Project 99 Miata

[Evan]

Intro:
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Car: 1999 Miata, all options including LSD, leather, bose, aero kit. (actually, oddly enough the only option it doesnt have is ABS as I found out in the rain yesterday :lol: )
Goals: Nice daily, occasional track car

Ordinarily I dont really do project threads for my daily drivers, but Im going to work on this car and mod it a bit so it should be fun to document the process.

Work to be done: Clean up the badly oxidized paint, basic maintanence (booooring!), fix small nagging issues, rollbar install, interior tweaks, small suspension mods, b00st perhaps.......??

[Evan]

Step1: Bringing back the bling!

The paint on my recently purchased '99 had a few issues. Overall it was just in rough shape, with oxidation and blemishes in the paint everywhere, and severe oxidation specifically on the passenger side.
just nasty (and this is freshly washed!)


the only time Ive seen the paint under a bra actually be better than the rest

it doesnt look horrible from 10 feet, but you can tell the paint isnt great


I really have no idea what this guy did to the car to fuck up the paint so bad in only 6 years. It was actually bad enough to give me a little remorse about the sale (I looked at the car at night and didnt realize it was so bad) but with the help of RJ and his mad detailing skillz, I put the buffer to work to bring the paint back to life. To be honest I wasnt expecting too much, slight improvements and passable results.

The process was basically the one RJ described in this thread
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(which is a great reference and should be stickied btw)
with the addition of a couple small steps in there.

The first thing I did was rinse the car off and gave it a light misting of Simple Green and ran a paper towel over it. Simple Green is paint safe, and it does a great job of pulling dirt, grime and grease out of the paint that regular car wash wont get. It also pulls off wax and extends the life of your claybar. I make sure to spray lightly (diluting it 1:1 would probably be the better option) Next time I think I may make a cocktail of simple green, water, and a little bit of car wash for lubrication. I do this before washing, so the simple green never has a chance to sit on the paint even if it could damage it.

After on to the claybaring, which Ive never done and never thought it was worth it (clay kits arent cheap). I was impressed with the results however, even on the oxidized portions the pain t had been made completely smooth, and afterwards water beaded up on the surface as if there was fresh wax on it. Very cool.

The only other departure from RJs writeup was that I got some Meguiars Medium Cutting Compound (Pro line #1) which is slightly more aggressive than the #83 that I used on the heavily oxidized panels. One thing I do recommend when you use a more agressive cutting compound is that you polish those areas twice. BTW that porter cable polisher kicks a lot of ass.
So the results??
I was blown away by the outcome. RJ was too, and he had a lot more faith than me in it to begin with.
Enough jibba jabba and on to the pics.

This is the camparo pic. This is after cleaning and polishing the rear quarter (but no glaze/wax) the door hasnt been touched (other than cleaned and claybar-ed)

compare this one with the top picture -- and this pic is before wax or glaze!!

it was too dark to get any good pics after wax/glaze but here are some after driving about 50 miles the next day.





full res pictures are here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/burritoracer/Detailed_99_1_2007">http://picasaweb.google.com/burritorace ... _99_1_2007</a><!-- m -->

Mad propz to RJ for the help

[.RJ]

Bling on!

[Apoc]

If I squint this actually looks like a nice S2k.



I think this is probably the first Miata I've liked... and that's sayin sumpin.

[Beej]

Wow, came out great!

On a roadtrip this past weekend, I realized that there are an awful lot of Miata's that have shitty paint. In general, they seem significantly worse than other cars...am I out of my mind or is this true? I know a lot of people get them because they're the cheapest cool convertible to have, but they seem to be neglected moreso than a lot of other 'enthusiast' type cars.

[Maengelito]

looks good with the black hardtop, how come the wheels arent UG yet?

[CaptainHenreh]

Wowo! That looks great!

Need to do something with the E30's paint once the engine goes vroom.

[Evan]

bump for slightly bigger (and clearer for some reason-fuck picasa) pics

[Ginger]

The paint cleaned up really well.. that buffer thing never ceases to amaze. And +1 on Maeng's comment, it looks really good with the black top.

[ScottyB]

hock:

i gotta try that sometime. daaamn.

[REED]

looks good - I like the black-top-on-red alot more than I thought

[PDenbigh]

Wow, I'm gonna have to get me wanna them (buffers)!

Nice job!

[.RJ]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://topoftheline.com/porter-cable-polisher.html">http://topoftheline.com/porter-cable-polisher.html</a><!-- m -->

Thats where I bought mine from - great service.

The buffer is so nice to have, its a huge time saver, even if you only use it a few times a year and the results are 10x better than any elbow grease you can put into it.

If you buy one, definately get the velcro pad holder for the larger pads & heavier counterweight.

[flintster55]

+1 for the Porter Cable buffer

The results are amazing and it takes fractions of the time it would by hand even though does take a little practice to master the technique. I think I have the same one RJ does and after 2 years it hasn't skipped a beat.

If you are ever in need of detailing info or how-to, check out <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://autopia-carcare.com/how-to.html">http://autopia-carcare.com/how-to.html</a><!-- m --> -- They have loads of great info

[.RJ]

Thats a pretty good link - I have a hard time sifting through whats what... glaze, wax, sealant, carnuba, synthetic... fuck, just make it shiny :lol:

[PDenbigh]

Geez, for $130.00 I'll just buy .RJ some PBR and borrow his ;-).

[ultimagtrlover]

Nice turn around on the paint. How many pads did you use for that! Your pads must of been wrecked after all that oxidation removal! Do you have any pictures of the paint with the flash pointed directly at the paint? Just a quick tip...next time around I don't recommend you use paper towels on your paint unless you want to buff more than you need to getting out those fine scratches you put into the paint!

[Evan]

Just used 1 pad (orange i think?) for the cutting portion and it had plenty of paint in it afterwards of course but it looked fine and Im pretty sure it wasnt wrecked. Ill let RJ say how it came out of the wash.

thanks for the tip, they were actually softer and thicker shop towels (no perforated scrubbers like paper towels), lightly used on a wet car. I doubt they could put any scratches in the paint, but you're right, Ill probably use microfiber towels from now on. Just didnt have any extras handy for this one.

[JackoliciousLegs]

Wow... i have to say... that looks amaaaazing.

[Feersty]

Wow... i have to say... that looks amaaaazing.

+1 That red really shimmers.