# 1955 Chevy Bel Air with a $15,000.00 Custom Paint Job - How to remove water spots



## Mike Phillips

*1955 Chevy Bel Air with a $15,000.00 Custom Paint Job - How to remove water spots *

*This is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air*










*Here's a frame-up shot to show you where on the hood I'm going to zoom in on using the sun to show the water spot damage.*










*And here's the same spot shown above only I've zoomed in to show the water spot damage.*










The story behing the water spots...

This $15,000.00 custom basecoat/clearcoat paint job is covered with water spots from a sprinkler. To remove them we're going to use a real simple, very safe as well as effective process.

*McKee's 37 Porter Cable 7424XP Intermediate Swirl Remover Kit*

This is kit is an introduction to machine polishing kit, that is it has enough top quality products to get you started into machine polishing. Here's what this kit includes,

*Kit includes:*

Porter Cable 7424XP Variable Speed Polisher
Dual Action 5 Inch Flexible Backing Plate
8 oz. McKee's 37 Fast Compound
8 oz. McKee's 37 Fast Polish
8 oz. McKee's 37 Jeweling Wax
1 Orange Light Cutting Flat 5.5 inch Foam Pad
1 White Polishing Flat 5.5 inch Foam Pad
1 Blue Finessing Flat 5.5 inch Foam Pad
2 Arctic White Edgeless Polishing Cloths, 16 x 16 inches

*McKee's 37 Porter Cable 7424XP Intermediate Swirl Remover Kit*










Safe and easy - no risk of buring or swirls

Now the Porter Cable is the industry standard for entry level dual action polishers. Everyone knows the Porter Cable name and with a 5" backing plate and Lake Country 5.5" thin foam pads there's nothing you cannot tackle with this time-proven dual action polisher.

The McKee's Fast Compound, Fast Polish and Jeweling wax use the best in abrasive technology so there's no chance of micro-marring the paint like can happen with inexpensive compounds and polishes. In fact, a number of the cars we prepped for our TV show we prepped using McKee's compound, polish and the unique jeweling wax.

You want a lot of buffing pads

Here's the deal though... while this is a GREAT kit to get you started out into the world of machine polishing where you can easily get better results faster and safer than struggling for hours trying to work by hand, *the fact of the matter is you need more pads*.

Foam pads work best when they are dry and clean. As you work around a car buffing panel by panel, if you try to only use one pad per product, that is one pad for the compound, one pad for the polish and one pad for the wax, the pads will become saturated with the product you're using and the results will be a pad that doesn't rotate very well and the effectivness of the process will be diminished.

I can't emphasis this enough to people new to machine polishing. You need a lot of pads. You want a lot of pads. It is so much more enjoyable and the results are so much better and more easily attained when after buffing out a fender before moving onto a door you can switch to a fresh, clean dry foam pad.

My rule of thumb is one pad per panel for the compounding step as this is the most important step. For this 1955 Chevy Bel Air this would mean 9 foam cutting pads. Because all the major correction is done during the compounding step you'll need less polishing pads and only a few waxing pads if you plan on machine applying the wax.

Teaching people how to polish paint

I've been teaching people how to make the jump from hand polishing to machine polishing for years now. Not as long as some but longer than most people that do this and have a recognizable name in the industry. Besides learning the techniques for machine polishing as well as simple things like the order to do each step, for example,

*Step 1:* Wash and dry car.

*Step 2:* Inspect for above surface contaminatin and if found then use detailing clay or some other tool to remove the contamination.

*Step 3:* Removing the serious defects like swirls, scratches, oxidation and water spots with quality compound and cutting pad.

*Step 4:* Remove any haze left by the compoounding step while maximizing gloss and clarity with a quality polish and polishign pad.

*Step 5:* Seal the paint using a car wax or a synthetic paint sealant by hand or machine but in my world this is always done best and done fastest by machine with a soft foam wax pad on your dual action polisher.

Then, as a normal course of the learning curve each new person to machine polshing learns that to do the job correctly and do do it in the least amount of time with the best results - you need plenty of buffing pads.

So if you're reading this and you're ready to make the jump from hand polishing to machine polishing take my word for it... besides getting a safe, easy to use dual action polisher and quality compounds, polishes and waxes you also need lots of buffing pads. The good news is we have lots of buffing pads here at Autogeek and if you call our Customer Care Hotline and tell them you just read this article I'm confident the'll make you a great deal when you buy a polisher kit and extra buffing pads.

*1-800-869-3011*

And of course, this forum you're reading is a part of our Customer Support. We help you get great results with the products you purchase from Autogeek.

Tonight the owner of this immaculate 1955 Chevy Bel Air will be learning how to machine polish the paint on his own car. Stay tuned for the pictures and share the link to this thread with your friends.

:cheers:


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## Mike Phillips

Here's all of the pictures I just took of the water spots in the paint on the 1955 Bel Air.

I try to fully document all my work just to make sure none of the experts and geniuses in the blogosphere don't have anything to complain about. :laughing:
































































These are water spots on the trunk of the car...



















Using overhead florescent lights to show the water spot damage










*This is a zoomed in shot of the above picture*










Here's the top of the rear driver's side fender










These next two shots are cropped out of the above pictures. These are NOT simply stains ON the paint but the perimeter edges of the spots are ETCHINGS that penetrate into the paint. Thus you cannot simply WIPE these types of spots off the paint and "NO" vinegar will not work to remove these types of spots. The ONLY way to remove these types of water spots is to abrade the surface with a polish or a compound.


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## Mike Phillips

Process

First we wiped the Bel Air down using McKee's 37 Waterless Wash on the Go to remove all loose dirt and dust.

Then we inspected the paint using the Baggie Test - The paint wasn't bad but the horizontal surfaces had some bumps so to follow proper protocols and to make sure everyone at the class tonight knows the proper way to clay we went ahead and clayed the paint.

Next we did s a Test Spot. A test spot is where you test the least aggressive pads and products in order to find out exactly what it's going to take to remove the defects.

*Test Spot 1:* We started with the McKee's 37 Fast Polish with a Lake Country 5.5" white foam polishing pad. This didn't work fast enough or effectively enough.

*Test Spot 2:* Next we tested the McKee's 37 Fast Compound with a Lake Country 5.5" orange foam cutting pad. This removed more of the water spot etchings but not 100%.

*Test Spot 3:* We switched over to the 5.5 inch ThinPro Gray Extreme Cutting Pad while sticking with the McKee's 37 Fast Compound. This did the trick. The thinner, much more aggressive foam cutting pad with the McKee's 37 Fast Compound completely removed the water spot etchings with the normal 8 section passes.

After dialing in the procedure using the test spot technique I gave a demonstration on the correct technique for using the Porter Cable to compound paint. The rest of the team members were given the opportunity to use any dual action polisher they preferred or wanted to test out.

The paint was compounded until all the water spots were removed and then we switched over to the polishing step.

To polish the paint we used the McKee's 37 Jeweling Wax with foam polishing pads on dual action polishers. I kept the owner and his buddies with the Porter Cable 7424XPs to start with but later let them both test out the Flex XFE7 and the RUPES BigFoot 21. So in other words, I let them go from a tool that cost $115.00 to tools that cost right around $400.00.

The rest of the guys continued using the tools they preferred. I'm pretty easy going during our Thursday night classes. I like to introduce newbies to the basics and then step them up to the more advanced tools. The regulars have already used all the tools and pretty much know what they like.

The Jeweling wax refined the results from the Fast Compound since it's both an ultra fine cut polish and a sealing wax in one.

During all of the above Robert DiTerrlizzi used my RUPES Nano iBrid to compound and polish the thin panels and tight areas and we also broke out the RUPES TA50 and used it on the front valance. Frank tested out the new RUPES iBrid too and really seemed to like it. Nick had given me some new ThinPro foam pads to test out so we tested these using the iBrid and the TA50 and they seemed to also work really well.

Then we removed the wax using my favorite, microfiber gloves and the rolled edge, super plush green microfiber towels.

After that it was time for a pizza break and then the beauty shots!

Here the come the pictures....


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## Mike Phillips

Now on to the pictures....

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First thing after the waterless was was the Baggie Test....

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*Claying the paint

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*We did 3 test spots all on the hood where the WORST rain spots in the paint - this way if our process fixes the worst areas we know it will fix all areas.

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*Here's the owner Guy machine polishing for the first time on his $15,000.00 paint job on his incredible 1955 Bel Air

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*Now everyone is getting busy...

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*Guy and his buddy Jay

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*Here's John using the FLEX 3401 dual action polisher

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*Here's Frank using the FLEX 3401 - Frank is an alumni student of our Competition Ready detailing class.

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*This is Guy's other buddy Jay and he owns a FLEX 3401 so tonight he's testing out the FLEX XFE7

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*This is Nick. We buffed out Nick's 1948 Chevy Fleetmaster Streetrod a few weeks ago and now Nick has the detailing bug!

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Check out Nick's 1948 Chevy Fleetmaster here,

*Pictures: RUPES Detailing Class at Autogeek - 1948 Chevy Fleetmaster Streetrod*

We used all RUPES on Nick's streetrod.

*Here's Tim using the FLEX 3401 - Thank you for the fresh Pineapple Tim! * (I love pineapple)


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## Mike Phillips

*Continued....*

Time for some precision surgical polishing using RUPES Nano iBrid shot neck and the RUPES TA50

*Here's Robert working the posts with the RUPES Nano iBrid short neck

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*The 2" RUPES coarse blue foam cutting pad with the McKee's 37 Fast Compound worked great for removing water spots in the tight areas.

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*The front valance or splash apron between the front bumper and the grill was dull, as though it had NEVER been polished after the paint job. So Robert and Jay tackled it using the Nano iBrid and the TA50 with these new pads Nick gave me to test out.

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*This is Frank testing out the Nano iBrid

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## Mike Phillips

Continued....

Next we switch over to polishing using the McKee's 37 Jeweling wax with foam polishing pads....









































































Time for some polishing fun!

So many guys are _*passionate*_ about FLEX tools and so many guys are *passionate* about RUPES tools.

What do I think? Well here's what I say...

_"If the tool works I can make it work. If the tool doesn't work no one can make it work"

_Both tools work and work great and I can make them dance on paint so I use them both, heck even wrote how-to books for both tools. What's MORE IMPORTANT is because of my wonderful job here at Autogeek I get to teach people how to use all the tools we offer and tonight is no exception so here's Jay on the left jeweling the paint with the FLEX XFE7 and here's Guy on the right jeweling the paint with the RUPES BigFoot 21 HD or Heavy Duty 25' cord pre-wired into the tool

*Looks like they're both having fun playing with these two high dollar dual action polishers!

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I love the glove!
The polishing step is over and since the McKee's 37 Jeweling Wax is both a polish and a wax it's time to do show car quality work and by that I mean putting on the microfiber gloves and using our softest, most plus microfiber towels to remove the wax.





































Mmm.... pizza!
Now that the water spots have been removed, the paint has been polished with jeweling wax to look like a shiny diamond it's time for some pizza!


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## Mike Phillips

*Continued...*

_And now for what I call...._

_The beauty shots!
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Huge thank you to Guy Gonzalez for trusting Autogeek with his beautiful 1955 Chevy Bel Air with the $15,000.00 paint job. I'm happy to say we were able to remove all the water spots out of the paint and restore a true show car finish using all McKee's 37 compounds, polishes and waxes. I'd also like to thank Robert, John, Frank, Nick, Jay, Jay and the owner Guy for their passion for perfection to create this rolling piece of art work. I'm sure we'll see this 1955 Chevy Bel Air at future Autogeek's Cars & Coffee Car Shows as well as Detail Fest 2017!

On Autogeek.com

*McKee's 37 Fast Compound 16 oz*

*McKee's 37 Fast Polish 16 oz*

*McKee's 37 Jeweling Wax 16 oz*

*Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher*

*FLEX 3401 Dual Action Orbital Polisher*

*FLEX XFE7-15 Long Stroke Orbital Polisher*

*Rupes BigFoot LHR21 HD MarkII Random Orbital Polisher*

*Rupes Bigfoot Nano iBrid Short Neck Kit*

*Rupes Bigfoot Nano iBrid Long Neck Kit*

*Rupes TA50 Mini Random Orbital Sander*

*Microfiber Gloves 6 Pairs*

*Super Soft Deluxe Green Microfiber Towels with Rolled Edges* - *12 Pack*

*McKee's 37 Waterless Wash On The Go*

*McKee's 37 Universal Clay Lubricant*

*McKee's 37 Universal Detailing Clay* - *4 ounce bar*

*Lake Country ThinPro Foam Pad System 5.5 Inch*


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## TonyH38

Great post, lovely car and looks superb.


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## chongo

Lovely looking car Mike, $15,000.00 for a paint job and end up having that amount of swirls
Surely he is doing something wrong. But the guys done a great turn around. Chongo.


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## Titanium Htail

Some great technique plus passion from the team, interesting that you changed the pad strength, where others may have changed the product. Those mature guys have it all going on so thanks for sharing.

John Tht.


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## Tykebike

Sorry but I've only just got around to reading this fascinating article on such a beautiful car. What puzzles me is the type of damage and where did it come from? Surely it is not water from a tap (faucet) or rain water. Was the car parked near to an industrial site where contaminated water was blown onto the car?


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## GSD

Just one word for that job wow.


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## Mcwilliams

These next two shots are cropped out of the above pictures. These are NOT simply stains ON the paint but the perimeter edges of the spots are ETCHINGS that penetrate into the paint here . Thus you cannot simply WIPE these types of spots off the paint and "NO" vinegar will not work to remove these types of spots more . The ONLY way to remove these types of water spots is to abrade the surface with a polish or a compound.


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## chongo

Mcwilliams said:


> These next two shots are cropped out of the above pictures. These are NOT simply stains ON the paint but the perimeter edges of the spots are ETCHINGS that penetrate into the paint here . Thus you cannot simply WIPE these types of spots off the paint and "NO" vinegar will not work to remove these types of spots more . The ONLY way to remove these types of water spots is to abrade the surface with a polish or a compound.


What pictures  can't see anything


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