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Is this fixable by polishing?

5K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  DHill 
#1 · (Edited)
Just wondering if anyone would have any experience with this and could provide his/her opninion. I have this MK5 Jetta front bumper, but it is in rough shape. There are many little chips and defects visible on it.

See the picture attached (the entire bumper is like this):


In case the link above doesn't work:

https://ibb.co/fWKxQR

I'd like to fix these defects and before I consider respraying the bumper, I was wondering if it would be worth trying to get this fixed (or improved). I thought of performing the following work in order:

1 Clay bar the entire bumper to remove any dirt, and clean it very well.
2. Touch up the chips as much as I can
3. Wet sand the clear coat layer (1500 and 2000 grid sandpaper)
4. Using a cutting compound
5. Polish
6. Wax


Would it be worth giving this a try or should I not even bother and just go straight to sanding/primer/spray it :confused:
 
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#2 ·
Just wondering if anyone would have any experience with this and could provide his/her opninion. I have this MK5 Jetta front bumper, but it is in rough shape. There are many little chips and defects visible on it.

See the picture attached (the entire bumper is like this):


In case the link above doesn't work:

https://ibb.co/fWKxQR

I'd like to fix these defects and before I consider respraying the bumper, I was wondering if it would be worth trying to get this fixed (or improved). I thought of performing the following work in order:

1 Clay bar the entire bumper to remove any dirt, and clean it very well.
2. Touch up the chips as much as I can
3. Wet sand the clear coat layer (1500 and 2000 grid sandpaper)
4. Using a cutting compound
5. Polish
6. Wax

Would it be worth giving this a try or should I not even bother and just go straight to sanding/primer/spray it :confused:

Sandblasting marks like that won't correct. They are slight chips in the clear coat and not something that will buff out. I would personally wipe it clean with mineral spirits, then use Doctor Color Chip. They have a squeegee version that will help fill in the chips faster. Works good. Rather than using their wipe away thinner to remove the excess, I would then lightly wet sand it with 1500 grit. Do the entire area lightly then polish back and seal. It will likely get you to about 80% or a little better correction.

I've done this on our 11 year van before and it is very passable. The key is after you polish it back, use a wax remover or mineral spirits again to remove the dried wax that tends to accentuate chips. One you clear that all off and out of there, use a ceramic coating or a clear Wipe on Walk Away (WOWA) product so there's no wax residue dried int the fixed areas thus drawing attention to the chips.

here's shot of my wife's van bumper from about two years ago. Again, 9yrs and likely 90k miles on it at this point. Photo number two

Gallery found here
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

If I can get the bumper as good as your car in the pics I'll be real happy, but I think mine is in worse shape to be honest.

Yeah I figured a regular polish/buff would not do it, that's why I was thinking of sanding it a bit and using a cutting compound before, but I will definitely look into Dr. ColorChip. What kind of polish did you use?
 
#4 ·
Polish wise once you've wet sanded can be just about anything. Meg's Ultimate Polish is good stuff and will do just fine to restore 1500-2000 grit.
 
#5 ·
100 grit sandpaper is ~150 micron, or 0.15 mm. You don't really start seeing a reflection until > 1000 grit (10 micron). Polishing compounds are going to be similar to 1500-3000 grit, at which point you are hardly removing material at all except for micron-sized high points.

To fix this, best case, you could sand at 600 grit which would be a somewhat matte finish, spray a layer of clear on it, then wet sand and polish, spray another layer of clear, wet sand and polish, and repeat. You won't remove the chips but you would blend it and make it shiny again. Probably more more your time to just have a Maaco respray.

D
 
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