There is a van that comes to my office and washes cars, one day I asked how much it would cost to compound the Craigslist Miata’s paint. The immediate answer was “We can’t promise that it will look good” and after explaining that all I was interested in were there abilities with a high speed polisher and just trying to even out the three shades of red that currently cover the car. See the driver side is a bit flat, the passenger side is a bit more polished and the roof came from some one else. So depending on what side of the car you are standing on, the exterior can be better or worse, all I was interested in was making everything as “better” as possible.
Back to my original story, there was no way I was going to give those guys $100. While I was staring at the aisle of polishes, pastes and other paint care I momentarily considered picking up a clay bar and doing the whole three-stage all-day elbow punishing route, when a man who emerged from a newer Mercedes GL walked right in front of me and picked up a can of NuFinish. The idea of a once a year car polish for a car that had been on a strict no washing regimen since the Long Beach Police Department instituted a policy of riding dirty.
Needless to say, some sides took two coats while those with more patina got three. The biggest challenge was the front bumper, the top of which had’t seen clear coat for quite some time, but even that piece of plastic began to reflect light. Not bad for $7 worth of wax and a few more on rags that can be tossed in the trash, because that red is never coming out.
