So I finally got arround to doing some corrective work on the wifes 1994 Eunos roadster, I will start with a few photos of the paint as it currently is. My wife has owned the car for around two years now and we really havent touched the paint. We only paid £1100 for it so cant really moan too much as the rest is in pretty good order but really it needs a respray. This detail was more of getting a bit of practice in and trying to make it look a bit better for a few years until she can afford to get the paint sorted. The paint on the bonnet and boot was really blotchy and oxidised so I was hoping to get this back to black and prevent it from getting so bad again by applying a coat of Gtechniq C1 to it. I wasnt looking for 100% paint correction just a nice improvement that made the car look maybe 10-15 years younger.

 

 

 

So to start we gave the car a quick wash with megs gold class. Decontaminated with valet pro citrus tar and glue remover and then used Iron X. Once dry I checked the paint thickness which was between 75 and 140 microns other than the passenger door and rear quarter which have obviously seen some paint due to accident damage (the white inner door was a dead give away when changing the speakers) The passenger rear quarter panel was already showing signs of burn through on the clear (where it was repaired as the car shouldnt have any clear on it)

 

I then washed it down and gave it a blast with a G3 clay mitt and a bucket of thick gold class suds and the paint felt slick! much easier and quicker than clay barring although it did leave noticable marring on the soft japanesse paint. (nothing a very light polish wouldnt remove though.

 

So onto the polishing. I started with some 3m extra fine cut on a 3m yellow pad on the old silverline but it just wasnt doing much so i resorted to (shock horror) farecla G3 compound on a cheapo silverline blue pad. To keep it workable and not spraying everywhere I added a good measure of Lime prime to it as its oilyness negates the need for lashings of water that then result in white spray everywhere. This running a medium speed hammered through the swirls and some of the RDS but there was only so much I could do and with some panels down to 65 microns I didnt dare try to get it any better

 

I then followed it up with a quick pass of the extra fine with the rotary before demasking and wiping the whole car carefully down. Then got out the DA (DAS6) and gave a final few passes of Lime prime on a Lake county CCS finessing pad to remove any buffer trails I may have inflicted.

 

Whilst I was polishing, the wife got to attacking the details with a double sided foam pad and gtechniq P1. Arround the badges and side indicators etc. Then buffed up the tail pipe with some autosol

 

Finally it was time for some protection so the paint was given a good wipe down using IPA and several MF cloths I gave it a coat of C1 as per the instructions.

 

Im chuffed to bits with it to be fair and I hope the following photos show you what can be done with cheap machines and a bit of time and patience... and much shuffling around the drive trying to keep it out of the sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this one you can see the burn through near the rear light... I just hammered the polisher over it as its there already so why not make it shiny too

 

 

and finally the obligatory selfie in the door reflection

 

 

All it needs now is the soft top treating, a new front bumper (accident damage)  and an alloy wheel refurb

 

I will keep you guys posted as to how the C1 holds up. We intend to give it a coat of C2v3 tomorrow though

 

oops sorry for the mega large resolution guys! and these photos have seen no touch ups at all they are straight from the camera

So I finally got arround to doing some corrective work on the wifes 1994 Eunos roadster, I will start with a few photos of the paint as it currently is. My wife has owned the car for around two years now and we really havent touched the paint. We only paid £1100 for it so cant really moan too much as the rest is in pretty good order but really it needs a respray. This detail was more of getting a bit of practice in and trying to make it look a bit better for a few years until she can afford to get the paint sorted. The paint on the bonnet and boot was really blotchy and oxidised so I was hoping to get this back to black and prevent it from getting so bad again by applying a coat of Gtechniq C1 to it. I wasnt looking for 100% paint correction just a nice improvement that made the car look maybe 10-15 years younger.

 

 

 

So to start we gave the car a quick wash with megs gold class. Decontaminated with valet pro citrus tar and glue remover and then used Iron X. Once dry I checked the paint thickness which was between 75 and 140 microns other than the passenger door and rear quarter which have obviously seen some paint due to accident damage (the white inner door was a dead give away when changing the speakers) The passenger rear quarter panel was already showing signs of burn through on the clear (where it was repaired as the car shouldnt have any clear on it)

 

I then washed it down and gave it a blast with a G3 clay mitt and a bucket of thick gold class suds and the paint felt slick! much easier and quicker than clay barring although it did leave noticable marring on the soft japanesse paint. (nothing a very light polish wouldnt remove though.

 

So onto the polishing. I started with some 3m extra fine cut on a 3m yellow pad on the old silverline but it just wasnt doing much so i resorted to (shock horror) farecla G3 compound on a cheapo silverline blue pad. To keep it workable and not spraying everywhere I added a good measure of Lime prime to it as its oilyness negates the need for lashings of water that then result in white spray everywhere. This running a medium speed hammered through the swirls and some of the RDS but there was only so much I could do and with some panels down to 65 microns I didnt dare try to get it any better

 

I then followed it up with a quick pass of the extra fine with the rotary before demasking and wiping the whole car carefully down. Then got out the DA (DAS6) and gave a final few passes of Lime prime on a Lake county CCS finessing pad to remove any buffer trails I may have inflicted.

 

Whilst I was polishing, the wife got to attacking the details with a double sided foam pad and gtechniq P1. Arround the badges and side indicators etc. Then buffed up the tail pipe with some autosol

 

Finally it was time for some protection so the paint was given a good wipe down using IPA and several MF cloths I gave it a coat of C1 as per the instructions.

 

Im chuffed to bits with it to be fair and I hope the following photos show you what can be done with cheap machines and a bit of time and patience... and much shuffling around the drive trying to keep it out of the sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this one you can see the burn through near the rear light... I just hammered the polisher over it as its there already so why not make it shiny too

 

 

and finally the obligatory selfie in the door reflection

 

 

All it needs now is the soft top treating, a new front bumper (accident damage)  and an alloy wheel refurb

 

I will keep you guys posted as to how the C1 holds up. We intend to give it a coat of C2v3 tomorrow though

You did a really amazing job on that,well worth the effort.

Well done, looks a great improvement

Stunning work

Very well done

Mazda paint is soft so only needs a light pad and polish combo really...but the Eunos is fairly old, so may be harder...Not really sure

I understand why you would resort to a harder pad and polish as it does take longer with a light combo, but removes less clearcoat

So the areas where you dare not work anymore, could be polished more

However, forgive me..... Im only trying to help ...if and when, you do it again

It looks great and the C1 will prevent future swirls and marring

I bet the wife is chuffed to death

Thanks guys, she's very happy with it

I know what your saying chris, most of the remaining scratching is pretty deep so I'm happy to leave them. On my previous eunos I managed to remove the swirls easily with just 3m extra fine which isn't too aggressive and having a rotary does Speer things up. Also I don't think 3g quite has the cut when used sparingly with lime prime as opposed to blathering it on with water. Still I'm sure there are better modern heavier polishes.

I'm not sure how thin I can go on it and with some of the original black only panels at 60 microns now I don't want to push it. A few edges already had burn to primer, probably from the same person that did the rear quarter panel. The two clear coated panels have plenty of thickness as they have been repainted but how much is left before burning through the clear is anyone's guess ;-)

On a plus note with the car being so small we have loads of c1 left. Is it worth a second coat or do I put some on the VRS...

Yes..its a dilema with up and down thickness

If you measure in the door shut paint thickness and then on the bodywork..the diffrence will be roughly the thickness of clearcoat available, due to clearcoat not applied thickly to those areas by the robots at the factory

BTW...No need for two coats of C1

Nice. Very nice work. Looks a lot better. Shows you have good skills with the rotary.

Looks a million times better, top job.

Yes..its a dilema with up and down thickness

If you measure in the door shut paint thickness and then on the bodywork..the diffrence will be roughly the thickness of clearcoat available, due to clearcoat not applied thickly to those areas by the robots at the factory

BTW...No need for two coats of C1

Yeah that works well on cars with clear but the eunos has none. Only on the two panels that have been repainted.

Excellent I will just put two coats of c2v3 over it today then

Nice. Very nice work. Looks a lot better. Shows you have good skills with the rotary.

Thanks, as long as your careful they are great tools

Great work [emoji106]

Yeah that works well on cars with clear but the eunos has none. Only on the two panels that have been repainted.

Excellent I will just put two coats of c2v3 over it today then

Oh..I wondered.

Didnt know it wasnt laquered

That really looks like it was worth the effort

Really nice work there mate - absolutely stunning results;

Many thanks for sharing - good write-up and pictures 

Thanks guys, managed to get a few coats of c2v3 on it. Think I used a little too much at first as it smeared a bit on the boot. Looks possibly even better now although nothing a photo would show. Even managed to repaint the rear badges lettering.

I think all mk1 mx5 variants other than the metallics were solid colour with no clear which is probably why the reds and blues often fade

Yeah. I've done some research now

Mine is lacquered but at 2 years old.. It should be

The paint is a little harder than I've worked on before too. Possibly due to the pearlescent paint .. But softer than Skoda paint though

Yeah that makes sense. I don't thing many cars these days come without clear coat. Definitely helps to reduce the colour fade