound.

I’d bet that would get the stains right out.

The process is strip wash (if there’s wax on the car still), clay (so contaminants don’t clog the polishing pads) and then compound...

Keep the pad flat to the paint and put a marker line on the edge of the backing plate to make sure you’re getting rotation... If the pad is only moving side to side you won’t get any correction.

watch Mike Phillips videos on how to polish paint on YouTube.

Follow with finishing pads and a 1 step polish/ sealant like Griots 1-step sealant...

If the compound with the medium cut pads isn’t working you may need to use a heavier cutting pad or a microfiber pad. Clean the pad after each section. You may need several pads for the job.

You could pay a Detailer to do it but it would probably cost the same or more... Might as well get some new tools and learn about paint correction... it could come in handy

 

I definitely wouldn’t start with sanding... That’s always a last resort... It removes more clear coat than just polishing and then you have to do 2-3 steps of polishing after...

You only have so much clear coat so keep as much paint on the car as possible

 

Hey 88IROCvertZ, I washed down and clayed the entire car. And that's the plan haha, really want to learn how to tackle my issues without having to pay someone, I really appreciate the help.