Any tips for bringing that showroom shine back to red paint?

[Ranchero]

It's not faded, just a bit flat.

T-cut and polish?

[Duke137]

Machine polish mate, where abouts are you?

[Ranchero]

Bromley.
Do you mean one of those handheld buffer things?

[Kos]

certainly not the kind of buffer you'd find in halfords

you'd need a variable speed one, different types of foam heads, different types of compounds depending on the condition of the paint to have it brought back to life

[Ranchero]

certainly not the kind of buffer you'd find in halfords

Funny you should say that. I bought something from there for attaching to a drill. It's a rubber disc you can cover with a fluffy buffer. Completely useless.

you'd need a variable speed one, different types of foam heads, different types of compounds depending on the condition of the paint to have it brought back to life

Sounds a bit complicated. How much to get it done professionally ?

[Kos]

its hard work, the last car i did for my self i spent 2 days on, the results are worth it

pm powelly for a price as thats his line of work.

i've seen car "details" cost over £500

[Ranchero]

its hard work, the last car i did for my self i spent 2 days on, the results are worth it

pm powelly for a price as thats his line of work.

i've seen car "details" cost over £500

.

Is the result fairly long lasting then?

[Jim320i]

Ranchero, give it some t-cut and then polish first before splashing big bucks out. Anything is possible with a bit of effort, just take your time and keep working on it... Better to do it yourself rather than forking out a small fortune to get someone else to do what you could do.

[Ranchero]

Agreed, think I'll give it a go. Just don't want to screw it up.

[Duke137]

Agreed, think I'll give it a go. Just don't want to screw it up.

You can make a mess of red paint if you don't know what your doing, having said that if its already faded.....

What you want to do is find a local body shop and ask one of the employees if you chip them a few quid will they do it.... See what they say?

It's a pitty on your location my bro (10 yrs in painting cars proffesionally) would have done it for you for not a lot of cash he did mine (it was faded too) and the water just beads off it now and its 10 times better.

I bet you my wages this week that if you offered an employee cash to do it you'd find someone

[Jim320i]

As above, you could mess it up... But do it bit by bit and you'll be alright... DONT FORGET THE BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES! I love em.

[Falkster]

Do a google for Tony Spears, he's based in Yorkshire but spends most of his life somewhere else. Yes you can see detailers charge £5-700 but he did mine for (both Boxster and M3 and both red) and the results were fantastic. Have a look at the thread in the photo gallery.
All you do then is bash loads of wax on weekly. The more you wax it the longer the results last.

Other options are g3 and a porter cable but you can guarentee that you cars colour will come back but also it will be covered in swirls.

If you value your car and love it get it detailed - it will give you the biggest boner. Tony has done all the top supercars across the country yet rang me gigglng like a girl cos he'd never done an e30 and even he couldn't believe the result he'd got.

He charged me £250