JonGS3

Pulled it back in and finally took care of behind the gas lid which I've been dying to do.

JonGS3

Let the body cool for awhile. Then, with the cleanest it's been in probably 15 years, I set to work.

Started with the hood and took a quick progress pic

JonGS3

I used a Griot's orange pad with their complete compound. This was my first time using an orbital buffer on paint so I didn't want to get too aggressive. I didn't bother on bumpers or wing for obvious reasons. Then I used their Best Show Wax with a red pad and this was the result. I wasn't expecting miracles with how bad the paint is overall but I think it's definitely an improvement and the grille matches the hood a lot better than before.

JonGS3

JonGS3

Not too bad for polishing a turd I guess. The end goal for the body is too simply make it less worse so I think I'm heading in the right direction as far as that goes.

The clear on the roof is much worse than I thought it was. In addition to a few cloudy spots where it and the paint are gone, the remaining clear is starting to show tiny little cracks throughout as it's failing. My wife's car has the same issue so I think I may try my hand at putting a wrap on both of our roofs just to keep them from getting worse.

The lower paint on the rear bumper isn't that bad so I think my first attempts at spraying paint will be to do the top of the wing and upper portion of the rear bumper above the chrome strip. I figure that way I'll have hard lines to go up against so I won't have to try and blend it in.

If that is relatively successful then I'll try respraying the entire front bumper since the whole thing is a lost cause.