REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

c32 · 05-27-2010, 04:43 PM

so when i reflect the cars door of the sun or say a garage light, when you look at the light off the cars door its not clear, but when you look at all the other panels the lightbulb is clear like HD tv. when you look at the light off the door its like looking at the refrection it with bad eye vision.. my friend says i just need to buy the machine and cut polish it out, but will that realy work? i dont want to spend like 300 bucks and not get the door fixed. ill try to get a pic up if needed.. its kinda hard to explain.. for example when you look at the door panel usualy you will see your reflection, but when i look at myself on the door panel its not a clear reflectin of my self. hope i explained good enough../

!Yaminashi · 05-27-2010, 04:48 PM

If its what I think you're talking about, my buddy has the same thing on his blue 09 spec v.
A cut polish will most likely fix it.

How old is your car?

c32 · 05-27-2010, 05:47 PM

9 years old, i just looked at the door panel, i can still see my self but is not as clear/high-definition look of my reflection like the other panels.

!Yaminashi · 05-27-2010, 07:22 PM

I'm guessing you're trying to say the panel isnt glossy compared to the rest of the car.
Was it always like that?

I'd think a cut polish would do the trick

syee · 05-27-2010, 07:34 PM

Has the door been replaced at any time? It seems unusual that you'd get one specific panel thats problematic while everything else is fine.

I guess as a small scale test, grab a tube of ScratchX or some kind of fine polishing compound that you have lying around and polish a small section of the door. If it comes out shiny and nice the way you want, then a cut polish will restore your door. If it still doesn't give you the desired results, my guess is that it's something else that perhaps we're not understanding in your description. Pictures in this case would help.

c32 · 05-27-2010, 08:01 PM

ill try that scratch x stuff out since i have some. is scratch x 2.0 a cut polisher? or polish?
instead of picking up a porter cable could i just cut polish with scratch x2.0 by hand? i've been told you need a DA to cut polish but just wanted to confirm

i actualy just got this car not to long ago and i have no idea if the panel has been replaced, it probably was. hopefuly i can get the door cut polished so it blends in with the rest of the car

!Yaminashi · 05-27-2010, 08:10 PM

You dont necessarily need a DA polisher to get the job done, but it would probably make for lighter work.

syee · 05-27-2010, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phucmang

ill try that scratch x stuff out since i have some. is scratch x 2.0 a cut polisher? or polish?
instead of picking up a porter cable could i just cut polish with scratch x2.0 by hand? i've been told you need a DA to cut polish but just wanted to confirm

i actualy just got this car not to long ago and i have no idea if the panel has been replaced, it probably was. hopefuly i can get the door cut polished so it blends in with the rest of the car

It's a scratch remover, which makes it somewhat of a medium/light polish. There's different grades of polish, as you can see on some of the Meguiars product labels. You can probably go to their site to see how aggressive it is compared to some of their other polishes.

You could do it all by hand but to be honest, you may not be able to use your arms for a couple of days after you're done, and it may take you all day to do a satisfactory job.

The only reason I asked you to try Scratch X is to really see if it's an issue with just a dulled surface due to swirls/scratches. If ScratchX doesn't fix it and it's a defect in the paint, it may require some body work from a paint shop.

It's really more of a quick and dirty test. If Scratch X cleans it up, get (or borrow) a PC and some slight more aggressive pads and polishes and you can get the door panel squared away in under an hour.

c32 · 05-27-2010, 08:31 PM

ill have to try that scratch x stuff out. i did notice near the doors edge it would be a bit clearer than the middle of the door.. well see what happnes, ill keep you guys updated.

c32 · 06-01-2010, 11:49 AM

ok i just scratch x2.0 the top part of the door, i see not much difference, i cant realy tell if it was always like that or not but the part i did showed a tiny bit better then the lower part of the door, again i cant tell if theres much difference.. hm now i noticed that my front fender on the same side of the door is a bit messed up too.. i didnt clay bar befor i did it either, am i suposed to? last time i clay bared it was about 2-3 months ago and i did notice after i applied scratch x 2.0 that spot would feed smooth again, i compared to the other door and it wasnt as smooth but there was no grit. i think i needa wax the car again.. will i have to claybar the whole thing again? man this shit is so much work..

Fafine · 06-01-2010, 12:22 PM

post pix?

Mugen EvOlutioN · 06-01-2010, 12:33 PM

no pic?

syee · 06-01-2010, 12:38 PM

Yeah, I'm going to have to voice what the guys before me said - gonna need pics to get a better idea. It has to be a decent pic too...not a blurry one off your cell phone since we'll need a fair bit of detail to be able to tell what's going on.

highgloss · 06-01-2010, 01:26 PM

try either as everyone says the scartch X or meg ultimate compound right off the shelf and give it some hard work without a machine

c32 · 06-01-2010, 01:34 PM

.

syee · 06-01-2010, 01:46 PM

It's hard to tell from the pics and the white paint doesn't help, but I'm guessing it might be "orange peel" from a respray?

Does it kind of look like this? (look at the area under the handle that's kinda fuzzy looking)

If so, the only way I know of getting rid of orange peel is probably wetsanding.

c32 · 06-01-2010, 01:53 PM

it doesnt realy look like orange peel hmm.. its more its more flat than orange peel.. ima go try some more scratch x in the middle of the door this time... hopefuly it might be more clearer..

c32 · 06-01-2010, 01:59 PM

ok i just took a look at it and it does look like orange peel.. and missing clearcoat or maybe a very thin layer of cleat coat... if you wet sand this down are you just wet sanding the clear coat or the paint?

yeah now that i think of it, it looks a tiny bit like orange peel but with alot of cleacoat missing... i look at the rear fender and theres a slight bit of orange peel on the bottom but theres lots of clear coats.. maybe need to repaint with more clearcoat?

syee · 06-01-2010, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phucmang

ok i just took a look at it and it does look like orange peel.. and missing clearcoat or maybe a very thin layer of cleat coat... if you wet sand this down are you just wet sanding the clear coat or the paint?

yeah now that i think of it, it looks a tiny bit like orange peel but with alot of cleacoat missing... i look at the rear fender and theres a slight bit of orange peel on the bottom but theres lots of clear coats.. maybe need to repaint with more clearcoat?

Usually, a thin or weak clear coat will crack (what they call "crow's feet") It looks like this:

Wetsanding is supposed to "even off" the bumps you'd see if you have orange peel to give a more even look. Depending on how it's painted, some are single stage (so basically paint with no clear coat) or it has it's colored paint, then a clear coat on top.

911fanatic · 06-01-2010, 08:31 PM

My guess is that the dull areas have been resprayed and the last coat of clear went on light, or "dry" and thats why it looks like that. Polishing and or wetsanding may cure it. Not something you should do yourself.

highgloss · 06-02-2010, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911fanatic

My guess is that the dull areas have been resprayed and the last coat of clear went on light, or "dry" and thats why it looks like that. Polishing and or wetsanding may cure it. Not something you should do yourself.

yea, polishing and wet sanding can be the solution