Paint looks bad...

[tintin]

Alright,

So I bought a dark blue 2004 Jetta 1.8T back in July.

I've been fairly busy and haven't had a chance to take a really close look and get it looking the way it should.

I've washed it - most recently twice in two days at the pressure washer.

I can't seem to get it the paint to look good at all. It's my first dark coloured car and it just doesn't pop.

Any quality advice is appreciated!

[Compton]

Re: Paint looks bad...

First of all, get used to it, its a dark colored car!

Go grab a clay bar, and NXT wax and get to work! Allow around 5 hours and after that it should be sparkling!!

[stefan]

Re: Paint looks bad...

there are a few guys on here that can do power polishing for a good price. might be nice to do that once just to get it freshened up, and keep it clean from there.

[AllGo'n'Show]

Re: Paint looks bad...

Sometimes it can be quite the job to bring the paint back to the original shine. If your a DIY type guy then plan for a weekend of lovin and some sore forearms

If not, I would recommend the guys at Refine Auto Salon, feel free to take your car by their shop and have them give you an estimate on the work needed. They take pride in their work and do not rush it to get the next car in.

[DigitalAudio]

Re: Paint looks bad...

First of all, get used to it, its a dark colored car!

Go grab a clay bar, and NXT wax and get to work! Allow around 5 hours and after that it should be sparkling!!

I second that. I just did the same thing myself two weekends ago. Galactic blue.. it was looking ok, but I used the claybar and nxt wax and she is looking pretty decent now. It's just a lot of work and still needs another go I think. I still want a power polish to get it up to a realy nice gloss too.

[The_Stig]

Re: Paint looks bad...

I do power polishes out of my garage. Pm me if you want to know more.

[Kor]

Re: Paint looks bad...

Mobilereflections

[jrockmk2]

Re: Paint looks bad...

i highly recomend "The_Stig" he does a good job

[Guysmiley]

Re: Paint looks bad...

I do power polishes out of my garage. Pm me if you want to know more.

What do you charge for a typical polish?

[tintin]

Re: Paint looks bad...

Next time I'm going to have someone else do it. I just spent 12 hours working on it. I feel like I'm going to die, but the car is SO smooth.

I washed, claybarred and used the Meguiar's three step - paint clean, polish and wax.

There are just so many little chips in the hood and bumper though. Too bad really. But the rest of the car is looking sharp!

[J-hop]

Re: Paint looks bad...

Next time I'm going to have someone else do it. I just spent 12 hours working on it. I feel like I'm going to die, but the car is SO smooth.

I washed, claybarred and used the Meguiar's three step - paint clean, polish and wax.

There are just so many little chips in the hood and bumper though. Too bad really. But the rest of the car is looking sharp!

yea paint care is definitely a huge pain, I used to have a black car and gave up waxing/polishing it on a regular basis after a few years as it was just to much work.

Interesting that you point out the paint chips, I have a similar problem with my mk4 Jetta, my brother has the same problem with his passat and my friend had a similar problem with his mk3 golf. Seems VW goes chinsy in the paint dept. I've also found that every single Mk4 (and maybe other gen) VWs i look at have a weird textured look to their paint if you look at them in a certain light/angle, maybe its normal, but my volvo that has a $500 paint job on it from a highschool autobody class doesn't have any sort of a textured look to the paint.

I'd have to say the paint is one of the things I have been most disappointed in on my vw

[VWSM]

Re: Paint looks bad...

yea paint care is definitely a huge pain, I used to have a black car and gave up waxing/polishing it on a regular basis after a few years as it was just to much work.

Interesting that you point out the paint chips, I have a similar problem with my mk4 Jetta, my brother has the same problem with his passat and my friend had a similar problem with his mk3 golf. Seems VW goes chinsy in the paint dept. I've also found that every single Mk4 (and maybe other gen) VWs i look at have a weird textured look to their paint if you look at them in a certain light/angle, maybe its normal, but my volvo that has a $500 paint job on it from a highschool autobody class doesn't have any sort of a textured look to the paint.

I'd have to say the paint is one of the things I have been most disappointed in on my vw

thats because it's water based and applied with a negative and positive charge,very minimal paint is used to cover the cars.
thats why when cars get detailed they cannot be polished.
they all chip very easily and you have to be very carefull when power polishing.

[tintin]

Re: Paint looks bad...

I was pretty careful with the polish - but I'd say there are like 500 little chips in the front. One of the issues when buying a car with 100k on it! I don't think the paint is to blame for it - my windshield looks like crap with so many little tiny chips in it too.

My next car will be white. I miss my white 2001 Golf. It was so easy to keep looking sharp.

[J-hop]

Re: Paint looks bad...

thats because it's water based and applied with a negative and positive charge,very minimal paint is used to cover the cars.
thats why when cars get detailed they cannot be polished.
they all chip very easily and you have to be very carefull when power polishing.

yea its just disappointing when my youngest brother's 89 volvo wagon with almost 350,000 km (both city and highway) which has barely been waxed in it's lifetime looks like a show car (paint wise) compared to my 02 Jetta LOL.

[GINCH]

Re: Paint looks bad...

Hey CJ,
Off topic but what happened to your trip around the world on the bikes?
Derek