Been polishing!
 

Now that the exhaust system on the celica is coming together and will be finished in a short time ( heck it may even make the breakfast club!) i decided to pay some attention to the paintwork.
Its suffered from some oxidation in places and has a bit of a laquer delamination issue going on at the top of the hatch surround but that can be sorted without too much hassle by a replacement hatch if its the cheaper option.

Anyway, first up was the nearside indicator lense which had matted out considerably over the years. I also had to address a scuff on the corner created some 7 years ago when a guy reversed a van into it.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ndlensflat.jpg

After a short time later it looked much better so i did the other side too, it was to be a long day.....

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...nspolished.jpg

The paintwork on this car is called "khaki black metallic" and its got a kind of mild flip to it which changes in the sun from an irridescent green to a bronze colour- looks very nice when it does it, but when the paints as bad as it had gotten on the mirror, it was never going to do its thing very well.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...mirrorflat.jpg

After some tlc i was pretty pleased with how it came out, i also polished the mirror mount as well but its unattended to in this picture.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...orpolished.jpg

Heres a shot of the offside wing- you can see the green hue of the flip from this angle.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...aintcolour.jpg

By now its well and truly dark outside and im still nowhere near finished, still im enjoying myself and the rest of the paintwork is starting to come alive.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ica/rhwing.jpg

Right side view.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...a/rhcorner.jpg

Left side view...naturally! Spot the 5 cylinder turbo block and head hiding in the corner....

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...a/lhcorner.jpg

Subtle badging on the bonnet.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...lica/badge.jpg

Ill get around to do the rear of the car today, however its a little awkward as the front end is still on jacks while i wait for the exhaust pipework to be delivered, then a few minor jobs and itll be ready to go again.

Like the way you wait seven years to polish the front bumper scuff out! Did you get an itch or something!?!?!?!?

Looks superb and has come up a treat. What have you used on it?

Lol, that was my 7 year itch...:D

To be honest, i didnt think the scuff mark would have polished out as it looked rather deeper, but its pretty much gone after some ye olde elbow grease.

Ive used Turtle Wax "safecut" on as its a two pack paint and if you use the regular cutting compounds like "T" cut theyll react with the clearcoat and go hazy, bit of a bloom. I think thats what may have been used on the rear hatch now you come to mention it, seeing as how the laquers gone that opaque grey/milky colour...could be.

The polish was Autoglym resin polish, but ive used Turtle wax in the green fluorescent bottle in the past and that did come up very good on the other car...in fact i might go get some more afterwards and go over it all again..:p

I wasnt tempted to use that horrid muslin cloth stuff from halfrauds, i like to use flanellete sheet, it just seems to have the right degree of "feedback" when i use it and anything else just feels wrong, horrid and i dunno, kind of stiff.
That stuff from Halfrrads is just too unforgiving i think.

If youve any recommendations for polish, cloth etc, id be all ears! :D

too many but looking at the results you've got, I think you've sort out a winning formula anyway!