hes started his own mobile detailing buisiness recently, so as my birthday present (today's my bday), in the middle of last week my mom paid him to detail it for me, which included a very thorough carpet vaccum and shampoo, glass cleaning, etc and he buffed the body using a swirl remover (im pretty sure the real stuff not the fake "swirl-filler" that poses as remover that ive heard tell of) then a "glaze" polish/something as he called it, to fill in the fine stuff. ive been wanting him or someone to help me buff it because a couple years back a friend who isnt a friend anymore (partly because of the following) convinced me to use polishing compound on it which we did because i didnt know any better and thought he did. Well we just hand-did it with cotton cloths from the carwash he worked at and it ended up pretty shiny but with heavy swirl marks that could be seen at the right angle, like standing next to the driver's door looking down at the hood, in the sun for example. so i am SO HAPPY its finally taken care of and it looks so shiny and more like a red than purple :yuck: because it was a little worn too. my mom says even when my dad first bought the car in '98 it didnt look this good.
only problem is i checked today and the swirls are still there, maybe to a slightly lesser extent but still there, mainly on the trunk. from the side of the car in the sun i cannot find any angle to see any swirls in the sun which is great but i can on the trunk anyway and i think maybe on the hood. i am very thankful and the job my cousin did was phenomenal, im sure it wasnt his fault. im thinking this is something else, like it would need major repair. he said from what he could tell the clearcoat is pretty thin. i was just wondering if any guys here know this stuff and could tell me what's going on and if i could do anything someday to get this paintjob as close to flawless as possible, if thats possible short of a new paint finish. i dont even want to tell him any of this because it would be very disrespectful, i think. i am ecstatic over the car's current condition. the picture tells so much more. but down the road i want to get this thing as close to perfect as i can. im keeping it for the rest of my life, and if i can get a dirt cheap beater within the next few years despite college expenses, this car will descend to antique status, only driven enough to keep seals from deteriorating, etc. it wont be stored away and never run, always a BAD idea. but it will be in my home garage or something all the time, im preserving this thing. i want it to be an original, unrestored car as long as i can, and given its current shape i think thats possible if i keep it away from the elements.
well i hope i havent bored anyone, but i just feel i gotta tell you all my plans. these cars recieve little attention today, and whatever happens in years to come, whether that attention shoots up or stays nil, who knows? but everyone who happens to see the car while im driving it or visit my house and see it in my garage will know of their existence and what they were in their time because ill tell them about it, and that's enough for me to know im doing my part.
Looks nice....
My paint has the swirl marks too. Mainly because I use the improper towels to dry it with. I've been now using that new liquid wax "ICE" as a easy application for car shows. The liquid wax fills the swirls temporarily as need for the show. The paint is left with a wet look and really really shagy. Too bad it dries off after a few hours and the heavy shine is gone but the protection remains. Pick it up for about 15 bucks and it gets those swirls out if ur ever needing to show the ride off.
Very nice car anyways! :)
Wow, that is a nice looking Cougar ya have, I'd keep it stock as it looks so clean, and appears to have a lot of options as well.
Very nice car man :D
That turned out great!
Unfortunately, as time goes by, the swirls may start to reapper. I think it's pretty much unavoidable. They certainly won't be nearly as bad as they were but you may still see them from time to time.
As far as keeping the original paint, you might have to have it professionally color-sanded. That is probably risky though since the paint and clear are pretty thin.
Actually If I remember right the paint on the 20th's are single stage... not a two stage... meaning you have no clear! I know cj05 Royce was taking paint off his car when he waxed.
REALLY! wow, why would they do that? i have noticed when ive waxed it in the past paint came off the car and that seemed normal to me, because well, i didnt know any better!
thanks for the kind comments!
FordTruckFreek: yes it has a lot of options and it amazed me when i first started driving and friends of mine and my cousin when he was detailing it, all find the heated seat switch and the power seat stuff and everything else and they cant believe how much stuff it has. i read on Eric's site that two of the options these cars had was an engine block heater and the "Traction-Lok" rear axle, and im pretty sure it doesnt have the block heater or thered be a cord that could plug into a wall outlet somewhere in the engine bay right? the axle, well who knows? so if anything it has all but 2 options which is still a lot.
btw what is the traction-lok? is it a posi or something or a limited slip diff? also, what is this "color sanding?" i saw someone mention it somewhere else on this forum, and ive never heard of it before.
cruisin: thanks for the tip, that sounds perfect for a show or something, ill keep that in mind.
Color sanding is when you take a fine grit sandpaper and wet-sand the entire car. This removes the top most layer of paint thus removing imperfections such as orange peel, heavy oxidation and swirls. Then the car is buffed using various compounds to bring up a show car shine.
I'm trying it on my '86 myself. The only reason I'm doing it myself is because I don't want to pay someone to do it and if I mess it up, big deal, I'm going to repaint the car eventually anyway.
If you wanted to try it, I would seriously recommend going to various body/paint shops with your car and discuss it with them. The professionals know the details and specifics of it. If I had your car, there'd be no way I'd attempt to do it myself.
Traction-lok is Ford's term for posi.
Check your door tag to see what your axle code is. That will tell you if you have the Traction-lok rear.
Check it out here (http://"http://www.coolcats.net/tech/general/axleinfo.html")
Medium Cabernet Red was not a clearcoated color. To this day, that just baffles me...the 20th was supposed to be the fully loaded, premium-outfitted model for 1987. Well, we know it didn't have one thing LOL. If you've ever paid attention to all the pictures of 20ths, they all look like different shades of red under various lighting conditions. At first I'd thought it was the camera equipment or film used. But then I noticed the same thing happens with digital photos. It's because of that color being a single-stage, non-cleared paint...when it gets rubbed out it gets darker, and of course time and weathering and UV rays have all taken their toll on most of the cars. It's a very difficult color to represent in a true fashion. Had it been a clearcoat color to begin with we wouldn't have that problem now. Oh well, maybe Ford needed to cut a corner to keep the cost down. That one came back to bite the owners, unfortunately.
Anyhow...car looks great! You should be proud.
That's a very nice example of a 20th!
The car looks very nicee!
haha oh man isnt this something. well thats one factoid i definitely have to bring up when telling friends about the car.
also i just went and looked at the axle code, it is "M" so i have a locking 2.73 rear. cool! geared more for speed though, not off the line acceleration. but the ol' 302 takes care of that pretty well i think!
Looks really good. Those turbines are in great shape.
Yeah, although I'm not sure where it's be in the engine compartment..i've never seen one on a Fox car myself, but a bit of searching should locate where it would be...
I was also under the assumption that ALL 20th's had a trac-loc rear..?
That's funny because when I had my car resprayed, I automatically went with the clearcoat - assuming that the original paint was. Since red is a difficult color to maintain, I can't imagine why Ford went with the non-clear. I guess that explains many of the strangely drab looking ones I've seen.
hey not to change the subject too much but i got a question ive been itching to ask and just havent got around to it. ive searched the forum for info but cant find anything.
how can i get a picture of my car up at the top of the page with my screen name in white text and all that? do i have to be here a certain amount of time or something? its a really neat feature, i love seeing everyone's rides, just wondering if i can get mine up there too!
That would be this thread:
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=6833
...and I'm sure it'll happen shortly, once the bosses take a tally of who isn't there yet.