# Pajero Brought Back from the Brink



## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Completed this yesterday, was originally planned to be a 2 day complete restoration: machine sanding then 2 stage polishing entire car, 4 stage bulbar polishing, treat all glass with G4 and G3, 2 layers CarPro CQuartz UK on all paint, DLUX on wheels, trim, lights, bulbar, full interior steam detail. However because of unforseen circumstances it was reduced to doing whatever I could manage in one day on the exterior only, foregoing the bulbar, engine and other bits and pieces. Thankfully because of the soft paint I was still able to sand and polish the major panels and get decent results locked in with a layer of CQUK.

Now the pictures:

I'd washed the car 3 weeks earlier to just a bit of grime on it, nothing bad

























Now this is where things get interesting. Why machine sand a relatively new car and sacrifice all that paint? Here's why. 

















































Horrendous scratches covering pretty much the entire car. The owner admitted to having regularly used automatic car washes since the car was new but now has seen the error in his ways and sworn against them. The main offender however was trees. Between mango trees, spiky palms and overgrown hedges the number of deep scratches was unbelievable. Before taking on the job I made sure that the offending foliage was cut back. Now just for fun this is what it looked like under the Brinkmann and Flex Led Spotlight.










































































Oh and just in case I didn't have enough to do there were some pretty substantial touch ups (courtesy of bat poo, brick walls) as well as a good few dozen stone chips and door scrapes.


































This one about sums up the challenge that lay ahead of me:









After a quick ONR wash and claying session I got on with the touch ups (using a pen bought online, surprisingly good) before a test section on the bonnet. Pictures are a bit limited from here on as time got away from me. The bonnet only had relatively short RIDS and pretty heavy swirls but was the best panel on the car. 2 hits with Rupes Zephyr Gloss on a Blue Rupes microfiber cutting pad via the LHR15 brought about these results:

Before:









After:









Plenty good enough given the parameters of the job however after one hit of the same combo on one of the front wings I knew I'd have to resort to sanding the worst panels given my limited time frame otherwise I'd spend all day compounding. Luckily paint readings were between 92 and 108 around the whole car and an average of 54 in the door shuts meant plenty of clear coat to play with :buffer:

In the end I sanded about 7 panels using my Metabo SXE400 3" DA and a mixture of 3M trizact and SIA 3000 grit pads. Not the best example of machine sanding I know but seeing as I wasn't removing deeper sanding marks or trying to level orange peel I figured I could work a bit quicker (hence the slightly uneven sanding). Also the only shots of the touch up work as I forgot to get close up afters.









































































Compounding was done with the same combo as mentioned above, here are some shots from after compounding.

































Still some deep scratches which I would have hand sanded out using 1500 had I had the 2 days but would just have to stay given the compromises.

My new 50W LED floodlight made working in the garage much easier, saved me having to grab the brinkmann everytime I finished a set.









At this point I'd spent 4.5 hours sanding and compounding (didn't do the roof, lower skirts, door pillars or front/rear bumpers, owner just wanted the noticeable deep scratches gone). There was quite a bit of dust from compounding (first time I've had that much from the Rupes system, probably the microfibre pad and the fact that the machine was tilted at all sorts of angles to do the curvy bits) so I went around with the air compressor and some microfibres and dusted it down. I then set about refining the finish using Rupes Diamond Gloss on a White Rupes pad, again with the LHR15. Here are some post polishing shots after an IPA wipedown. On a side note, can anyone tell me what the faint holograms are from (noticeable only under the LED torch)? I only used Rupes Bigfoot system, no rotary and under LED floodlight and Brinkmann the reflection is perfect. It really bugged me as even with the finest polish/pad combo I have they were still there and I don't know whether it is an imperfection or just something funky in the reflection (this is the first time I've used the FLEX light). 

















































At this point time was quickly running out so no more pics until the afters. The car was given a CarPro Eraser wipedown (excellent product, noticeably better than IPA and can feel the anti static properties working) before a coat of CQUK was applied to all paint (not just polished areas). Front and rear screens were coated with Gtechniq G3, rest of glass cleaned inside and out. Tyres dressed with two coats of PERL diluted 1:1. A final Reload wipedown and here are the results of 9 hours work:


























































The touch ups came out quite well (for reference the large ones were on the driver [right hand] side front wing) and the owner was very pleased with the result given the short time scale. This was also my first time using CQUK and i was very impressed with it. Spreads very easily and after 4-5 mins curing in 18 degree ambient temps buffed off as easily as a premium wax. In my opinion application wasn't much more involved than a normal wax or sealant but that may well change when Summer comes around. I would've loved the extra day to really make the car presentable and sort details like wheel arches, DLUX on all plastics, bulbar polishing and of course correct the more intricate areas. This also would've been the perfect detail to test the new Scholl S0 'matting compound' but of unfortunately it was released in my country on the day of the detail :wall:

I hope you've enjoyed the write up, I was planning on taking loads more during pics but didn't have the time. All comments, criticism and questions are more than welcome.


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Superb job:thumb:


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## AS_BO (Sep 29, 2013)

That's some job pal!! Well done on what looked like a full on ordeal!


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## Rabidracoon28 (May 31, 2012)

A really great job there, well done mate. Liking the look of the old Jag in the garage too👍


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## Workhorse (Apr 24, 2014)

I wish I could get mine looking this good! My mitsubishi paint is so soft even the softest, high quality microfibres marr and scratch the pàint after polishing.
Great job :thumb:


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Nice work, can't believe the difference :thumb:


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## Dazzel81 (Apr 20, 2013)

some turnaround there fella, great work :thumb:


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## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

good turnaround....


.....still some light hologramming present though?


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Rabidracoon28 said:


> A really great job there, well done mate. Liking the look of the old Jag in the garage too&#55357;&#56397;


Thanks. Actually it's a Daimler, hopefully I'll be doing a full orange peel removal, show car detail on it later this year topped with some colour matched Polish Angel Cosmic. It's already won some awards it'll look amazing after I'm done.


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

badly_dubbed said:


> good turnaround....
> 
> .....still some light hologramming present though?


Thanks. I'm not sure whether it is hologramming. Under the Brinkmann it wasn't visible, same with my 50W LED floodlight. A hologram free finish is one of the selling points of the Bigfoot system. Maybe it's some light marring from wiping paint off? I'd have thought that that sort of marring would resemble the microfiber pad marring. I'll ask one of the pro's about it (unless someone chimes in who knows the answer)


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## ibiza55 (Feb 22, 2008)

Fine work , esp on such a big thing.


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## Rascal_69 (Sep 20, 2009)

All that in 9 hours. Dam you work fast. 

Good turn around


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## khurum6392 (Oct 11, 2012)

what a turnaround nice job


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## scratcher (Jul 20, 2010)

Nice turn around 



ocdetailer said:


> Thanks. I'm not sure whether it is hologramming. Under the Brinkmann it wasn't visible, same with my 50W LED floodlight. A hologram free finish is one of the selling points of the Bigfoot system. Maybe it's some light marring from wiping paint off? I'd have thought that that sort of marring would resemble the microfiber pad marring. I'll ask one of the pro's about it (unless someone chimes in who knows the answer)


It could be a few things causing the hologramming. 
Did you check it under the lights after wiping down with Eraser? It could simply be polishing oils.
You may have worked the area too quickly. 9 hours is very fast for a big car like that. 
It could just be that the paint is so soft that it's marring when removing the polish.

It looks like it was worked to quickly/not long enough to me.though


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Rascal_69 said:


> All that in 9 hours. Dam you work fast.
> 
> Good turn around


Thanks, nearly all my jobs are under pretty tight time constraints. I was so looking forward to being able to work at a more reasonable pace and make sure things were just so but unfortunately that didn't work out. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to get around the car, the last one I corrected was a land cruiser!


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## badly_dubbed (Dec 11, 2008)

scratcher said:


> Nice turn around
> 
> It could be a few things causing the hologramming.
> Did you check it under the lights after wiping down with Eraser? It could simply be polishing oils.
> ...


another hit of finishing polish would finish this off nicely :thumb::buffer:


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

scratcher said:


> Nice turn around
> 
> It could be a few things causing the hologramming.
> Did you check it under the lights after wiping down with Eraser? It could simply be polishing oils.
> ...


Those pics were taken after a quick wipe down with IPA cut 50:50 with water, maybe there were some oils left? Diamond gloss does feel very oily. both polishes were worked until almost clear. One thing I forgot to mention was that the polishes (especially Zephyr) were quite hard to buff off, something I just put down to the different paint type. I don't think it was from lack of time, I spent around 30mins on each panel (and only worked the big, easy ones) and Im not sure whether wiping marring would produce holograms like those.

When I wash the car next ill look for the holograms and see whether they were indeed removed by eraser.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

That s a big job that you did there , a nice How To also , great pix .


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

badly_dubbed said:


> another hit of finishing polish would finish this off nicely :thumb::buffer:


I'm not so sure, the paint looked pretty good in the post polishing pics under 50w of LED. Maybe if I'd had more time I might have jewelled it a bit more :buffer:


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## Gixxer6 (Apr 5, 2014)

Good job, big improvement :thumb:


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Amazing improvement buddy, well done!


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## NiallG (May 2, 2013)

Rabidracoon28 said:


> A really great job there, well done mate. Liking the look of the old Jag in the garage too👍


Heh heh, I had the exact same reaction.


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Thank you everyone for the kind words, makes the time spent putting together the article seem much more insignificant


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## Brigham1806 (Apr 1, 2011)

some good work there


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## mjn (May 16, 2011)

Looks nice.

My GF wants me to do her SWB Shogun........


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## badman1972 (Jun 24, 2010)

Great work in the timeframe, well done, very impressed :thumb:


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