General Paint hardness

[Kekybobo]

I'm getting the car machine polished over the holidays. Does anyone know the paint hardness so we know which grade of pads to use? The car is 08.

Tom

 

[Kekybobo]

Turns out its 'soft'. Who would have known...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/pdfs/painthardness.pdf

 

[portland_bill]

Problem with most cars these days is that they are lacquered. The paint fades under the lacquer and polishing the lacquer will not fix this.
With many years sitting in the weather, the lacquer than peels off. The price we pay for 'environmentally friendly' paint processes.

 

[Kekybobo]

Well here's the result. I've added a wee filter or two to adjust the contrast/brightness and a little lens blur, but you can definitely see the car is swirl free and reflecting like a mirror.

For anyone in N.Ireland here's the guy that did the work:

https://www.facebook.com/ashautocare/

 

[Kekybobo]

Here's a more natural shot.

 

[Noxide]

V. shiny! Looks good!

Like those Fiat steelies too! Did they come like that?!

 

[Kekybobo]

V. shiny! Looks good!

Like those Fiat steelies too! Did they come like that?!

Did them myself. 4 punto steelies from a breakers, halfrauds silver and laqueur and vw polo g40 center caps with 50mm fiat sticker.

 

[Noxide]

Did them myself. 4 punto steelies from a breakers, halfrauds silver and laqueur and vw polo g40 center caps with 50mm fiat sticker.

Ah that's absolutely brilliant! If I could bear to part with my wheels for winter I'd probably take this sort of route!

 

[Eklipze3k]

Looks sweet! Only thing I have to shake my head at is the Abarth stickers on a non-Abarth car, but otherwise spot on

 

[Kekybobo]

Looks sweet! Only thing I have to shake my head at is the Abarth stickers on a non-Abarth car, but otherwise spot on

I know. They were there when I bought the car. It also had abarth badges on the front and rear but I took them off. I hadn't taken the side ones off because I knew they would have left marks/ghosting. Ideally I should have taken them off so the paint work below could be polished too but tbh I forgot.

 

[Alexcubek]

Are you in N Ireland? Its a uk reg no.

 

[Kekybobo]

Are you in N Ireland? Its a uk reg no.

I am (Dromore, about 20mins from Belfast). The couple I bought it off are from here but bought it when they lived in Coventry. They moved back home and sold the car as they were going to have a baby.

 

[Alexcubek]

Are u allowed to keep the uk reg? But then on thinking about it there are alot of N Ireland plates over here as private plates.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Are u allowed to keep the uk reg? But then on thinking about it there are alot of N Ireland plates over here as private plates.

Both systems are administered by DVLA

 

[Kekybobo]

Without getting political, it's funny because one community (green) is annoyed that the North is part of and ruled over by the UK, and the other community (blue) is annoyed that even though we are part of and ruled over by the UK the folk on the 'mainland' seem to forget that fact.

It gets even more complicated post brexit vote as N.Ireland (UK) has the only land border with the EU (Ireland/Eire/Rep of Ireland).

Anyways, England/Scotland/Wales/N.Ireland are administrated by DVLA/DVLNI and can reside anywhere in the UK. Cars originally registered in Ireland would have to be reregistered to reside within the UK and vise versa.

 

[Alexcubek]

Without getting political, it's funny because one community (green) is annoyed that the North is part of and ruled over by the UK, and the other community (blue) is annoyed that even though we are part of and ruled over by the UK the folk on the 'mainland' seem to forget that fact.

It gets even more complicated post brexit vote as N.Ireland (UK) has the only land border with the EU (Ireland/Eire/Rep of Ireland).

Anyways, England/Scotland/Wales/N.Ireland are administrated by DVLA/DVLNI and can reside anywhere in the UK. Cars originally registered in Ireland would have to be reregistered to reside within the UK and vise versa.

Yes, I used to have a Vauxhall Cavalier that had the Irish plate HIJ9024 and I had to get it re registered DGB403X

 

[intel131]

Well here's the result. I've added a wee filter or two to adjust the contrast/brightness and a little lens blur, but you can definitely see the car is swirl free and reflecting like a mirror.

For anyone in N.Ireland here's the guy that did the work:

https://www.facebook.com/ashautocare/

Not in N.Ireland, but roughly how much did he charge?

 

[Kekybobo]

Got abit of an Xmas special for £100. Usual price would have been around £145.

 

[Mila]

They look like 15" wheels? Correct?

 

[alexGS]

Turns out its 'soft'. Who would have known...

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/pdfs/painthardness.pdf

Yes!
I figured this out when I found how easily the paint 'mars' when trying to buff off a coating...

I think the biggest challenge, now that it is polished, will be how to avoid scratching it during regular washing. Supposedly, brushes are a no-no, but mitts can be just as bad at trapping dirt and scratching. You can go to the extreme of using a snow foam gun to rinse some of the dirt off first, but it will still need going over with a mitt to actually clean the surface.

-Alex