You will definitely have to pay for a true assessment of your paint/panel status, real embedded paint contaminant removal, swirl marks/scratch removal, polishing, and sealing. Just look up black car paint correction and you'll get an idea of the number of steps/significant time it takes to "properly" detail a car.satown210 wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:05 pmFor a true blue no holds barred detail you can be looking at $600-$800 or more. If you just want them to focus on the paint and not do every step you can get it done in the $400-$600 or more. If you find someone offering a full detail for $200 just know it's going to be a detailed wash and buff. The car will look better than it did but it won't look as good as it could.
pedsemdoc wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 9:11 pmYou will definitely have to pay for a true assessment of your paint/panel status, real embedded paint contaminant removal, swirl marks/scratch removal, polishing, and sealing. Just look up black car paint correction and you'll get an idea of the number of steps/significant time it takes to "properly" detail a car.satown210 wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:05 pmFor a true blue no holds barred detail you can be looking at $600-$800 or more. If you just want them to focus on the paint and not do every step you can get it done in the $400-$600 or more. If you find someone offering a full detail for $200 just know it's going to be a detailed wash and buff. The car will look better than it did but it won't look as good as it could.
If your're a DIYer and have the time, you could spend some of the cash on a decent dual action polisher, quality backing plate, decent compounding/polishing pads, and the appropriate cutting, buffing, and polishing compounds/liquid. You're also gonna need touch up paint for the chips, I've used Dr. Colorchip with fairly decent results - so that's an option too if you don't want to spend extra time wet sanding with 2000-3000 grit sandpaper, compounding, polishing, etc.
Will it look as good as a professional detailing? - No, but you could get more experience over time and should get better at it. Plus, now you've got the equipment to properly care for your car's paint.
thanks for the info!pedsemdoc wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:26 pm
https://www.drcolorchip.com/
They've got several YouTube videos. Reviews are somewhat mixed, some shouting that it is amazing stuff, to some complaining about the right color match with some paints - although their website states that they will work with you if you don't think the paint is the right match (have to send them a sample of the paint they sent you and fill out a form, etc).
Basically it's a kit with a "special" paint that is glossy enough that you don't have to put a clear coat on top of it. You dab the paint over your chips and smear it so that the chip is covered with a thin layer of paint - just a little higher than the surrounding paint. You let that paint smear dry a little and then use their "SealAct" blending solution to gently remove the thin extra paint above the surface of the surrounding paint, leaving remaining paint in the chip.
I think it is a lot easier to fill chips then finding manufacturer matched touch up paint, filling the chips then lightly wet sanding the paint dab down with 2000-3000 grit sandpaper, then compounding/polishing to get the surrounding sanding marks out. If the color match is decent, Dr. Colorchip certainly passes the 3 foot test. If the color match is spot on, then it should pass the 1 foot test.
Should make a lot more sense once you see a few videos. I've a got a few chips I need to fill - I'll try to take some before and after pics once I get around to fixing them.
As long as the chip isn't too large, Malbec Black should look pretty good unless you're putting an oblique or super bright light on the panel in question
Craig