Trail pinstriping removal

[mmaterni]

What's the best product/method to remove light trail pinstriping? Never had a trail worthy vehicle that I ever cared enough about the appearance to work on removal.

 

[BearClaw]

Find a good body shop and have them compound and buff out your truck. My local shop does a great job for entire truck, $125.

Tried out of bottle stuff, but scratches come back

 

[2014RubyRed]

Go to the Adam's Polishes website and watch the videos. I've had some pretty serious pinstripes, and their products removed them all. I've also found that once the paint has been corrected, a good 3 step waxing will keep the finish more protected in the future.

Go here, too, to check out what all the Adam's products will do:

http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f209/adams-polishes-detailing-guide-45736/?highlight=adam's

 

[downforce137]

buy a silver or white truck..

i used the meguires scratch x 2.0 on mine and most are gone. im going to compound it this week, but my truck is silver and it hides a lot.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

Find a good body shop and have them compound and buff out your truck. My local shop does a great job for entire truck, $125.



Tried out of bottle stuff, but scratches come back

That's a good price. I had pinstriping from an Arkansas run that was bad from top to bottom, really bad. It took a body shop 8 hours and $400.

 

[AdamsPolishes]

Serious scratches like pin-striping have to be machine polished to remove. Polishing by hand typically cannot remove enough clearcoat to get the scratches out, and the "scratch removal" type products often just contain fillers to hide the minor scratches, so they reappear after a wash or two.

A two-step paint correction is typically required, where a polish and pad combo that has some cut to it is used to remove the portion of the clear coat that is scratched, and then a polish and pad combo that has less cut is used to polish out the micro-marring from the first polish, to give you a high-gloss finish.

Keep in mind that to remove a scratch, it cannot be deep enough to have gone completely through the clearcoat and into the base/color coat. Check to see if your fingernail catches on any of the scratches.

In the Adam's line, we have Correcting Polish with the Orange Foam Pad, and then the Finishing Polish with the White Foam Pad. For deeper scratches, the Microfiber Cutting Pads are often used. Note that each color pad corresponds to the color of the polish, so you always know which to use.

A good starter kit is the Porter Cable 7424xp Polisher Basics Kit which contains the machine, polishes and pads to get those scratches removed from your Raptor.

Use the Labor Day Sale discount code LABOR16 to get this kit for $186.99 with free shipping.

If you are going to be off-roading often, and can do the work yourself, then having your own polisher pays off.

Here's a BEFORE/AFTER on the rear quarter panel of my truck:




And a couple from the old Jeep:






Both of these were done with the Cyclo Model 5-Pro Mark II Polisher Basics Kit. This machine costs more, but it is really smooth to use, and makes removing the scratches a bit faster than the Porter Cable, since it has dual 4-inch pads that cover more area. Unfortunately, the sale discount code does not work on the Cyclo machine, as the manufacturer won't allow it.

 

[Bulletnjm]

so when you buff scratches out of the clear coat, are you stripping the clear coat off the paint? is there anyway to "rebuild" clear coat?

 

[mmaterni]

Serious scratches like pin-striping have to be machine polished to remove. Polishing by hand typically cannot remove enough clearcoat to get the scratches out, and the "scratch removal" type products often just contain fillers to hide the minor scratches, so they reappear after a wash or two.

A two-step paint correction is typically required, where a polish and pad combo that has some cut to it is used to remove the portion of the clear coat that is scratched, and then a polish and pad combo that has less cut is used to polish out the micro-marring from the first polish, to give you a high-gloss finish.

Keep in mind that to remove a scratch, it cannot be deep enough to have gone completely through the clearcoat and into the base/color coat. Check to see if your fingernail catches on any of the scratches.

In the Adam's line, we have Correcting Polish with the Orange Foam Pad, and then the Finishing Polish with the White Foam Pad. For deeper scratches, the Microfiber Cutting Pads are often used. Note that each color pad corresponds to the color of the polish, so you always know which to use.

A good starter kit is the Porter Cable 7424xp Polisher Basics Kit which contains the machine, polishes and pads to get those scratches removed from your Raptor.

Use the Labor Day Sale discount code LABOR16 to get this kit for $186.99 with free shipping.

If you are going to be off-roading often, and can do the work yourself, then having your own polisher pays off.

Here's a BEFORE/AFTER on the rear quarter panel of my truck:

View attachment 79516


And a couple from the old Jeep:

View attachment 79517

View attachment 79518


Both of these were done with the Cyclo Model 5-Pro Mark II Polisher Basics Kit. This machine costs more, but it is really smooth to use, and makes removing the scratches a bit faster than the Porter Cable, since it has dual 4-inch pads that cover more area. Unfortunately, the sale discount code does not work on the Cyclo machine, as the manufacturer won't allow it.

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I was on your site watching the tutorials regarding scratch removal and machine usage. I especially liked the cordless drill option with pads and attachments. Do you sell a comparable kit utilizing the already listed items needed only with the drill parts rather than a dedicated orbital?

My truck is the only thing I would go this far with so trying to keep cost low, results good, and pick up the slack with elbow grease and hard ciders.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[AdamsPolishes]

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I was on your site watching the tutorials regarding scratch removal and machine usage. I especially liked the cordless drill option with pads and attachments. Do you sell a comparable kit utilizing the already listed items needed only with the drill parts rather than a dedicated orbital?

My truck is the only thing I would go this far with so trying to keep cost low, results good, and pick up the slack with elbow grease and hard ciders.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

There are no drill polishing kits since follow-up with a machine polisher is needed.

The Adam's 4” Cordless Drill Backing Plate can be used to focus on deeper scratches, but since it just spins, you will typically end up with rotary marks left in the clear coat. This is where a random-orbital, or "dual-action" polisher is needed to follow-up after the work with a drill backing plate, to get the clearcoat polished to a nice, gloss finish.

 

[VortexTed]

Your advertising here paid off as I just placed my first order for $398. You're videos are really good and I learned a lot. I've never tried Adams car washing products but the reviews on your site and around the net are very good. The %15 Labor day sale was a bonus and I bought even more then I planned on. I got so in to your videos I had to stop and go get a 6 pack to really take more time to enjoy them all

I'm most excited about trying the Adams wheel and tired cleaning kit I bought. Wheels are such a bitch to clean but your kit with brushes makes it look easy and thorough.

How often do you run these sales?

BTW, I almost bought the Cyclo, I will be back for that later. I almost bought if off Amazon for a better price until I found one of your videos that showed the difference of your Cycle from store bought. You should point out those differences on your site, it makes it worth the extra price, such as the 15 ft cord instead of 9' and the different rubber backing wheel. The info under the cyclo does not point that out, I found it under one of your older videos you were polishing a black car in a showroom.

One more suggestion, I really wanted your new car wash & wax but there was no combo deal with the foam sprayer so I had to settle for the car shampoo. I got the impression the wash and wax was better. I will try it when my gallon of car shampoo is gone

Anyway, good stuff. Time for me to stop going to the DIY car washes with my Audi's and detail at home Raptor coming soon!