A good friend and client of mine told me he picked up a 1994 Mazda Miata in red (honestly, it was more pink than red) that just needed a good wax. He said it was in pretty good condition and thought that wax would bring it back to life. Over the years I've learned that whenever anyone says it, "just needs a good wax," that really means it needs deep wetsanding, 3 stage compound and polish and a once in a life time gift from god to bring the paint back to life. So I had him bring the car by and I saw how rough the car really was. What we decided to do was to bring the car as much back to life with about 4 hours worth of work. The car is very small so I figured, why not. Best bang for the buck he wanted. So with my goal of 4 hours, I went immediately work. I only snapped a handful of photos but they get the point across. This is before correction but after washing and claying the entire car: The client had the intentions of replacing the front bumper and rear trim piece. They literally had no paint left on them but I cleaned them up enough so that the car was presentable. He just wanted the car to look a little bit better than its current condition. And here are the completed and also some 50/50 shots. The hood of the car was in the worst condition (besides the paintless bumper) Tools/Chemicals: - PC 7424 - Lake Country Orange 5.5" + Chemical Guys V36 - Lake Country White 5.5" + Chemical Guys V38 - Collinite 845 as LSP by hand Overall the client, and his wallet, were extremely happy with the final product. The bumper wa looking much better for the time being and the rest of the car was no longer pink. For the time spent, I was very happy with the finish. I felt I could do more but there really was not much paint left. I also wanted to fill in the scratches but the client did not want to bother so I let it slide.
Don't always have to do multi day detail with a film crew! Looks great. Most of our customers are also looking for the "Bang for buck" job and you nailed it.
agreed great work....bang for the buck is what I do now as well since I'm not experienced in full corrections, there's plenty of experienced folks on here I can refer folks to if that's what they want.
Don't count yourself out! One of the biggest tools experienced detailers have (or learn) is PATIENCE.
Thanks! As much as I'd love to make the car 100%, you're right, most customers want bang for the buck. I did this car almost 6 months ago, never got around to posting. Immediately after doing this car I got hooked on Chemical Guys v36 + Megs MF cutting pads. If I had that combo back then, I probably would've gotten a lot closer to my goal of perfection. I started on the same boat. Minor corrections on weekends and a lot of wash and waxing. Still got to learn a lot from it though. Best advice, go to a junkyard or ask around for some old scrap hoods and practice full corrections and wet sanding on them. It's easily a project you can do in a day and try every pad combo out on. Great learning experience. I still have a good in my garage to use for some new pad combos I want to test out. Found a trunk lid shot. The sun was off a little bit, I got to get better at getting these shots but it shows the difference in oxidation regardless.
