jpxc

The black paint on my car is starting to fade, and I plan on getting it repainted this spring. I have all the rubber trim for the car in order to replace at the same time. I am wondering if there is anything else I should do to prepare for a shop to do this?

I also have a small dent in my rear bumper cover, and am wondering if it is possible to use some sort of heat treatment to take this out.

drnick

work lots of overtime!

Nicole

Some people claim all it takes is putting the bumper cover into a hot tub for a day. I have never tried this myself, though (no dents in my bumper covers, thank god).

Sounds like you have a big project ahead of you. Replacing the rubber is quite a pain, but I'm glad to hear you chose to go all the way and do it right. Remember that we are here, in case you encounter the unexpected. Oh, and the BIG 3 are there, in case you need more stuff...

Drewster67

Have you tried to restore your paint?. There are some products out there that will pull the color back without repaint.

TR3 Resin Glaze is one of the them - available at autozone. Then there is Zaino products. http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc I believe Maqguires also has a restoration wax available.

As Nicole mentioned - The hot water trick may work or a heat gun - Disclaimer - I have no exposure to eother methods just from what I've read here.

Good Luck!

hacker-pschorr

I was told by two body shops that the paint on my drivers side door, roof, and fender was gone, beyond repair. It looked like someone took sand paper to most of those panels. (it sat in storage for almost 2 years, driven off and on with no wax on the paint before I bought it)

One long weekend later (please excuse some of the wax around the spoiler):





Fist I washed the car with a lot of Dawn dishwashing soap. I mean a lot. Normally you should never use dish soap on a car, except before you wax it because the degreasers will strip all the wax off.

Once clean, I used fine cut cleaner by Meguiars
Then Meguiars show car glaze
Then regular coats of carnauba wax throughout the summer

The cut cleaner must be used with a buffer, that was the scary part. I figured my paint was probably shot anyway, I'd try. If you think you need a repaint, what have you go to lose?

ErnestSw

Zaino will restore your paint to like new. Use a polisher to take off the dead stuff and you'll save yourself a lot of heartache and $$$. New paint will NEVER look as good as the original.

Drewster67

Don't forget the claybar!

jpxc

Thanks guys for the info, I am going to try to get a place to polish it first to see if they can restore the paint. I am also going to get a place to repaint the spoiler. The rear bumper is another beast I will have to get to. The Zaino polish looks really good, and I will have to try it.

Thanks again for the help

Chad B.

Jonathan, report back after, I have similar issues. One adder: The clear coat on my silver paint job is coming off is some areas [around one mirror] and little chips on hood]. Any way to repair clear coat? Thanks in adavance!