Since I can't wash my car at my apt complex, to do the full out Zaino thing, I go to my brother's place south of me - my brother and his wife are out of town for the weekend so I had the place and garage to myself. Dodging lousy weather and moving in and out of the garage, I wash the car thoroughly, claybar the entire car like a nut, then wash again and get the car all set. I run out of time so I put the car in the garage where it will stay nice and clean so first thing tomorrow morning I will put a few coats of Zaino on there. Before I pulled it in, I noticed some BAD swirl-scuff marks near the front driver side corner... tried to buff them out and it worked a BIT but still there - figured I'd see what happened tomorrow after Zaino.... was bugging me but I tried not to think about it.

Went out to the garage fridge to get a soda and turned on the light - with the different lighting, I could see that the same type of stuff is ALL over the darn hood...... WTF - are you not supposed to claybar a fiberglass hood? I've never seen anything on the subject before! It was the same claybar I used on the entire car - I didn't drop it and it didn't do that to anything else on the car.....

I am so bummed right now its not even funny....... one little tiny scuffmark on my car gets me nuts. Looking at this, I truly wanna be sick.......


If it comes to it, can I have the hood refinished and repainted??...
I have never had a fiberglass hood before.......

 

I think claybar is for a clearcoat. I don't know if a carbon fiber hood has clear coat on it. Is your hood painted? If it is it should be fine.

 

Dave, I'm not an expert here, but I thought a clay bar only removed deposits from on top of your paint or clearcoat. It isn't abrasive, it's just sticky. Unless there were abrasives in the clay, like if you had dropped it, you shouldn't get swirls just because the material under the paint is fiberglass. I don't know how the fiberglass would have anything to do with it. The black color is great for showing imperfections. There is nothing more beautiful, though, at least for the first ten minutes after an 8 hour detailing. I hope Zaino works for ya!

 

Dave,I love your car so much,it's been my wallpaper for 4 months now.If all else fails ,get it repainted.I'm real **** and couldn't deal with that.sorry bro.

 

I'm guessing you got a couple specs of dirt on the claybar, then wiped it on your car. I'm sure a pro could buff it out (at the risk of adding more swirl marks, black is a pain).

 

I thought the hood was aluminum?

 

The factory hood is aluminum.

 

Dave doesnt have the factory hood though..

sorry Dave.

 

Well it's coffee time and then off to the garage to hope Zaino does something to this....

And thinking about it, I can bet money that is wasn;t something caught in the claybar - since I was working in the garage (tight) yesterday, I started on the drivers side of the car, finally got to the hood, did the drivers side, then moved around to the back of the car and worked my way up to the front on the passenger side and did the passenger side of the hood last. If there was something in the claybar, I would have scuffed the entire car.

Theory - I got a much better price on prep and paint on this hood than I thought I would (or saw other people pay) - did this guy maybe CHEAP me somehow on how he prepped or painted it and the claybar is showing that????

 

Hahh, the aftermarket paint job! From expereince of light scratches, I know its not as tuff as the Factory paint is. I use 3M Fine Rubbing compound with water. Rubbing lightly, is what I do on my Cobra, so that should clean up your swirls from clay bar. I do not understand a clay bars use, I have a new one, but do not like it others love it.

 

Hard to say Dave, but were the lights in the garage flourescent? If so, one of the worst things you can do to a dark colored, daily driven car is park it under flourescent lights. You'll see EVERYTHING. My previous Stang was black, so I feel your pain.

 

clay bars are abrassive.

 

Zaino has a product in it's line-up for swirl removal. It's called Z-PC.
I've used it on my car and it works as long as the swirls arn't deep.
You could give that a try. Otherwise you may have to have the hood repainted. Sorry to hear about the scratches.


Paul

 

Ooh, I'll have to disagree on that one. They can leave strange marks on your paint if you don't use enough lubricant, but the clay itself is not abrasive in any way, unless you drop it on the ground

 

I will bet sanding scratches are showing up through the paint. Quite possibly the final scuffing was done with too rough of a paper. If it is that noticeable I would take it back to the place that did it.

 

After what I did with Zaino to my old Expedition, I don't care how many swirl marks are in your hood. Use 2 or 3 coats each of Z2 and Z5 and it will be smooth as glass.

Let's hear how your progress is coming along...

Sean

 

My GT is black also. I have "clayed" the whole thing. I use Griots clay bar and Griots "Speed Shine" as a lubracant. MTAS is correct. Flourescent lights show every swirl or micro scrach. The only way i know to get ride of them is a real clear coat. When Ford sells you a black car it says its clear coated, but its not really. A good clear coat by a pro using a two part paint is the ticket. O ya it will cost upwards of $1000.00. But it will look like glass. Just my 2cw.

PS I joined The Mustang Source (Paid my $15.00) how long does it take for them to change the profile to reflect my new status (i hate the "v6" status).

 

Dave, I hate to hear that. You car is about the most beautiful car I've seen on here. Made me want a black one, but I was too chicken. Let us know how it works out......and Jeff, just email them about your memberrship. Mine took a while and I emailed them and got an email the next day saying it was done and my profile had been updated. They are busy and have people signing up every day.

 

Well thanks to all for the concern and feedback - I am relaxed once again....

First off, I bought a bottle of stuff at Pep Boys called SCRATCH OFF by Kit......

Hit the hood with two coats of that and walla - 99% of what I was seeing (yeah Dave - under the garage floursecents) went BYE BYE..... broke my BACK yesterday (actually most of the weekend) washing the car, claybarring the car thoroughly, using the SCRATCH OUT, washing the car again, two coats of Zaino, then two coats of gloss spray.......

It has been a while since I had it this clean but ran my hand across the car and man, it sure did feel like glass......

ANyway, I still have never been 100% happy with the care the shop had who painted and installed my hood so somewhere down the line, I might get it redone again somepleace different (i'm just **** retentive that way), but for right now, the car looks gorgeous and I am a happy camper.......