CarPro ClearCut

[Nick M3]

So, the paint on the Turbo is awful. My wife doesn't really care, and it's a car with 100,000 miles, dozens of track days, several cross country trips, and a 180MPH visit to the Salt Flats.

I've previously tried to make some headway on it with my go to of porter cable orbital, aggressive pad, and Meguiar's M105. That did *not* produce good results.

After a pass with ClearCut, the paint is starting to *almost* look tolerable.

So far, *highly* recommended.

As a *huge* bonus, it seems to interface *really well* with Dr. Colorchip touchup paint. With the microfiber/wool hybrid pad that I'm currently using, it'll strip the excess touchup paint off while leaving the excess in the chip. Which is brilliant, because I get to skip all the annoying work that's normally involved in using Dr. Colorchip.

[Nick M3]

Here’s a before and after shot.

Note that the panel still requires further work (ClearCut and a wool pad are not a good final compound), but it conveys pretty well just how much had to be done. The paint on this car will never get to great, but at least we can get to acceptable.

[FC]

That's pretty good improvement.

[Alan]

Those pictures are bugging me out I can't tell what part of the car I am looking at ... also is the paint black or is that some background reflection.

For some reason I always thought your Porsche was white.

[Nick M3]

Those pictures are bugging me out I can't tell what part of the car I am looking at ... also is the paint black or is that some background reflection.

For some reason I always thought your Porsche was white.
Kobi *also* used to have a white 993 C4. In retrospect, I wish I'd bought it off her, even if it would have been a bit weird driving her ex-boyfriend's car. The Turbo is very much black.

This picture is of a part of the driver's side rear fender.

[Nick M3]

That's pretty good improvement.
Particularly considering that the "before" picture was previously polished by me. It's not going to be possible to get *all* the scratches out, but I anticipate getting it a little bit better and blacker with followup treatments.

[Nick M3]

Actually not terrible as is on the passenger side.

[FC]

Particularly considering that the "before" picture was previously polished by me.

Yikes! OK, that's excellent improvement then.

[clyde]

Wrap it in something obnoxious

[Nick M3]

back to the driver’s rear panel with some finishing compound on a less harsh pad. i’ll be honest. this is way better than i thought it would be.

[Nick M3]

way exceeding my expectations here.

[Nick M3]

Wrap it in something obnoxious
that would be kind of fun. convincing kobi to go along with it would be a challenge, though.

[Josh (PA)]

that would be kind of fun. convincing kobi to go along with it would be a challenge, though.

are there any downsides to wrapping (other than the personal preference of the looks)? Does it damage the paint in any way or leave a residue behind? OTOH does it provide any protection against paint chips?

[Nick M3]

are there any downsides to wrapping (other than the personal preference of the looks)? Does it damage the paint in any way or leave a residue behind? OTOH does it provide any protection against paint chips?
There is a risk when you remove wrap that it will pull up badly adhered paint, especially if the removal is done wrong. This risk is no different than a clear bra. Likewise, a wrap is basically a colored car bra. Although I think that they are frequently a little bit thinner to make installation easier.

Wrapping a car is certainly protective. Unfortunately, if the car's paint is already not in great shape, you'll have to do something about rock chips, etc. BEFORE you wrap it. I'm not expert enough to know where the line is between rock chips that will get covered and chips that will show through, but it's definitely an issue to be aware of.

Edit: And you can see in the pictures that one of my next projects is to remove the old fender stone guards. Which will take patience.

[clyde]

There is a risk when you remove wrap that it will pull up badly adhered paint, especially if the removal is done wrong. This risk is no different than a clear bra. Likewise, a wrap is basically a colored car bra. Although I think that they are frequently a little bit thinner to make installation easier.

Wrapping a car is certainly protective. Unfortunately, if the car's paint is already not in great shape, you'll have to do something about rock chips, etc. BEFORE you wrap it. I'm not expert enough to know where the line is between rock chips that will get covered and chips that will show through, but it's definitely an issue to be aware of.

Edit: And you can see in the pictures that one of my next projects is to remove the old fender stone guards. Which will take patience.

That's sort of the thing. As well as you've been able to work the paint on that car, there's only so far you can bring it...and it will only last up to a point. A wrap just lets you do something fun until then.

To expand a bit on Nick's comments about wraps... Removal can be super bitch. The better and better prepared the finish before the wrap went on, the easier and less likely to damage removal will go.

On this car, I would expect damage...but if the wrap was in place for three years, I would expect the damage magnitude to be comparable to three more years of weathering (but also dependent on use and garaging situation).

Even without damage, it's not like you pull it off and everything's great. You'll have to remove adhesive in places, clay, thoroughly clean and then do a regular wash and application of whatever gloss enhancers and protective coating you're going to use. Basically, all in line with a full on detail.

As Nick said, wraps are generally thinner and don't offer as much protection as higher quality clear bra products, but they do offer some. There are a couple different high quality brands and they all have several lines. They're not all created equally and there are some compromises and trade offs to be made.

[Josh (PA)]

After a pass with ClearCut, the paint is starting to *almost* look tolerable.

So far, *highly* recommended.

As a *huge* bonus, it seems to interface *really well* with Dr. Colorchip touchup paint. With the microfiber/wool hybrid pad that I'm currently using, it'll strip the excess touchup paint off while leaving the excess in the chip. Which is brilliant, because I get to skip all the annoying work that's normally involved in using Dr. Colorchip.

Can you walk through with detail your DR Colorchip process. I've used it before with decent success on cars I didn't really care about, but yesterday on the way home from work in the e wagon, a dump truck didn't have his gate closed and dumped a shitload of gravel on the road in front of me. I now have about 20 - 40 small chips on the hood of the Lunar Blue wagon. I think DR Colorchip is my best option to clean it up vs going full respray through insurance (I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that too). No dents or hail like issues thank goodness.

Needless to say it is pretty frustrating.

[Nick M3]

Can you walk through with detail your DR Colorchip process. I've used it before with decent success on cars I didn't really care about, but yesterday on the way home from work in the e wagon, a dump truck didn't have his gate closed and dumped a shitload of gravel on the road in front of me. I now have about 20 - 40 small chips on the hood of the Lunar Blue wagon. I think DR Colorchip is my best option to clean it up vs going full respray through insurance (I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that too). No dents or hail like issues thank goodness.

Needless to say it is pretty frustrating.

I mean, the Turbo would be an us-paying full respray. It really still could use one, but we don't really want to spend the $10-20k.

There's not a lot to my halfassed process. I just dab it in, let it dry for a bit, and then polish off the excess while it's still soft. It seems to work meaningfully better than using their clean up fluid and it's way easier.

[Josh (PA)]

I mean, the Turbo would be an us-paying full respray. It really still could use one, but we don't really want to spend the $10-20k.

There's not a lot to my halfassed process. I just dab it in, let it dry for a bit, and then polish off the excess while it's still soft. It seems to work meaningfully better than using their clean up fluid and it's way easier.

Is the Clearcut the way to go or is it too aggressive, and what pad do you use?

[Nick M3]

Is the Clearcut the way to go or is it too aggressive, and what pad do you use?
IIRC (it's been a while), I eventually found that a milder pad worked fine.

[John V]

This thread bump is timely.

The paint on the RX-8 is pretty awful. The car had 151,000 miles on it when I bought it and the paint was original except for the right rear corner which looks to have some light body work and a (decently blended) respray. Before KOTM I went over the car with touch-up paint and Langka leveling compound and was reminded how painful of a process that is. The entire car had bad swirling, so I ended up using Meguiar's 105 compound followed by 210, because it's what I had. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but it didn't level the chips as much as I would have liked. I need to try some of this ClearCut stuff.

Pic from Motor Trend... not the greatest resolution, but not horrible

https://mtg-assets-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/09/005-2021-umi-kotm-pa-king-of-the-mountain-3-iii.jpg

[clyde]

This thread bump is timely.

The paint on the RX-8 is pretty awful. The car had 151,000 miles on it when I bought it and the paint was original except for the right rear corner which looks to have some light body work and a (decently blended) respray. Before KOTM I went over the car with touch-up paint and Langka leveling compound and was reminded how painful of a process that is. The entire car had bad swirling, so I ended up using Meguiar's 105 compound followed by 210, because it's what I had. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but it didn't level the chips as much as I would have liked. I need to try some of this ClearCut stuff.

Pic from Motor Trend... not the greatest resolution, but not horrible


No Perry pics yet? Looking forward to those.

[clyde]

yesterday on the way home from work in the e wagon, a dump truck didn't have his gate closed and dumped a shitload of gravel on the road in front of me. I now have about 20 - 40 small chips on the hood of the Lunar Blue wagon.

That sucks

[John V]

No Perry pics yet? Looking forward to those.

I don't know that I get copies of those. :dunno: I am looking forward to seeing them as well, though.

[Josh (PA)]

That sucks

Very Much. Came home and looked at it again and found this..
The windshield is ir film and accoustic sandwiched. Guess I'm calling insurance

FML

[ZBB]

Very Much. Came home and looked at it again and found this..
The windshield is ir film and accoustic sandwiched. Guess I'm calling insurance

FML

I just had something similar on my 3…. Got a stone chip near the edge that was mildly starred and it cracked halfway across the windshield one hit afternoon in July that had a quick passing shower - the rain cooled the windshield and crack…

[Terri Kennedy]

...yesterday on the way home from work in the e wagon, a dump truck didn't have his gate closed and dumped a shitload of gravel on the road in front of me. I now have about 20 - 40 small chips on the hood of the Lunar Blue wagon.

Needless to say it is pretty frustrating.
I don't know if you're aware, but the signs on the back of those trucks that say "Not responsible for damage" are pure BS designed to keep people from filing claims. I know someone who got the police to treat it as a hit-and-run which I'm sure made things very unpleasant for both the driver and the owner.

In PA, the governing statute (https://uniquesideboards.com/regulatory/pennsylvania) is Title 75 Chapter 49 § 4903.1 - "Securing loads in vehicles / Loose material".

[JST]

This thread bump is timely.

The paint on the RX-8 is pretty awful. The car had 151,000 miles on it when I bought it and the paint was original except for the right rear corner which looks to have some light body work and a (decently blended) respray. Before KOTM I went over the car with touch-up paint and Langka leveling compound and was reminded how painful of a process that is. The entire car had bad swirling, so I ended up using Meguiar's 105 compound followed by 210, because it's what I had. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but it didn't level the chips as much as I would have liked. I need to try some of this ClearCut stuff.

Pic from Motor Trend... not the greatest resolution, but not horrible

https://mtg-assets-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/09/005-2021-umi-kotm-pa-king-of-the-mountain-3-iii.jpg


You're running Giordano's level deep dishes on those wheels.

[clyde]

Very Much. Came home and looked at it again and found this..
The windshield is ir film and accoustic sandwiched. Guess I'm calling insurance

FML

Ugh.

Does it have any cameras or sensors in the glass or work through them? If so, they may need to be recalibrated, too, which adds cost, time, and PITA factor.

Heading to Lincoln a few weeks ago, I was following JV towing his RX-8. At one point, I watched a small stone kick up from behind the trailer, hang in the air as I drove into, where it impacted the lower driver side corner and appeared to leave a pit. Or maybe a small crack. But perhaps it was bug guts that I hadn't yet noticed. I mentioned it to Kevin. From his passenger seat perspective, he said, "Um, that doesn't look like bug guts from here," and started looking up windshield repair places in Lincoln.

I was hoping it was a chip that could be filled/repaired and that would be the end of it. The Camaro has HUD which means it gets a windshield with some kind of coating that makes it a little more expensive, but they haven't made that many 6g Camaros. To make it more fun, there are six different windshield part numbers (HUD, Lane Departure/Auto-Braking, PDR and the different possible combinations). Between all of that, my expectation is that if I ever have to replace the glass, it will probably take a few days, so I really did not want to have to deal with that. A simple resin repair that will hold would be much preferable.

At the next gas stop, I forgot to check from the outside. About 30 minutes further down the road, I decided I could reach it from inside and put my hand out the window and touched it...and smeared some bug guts around. No pit, no chip, no crack. I was pretty relieved.

[clyde]

You're running Giordano's level deep dishes on those wheels.

That was some fucking pizza

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13810&stc=1&d=1632361087

[John V]

Looks delicious, but that's "pizza" in the same way that Skyline chili is chili.

[dan]

My fiancée’s black Mini Cooper. Looking forward to tackling this in the next month or so. Challenging when it’s 105° and sunny every day though, so it may wait longer than that

Plan would be to start right at it with ClearCut and a microfiber cutting pad

[Nick M3]

My fiancée’s black Mini Cooper. Looking forward to tackling this in the next month or so. Challenging when it’s 105° and sunny every day though, so it may wait longer than that

Plan would be to start right at it with ClearCut and a microfiber cutting pad
Ooof. Good luck!

[wdc330i]

My fiancée’s black Mini Cooper. Looking forward to tackling this in the next month or so. Challenging when it’s 105° and sunny every day though, so it may wait longer than that

Plan would be to start right at it with ClearCut and a microfiber cutting pad

wow.

[dan]

Well, it’s not perfect by any means but it’s a big improvement. It’s also 103° today so I was going faster and covering bigger areas than I really should have. But I’ll take it. Carpro Clearcut followed by Meguiar’s M205

[dan]

Oh and the Sun Joe pressure washer and MTM foam cannon worked great too!