Prizm Paint Restoration

[Intrepidation]

So as I'm sure many of you know, the Prizm's had a pretty hard life. Kansas heat, Massachusetts winters, being totaled by a moving truck, being hit by a stolen car, and now with over 200,000 miles on it. With all this added to the fact that the car is 16 years old, the paint has seen better days. The roof in particular has become very faded and oxidized. The trunk and rear bumper are as bad, but those are also from another car.

Since the spare driver's door for my Intrepid cleaned ups o well with the rubbing compound and waxes I had lying around, I decided to see how they'd work on the Prizm, and hopefully bring some life back into its paint.

Because the paint is in rough shape this is a project that will take several days to complete. Today I started with the roof.

More to come!

[Intrepidation]

Random orbital buffer. I'd be afraid to use a rotary buffer.

and steps 2 and 3 (polish and sealer wax) of from the Meguiar's 3 step deep crystal system.

Used the orbital buffer I got from CAP several years ago (not a really nice one like a Porter Cable, but it works) and micro fiber pads/towels

[bobo]

Shiny! Looking good.

[ocnblu]

It does look a lot better. But I spy an open soda, YooHoo or beer can inside that Prizm. That's banned contraband inside a DodgeFan automobile!

[Intrepidation]

Beer is indeed banned, that's one of those Starbucks energy drinks, as for food in general...that's only banned from the Intrepid.

[Intrepidation]

Oh, here's what the pad I used for the rubbing compound looked like after using it on just the roof yesterday.

Day 2: The trunk.

The trunk and rear fascia were pretty rough. The rear bumper could only do so much with since it has a lot of deep gouges, that's something that would need a repaint.

The trunk had lots of scratches and swirls on it, with not a whole lot of reflectivity or luster...until now.

You can really see the difference. Next up is the hood.

This really makes me want to work on getting the rear quarter finished...I may just tackle it myself soon.

Since I was running out of the No.7 compound I switched to Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound today. Seemed to do a good job too.

[Intrepidation]

Day 3:

Tackled the hood and front fascia today. The difference to the hood is not as noticeable, since I've worked on it before a few years ago, but still noticeable.

Couple shots of the finished areas.

If the weather isn't too bad tomorrow I'll tackle one of the sides, otherwise I'll wait until it cools down again on Friday or Saturday to finish it.

If anyone's interested (Olds is) I'll write a more in depth how-to once this is done.

[Intrepidation]

I just realized it took out a lot of those big horizontal scratches.

[Drew Dowdell]

Looks like you're good at rubbing it out.

what?

What did I say?

[daves87rs]

Looks great DF!

[Intrepidation]

Thanks!

[ocnblu]

Yes it does.

Now, on to your Cockshutt. That little black air cleaner stack poking out of the hood is very suggestive, and the whole front end reminds me of the front of the Ambiguously Gay Duo car. Of course, maybe it's just me.

[Intrepidation]

Forgot about these. Last month I cleaned up the engine bay.

[daves87rs]

STill looks good!

[Intrepidation]

This makes me sad, back when the roof still had clear coat. It all came off this past winter

[A Horse With No Name]

This makes me sad, back when the roof still had clear coat. It all came off this past winter

Sounds like she could use some love...keep us posted. Edited May 8, 2014 by A Horse With No Name