# My first mess



## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

*APOLOGIES, I just realised I posted this in the products section*

I have a couple of things going on here. Firstly there is a scratch, quite long but as many people have told me, if your fingernail doesn't catch in it, it will probably polish out. Although it looks really deep in this photo, my fingernail does not catch in it at all but I'm concerned about how deep it looks.

Second and more importantly is the big mark under the scratch, that started off half the size it is and expanded when I started with the machine. Does it look like it's through the clear coat???

Is there a possibility that a previous owner has had a go at the scratch and gone through the clear coat in an attempt to polish out the scratch? Which would possibly explain why I can't catch my nail in the scratch either.

Any suggestions? (other than, step away from the machine )


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## hyburnate (Apr 6, 2015)

I'm not the most experienced but yes that to me looks like clear coat failure.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

Could be that the damage was always there, and your polisher exposed a poor repair. Either way, that section is toast. I'd suggest that only a bodyshop is the answer. Maybe a 'smart' repair. OSF wing?


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

It's actually OSR quarter. What is involved in a smart repair? The car is probably not worth painting tbh. It's not the end of the world really, the intention was to practice on this car but I hadn't counted on the first square foot being such a ****-up. 

Maybe detailing isn't meant for me :/ it has taken the Mrs and me 2 full days to get the car ready to start polishing and this is the first fail in the first 10 minutes.


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## leeandfay (May 2, 2017)

Don't be disheartened.

Just keep researching and reading and learning. We all had to start somewhere :thumb:


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

Auto Allure said:


> Don't be disheartened.


Too late... keep watching the for sale section for a DAS-6 with 5 minutes running time on it lol.

I honestly don't think I'll ever use the thing again.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

Mate I have fists of the finest ham, and a DA. It would struggle to do that kind of damage without something underlying not being right. Don't be put off. A smart repair is essentially a localised repair done by a man in a van type deal. I would guess that sort of damage would be north of £150. Read up on some guides, and get a scrap panel to practice on. Once you have successfully corrected a car, you'll be hooked. It would p##s me off as well. Check out some guides for key-mark removal. Hope all goes well.


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

It's ok... I found a repair guide on YouTube, this guy has managed a diy repair so I might give it a whirl. You could probably skip the prep, the masking and paint work is the good stuff.


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## Leebo310 (Sep 30, 2013)

President Swirl said:


> Mate I have fists of the finest ham, and a DA. It would struggle to do that kind of damage without something underlying not being right. Don't be put off. A smart repair is essentially a localised repair done by a man in a van type deal. I would guess that sort of damage would be north of £150. Read up on some guides, and get a scrap panel to practice on. Once you have successfully corrected a car, you'll be hooked. It would p##s me off as well. Check out some guides for key-mark removal. Hope all goes well.


It has nothing to do with being ham fisted or not mate, if the clear is ridiculously thin (as would appear from someone having a go at the scratch before) then any sort of polishing can burn through and cause that damage. 
Without a pdg you'd have no clue if clear has only 1 micron left or 300 before you start. There's no way that amount of damage could be "hidden" before.

OP - as for trying out the method in the video, I would avoid that like the plague. You will only make it look a hundred times worse in my opinion.... 
It might look half decent on YouTube from several feet away in dull light through a [email protected] camera lenses but up close under any sort of decent light, and especially the sun that would look absolutely awful. 
I would at least get a couple of quotes from some local smart repairs. Chances are you could fund the majority by the sale of your da...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Zenedge said:


> It's actually OSR quarter. What is involved in a smart repair? The car is probably not worth painting tbh. It's not the end of the world really, the intention was to practice on this car but I hadn't counted on the first square foot being such a ****-up.
> 
> Maybe detailing isn't meant for me :/ it has taken the Mrs and me 2 full days to get the car ready to start polishing and this is the first fail in the first 10 minutes.


I'm no expert, but it looks very much to me that you have unearthed a previous owners disaster or a poor repair, that had been covered up in some way.

I really don't think that it was you that damaged this paint.

Keep the faith and reassure yourself by running your DA over a different part of the car, using the same technique.


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

Just came back to this forum... I got completely disheartened by this incident and have done nothing but careful washing of my good cars since. This Lancer that suffered my baptism of fire is now sold (I actually made no loss on it in a years ownership despite pointing this damage out to the buyer).

I’m now ready to try again since washing alone is not enough to keep my boxster tip top. There is a very light scratch appeared on my OS door so I have an old panel in the lock up which I shall practice on and get ready to tackle my car. On the plus side, 1 year of 3 bucket wash has kept my car in above average condition (by my usual standards) so it won’t be a huge job to get it in good order. 

Leebo310... don’t worry buddy, that link was just me mocking my own (lack of) talent... I would never do that to any car, I promise.


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## huxley309 (Apr 8, 2006)

It's honestly not as hard as you think, just take your time it's really quite hard to really screw things up with a DA.


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot Huxley but I still managed. I am now convinced though, that the problem was somebody had already tried to polish that scratch out and left the clear coat so thin that there was never going to be any chance of repair. My problem was, as a newbie to this, I didn’t recognise that the clear coat was already through and I thought it was a mark that would polish out along with the scratch... lesson learned and more ‘stop and think’ time before jumping in in future. 

Thanks


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

You should put your location in your profile, someone might be close and able to give you a pointer or 2. I am probably going for a boxster as my next car, so get some pics up


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

May I suggest you buy or, if possible, borrow a paint depth gauge? This would allow you to check paint thickness around the car, including any other suspect areas, before carrying out any further polishing. You can then go easy on any thin paint areas, or avoid them. This will give you greater confidence when polishing.

Alan W


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

Yes Alan a PTG would definitely ease my mind for doing this. As far as I can tell, it's all guess work without one.

Scooby, mine is a older '06 987 2.7. First job after buying was to fit a carnewal exhaust. The sound is just right imo. I would like a little more noise tbh but my neighbours and Mrs wouldn't. I went from an old Mk1 fiesta to the boxster but even still, it holds the road pretty damn well for a standard car. I'm in central Scotland too so if you ever want a poke around it, feel free to gimme a shout.


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## scooobydont (Feb 25, 2017)

Zenedge said:


> Yes Alan a PTG would definitely ease my mind for doing this. As far as I can tell, it's all guess work without one.
> 
> Scooby, mine is a older '06 987 2.7. First job after buying was to fit a carnewal exhaust. The sound is just right imo. I would like a little more noise tbh but my neighbours and Mrs wouldn't. I went from an old Mk1 fiesta to the boxster but even still, it holds the road pretty damn well for a standard car. I'm in central Scotland too so if you ever want a poke around it, feel free to gimme a shout.


I am looking at 986's, currently in a z4. I have a paint depth gauge, so when the weathers better could arrange something if you like. Did the mk1 ever do any of the classic car meets? I am sure I have seen it. I used to go to them in this (gone but never forgotten!)


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## Zenedge (May 13, 2017)

You probably have seen it... I used it as a daily for a decade around here and yes, I went to loads and organised a few shows/meets while I owned it. I got the boxster and kinda stopped using it as much... when you go out in the morning and have the option of a 35 year old ford or a 'new to you' boxster, the boxster wins hands down but now that I've owned the Porsche for a year, I miss that fiesta every day  The fiesta had a spanking new, zero miles, straight from Ford, 2.0 Zetec in, with only a couple of trick bits it had a shade under 150bhp in 750kgs. It would wipe the floor with the boxster all day long. No point dwelling though, I had the pleasure of owning and kicking its **** for a decade with no major hassle apart from the engine conversion (which is quite straight forward) and more than doubled my money on it. The car paid for a nice wee speedboat and a family holiday so I shouldn't complain.

Nice bug, my Mrs had one of those too. Didn't know enough about them and it was an absolute pig to drive... very pretty though.

Yeah, I'll take you up on that offer when the sunshine arrives, you can have a dig around the Porsche and let me see what's what with your gauge 👍🏻


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## broncoupe (Aug 19, 2010)

*have another go*

It was bad luck your first experience of machining.
who ever machined the car before you just had luck on his side that day. and stopped just in time 
There is no magic ball a paint depth gauge can help on metal cars so you get an overall feel for the paint depth. before you start
Even thats not guaranteed 
Machined a new Mercedes Sprinter recently checked the paint with a gauge the reading were crazy in how the paint depth varied 
Whatched a youtube video on the production of a mercedes Sprinter its a conbination of top tech robot painting and good old man and a spray gun doing arkward areas answered the question as tp crazy readings 
I machined a lotus which is fiberglass bodied and 1970s paint you just take it slow and do the minimum but reality is you can go through the paint but its less lightly with a Das 6
My experience with DA"s is quite extensive as long as you keep your Das 6 moving use a light pad so little cut you will gain confidence and get good results
Dive in


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