PSA: Your VW doesn't HAVE to look like arse...

[DurocShark]

Unless you're trying to protect your OG paint job, there are things you can do to an ugly vehicle, no matter how many dents or rust holes you have. No need for your beater to look like one. And it's all cheap!

Wash it!
I'm always amazed at people who never wash their vehicles because it's "old" or a little beat up. But there's no reason to make it look worse by avoiding such a simple task.

Buff it.
Even a $99 Earl Scheib paint job from the 70's will look a bazillion percent better with a good rubdown. Rubbing compound for really bad paint or polishing compound for paint that still looks good, along with a $20 electric buffer from your FLAPS will go a long way.

Wax it!
Especially those of you in areas that get lots of rain or snow. Wax really does provide protection, and after spending all that time on buffing out your paint do you really wanna have to do it again in a month? Even the cheapest wax at the 99c store will help.

And for those of you who want to go all out:
Colorsand it!
You really have to want to make your paint look awesome if you're doing this... VERY VERY FINE wet/dry sandpaper (I used 1500 on an old Z) and a flexible sanding block and lots of time and elbow grease. No orbital sanders for this. There are lots of good how-to's on the net, but basically you want to have a stream of clean water while you're doing this. A bucket won't cut it. Sand back and forth the length of your vehicle. Then start at the top of this list otherwise you'll have a wonderful matte finish.

I know for most of you this is obvious. But what got me thinking about this was a guy in my building at work who has a beautiful 70's Jag that has some heavily oxidized black paint. He's never washed anything but the windshield since I've been in that building (8 months or so). I asked him today why he doesn't do something with the paint, and he responded that he can't afford a paint job.

Ummm... So I talked to him about the above things, making sure he understood how cheap it can be. Kind of time consuming to buff out your vehicle and then wax it, but the results are WELL worth it.

I didn't talk about clay bars because they're rediculously expensive. They should be $2. Not $15 (last time I looked at one). There are expensive chemicals that can be used, wax that costs more than gold, etc. But for a beater vehicle that's waiting for its owner to get the $$ to properly restore the exterior, this works great. And 99% of the world won't even notice the cancerous rust in your floor pans or rocker panels. The paint's shiny. that's all anyone will see...

Now, keep in mind that I'm being rather hypocritical because my bus paint really does look bad. But there are two reasons: I'm in the process of redoing the interior so haven't had time, and because half the thing is painted in latex house paint (grrr...) I'm buffing out a panel at a time when I can spare the time. Currently the back hatch and sliding door are buffed and waxed...


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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[Big Jim]

If it is really bad, a cheap paint job is another stopgap measure.
Wash it, sand it with 400gr paper, mask off everything that isn't painted and use a $35 gallon of Rayflex off eBay. Will look 10,000% better for a couple of years.
An easy weekend job

[nobrakes]

You can also scuff it with a Scotchbrite pad, wipe it down with Prepsol and shoot some clear on it. Works great if all your paint is still there.
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If your not workin or cleanin your not looking hard enough.