Looking for ideas/ experience to get our 993 looking new again. The car is in excellent shape but I wanted to make it as beautiful as it can be and pull out the blue hue in the polar silver paint if that’s even possible. Asking suggestions from those with experience in bringing back the paint finish. Do I get it paint corrected and then ceramic finish?… or ?..

Thank you.

 

Yes, I would look into paint correction. Ceramic is a bonus as it makes maintenance so much easier and the durability is excellent. If you look at my 'build' thread, you can see the results I achieved with paint correction, that made our paint really glossy and pop!

Hope this helps!

 

Can you put stone guard over 'ceramic' coating?

 

Yes.

 

can you post some photos of paint in direct sun or led light

make sure to get paint measurements prior to any polishing to assess how much healthy paint is there

only when that step is completed can a game plan be formed

we have a project in now and readings were low in some areas so we’re playing it safe and getting about 80% correction on most panels to stay safe and keep original paint


Paint correction in progress and paint measurement readings


ceramic coating by design repels most things applied to it

if it’s a professional coating and applied correctly, tape, stickers, decals will not stick long term and will peel off

it’s best practice to polish surface, clean with alcohol, apply decal, then ceramic coat

 

I feel like stone guards are actually a negative for the paint in the long term.

 

It would definitely be bad for the paint if you took them off. It's almost like having the rear 1/4's sandblasted as you drive.

As usual, just my opinion, I could be wrong.

JC 96 TT

 

You mean like this? My paint was severely water spotted. PDR, Paint correction and new guards and emblem…







😀

 

Thanks guys. So as I understand, consensus process would be;

Steam away stone guards
Paint meter to be mindful of problem areas
Paint correction - all surfaces
Alcohol stone guard area
Install new clear guards
Ceramic entire car

Did I miss anything? Any suggestion for a product/ process for leather seats and surfaces?

 

You may want to consider paint metering prior to removing the stone guards. You want to be sure that the stone guards were on original paint prior to removal, otherwise you may pull up paint with the stone guards. You also could consider having a larger piece of PPF installed in place of the standard one and then doing the standard piece of PPF over top to make it look original and capture the majority of chipping. Yes, it sounds extreme, but then you have a tearaway piece of film that you can replace 2-3x prior to replacing the underlying piece.

Regarding seats, so many options. I have friends that have used Zaino. Most of them have now switched over to Swissvax leather milk now after I started using it over 10 years ago. Great product, but expensive. Probably doesn't do that much better of a job than products that cost considerably less. I like Gyeon Leather cleaner mild. You could look into a ceramic coating for your leather, I use CQuartz on my daily driver, which makes the seats hydrophobic, but on Porsche's, I always prefer a conditioner and just condition them every couple of months.

 

some local details here will not mess with removing stone guards in fear the paint will come off underneath if it has been on for too long or not originally applied correctly.

 

if paint correction is done, part of the process is wiping the panel with a dedicated cleaner that strips the oils in the polish; so no need to alcohol wipe prior to new stone gaurd

as mentioned already, you’ll want to install a larger stone guard for function, but if originality is desired, same size THICKER ppf is preferred to match the OEM thick stone guard…10/11mil thick

Removing the stone guard does come with risk of removing paint…your installer should tell you that and he/she needs to have extensive experience in removing old stone guard from a 993…but as the owner, you should mentally prepare for a repaint just in case something happens

either way, there’s no great solution…if you leave on the OEM guards and they’re hazy or oxidized, it’s only going to get worse and increase probability of removing paint

if you remove and paint comes up, previously mentioned situation would have occurred

if done methodically, using steam and “feel” of the material while removing, the technician’s instincts will guide the rest of the way…but it is a crap shoot and you could roll snake eyes…just make sure you’re comfortable with ALL the options

 

Thank you for your insight.
Have you seen that using modern ppf instead of the stone guards as replacement is a better option in terms of lowering the risk of paint removal say 10 years down the line from today?