New to me 99' S70, base, 5-speed, 209k

[j-dawg]

Getchu some sandpaper. A bit of high-grit paper (start at like 800 and work your way up to 2000) will chomp through those scratches, the buffer alone won't do it. Take it slow and be willing to repeat the cycle, and you won't eat through the clear coat.

[850 LPT]

Nice work, Dirk. May I have your old cabin air filter?

Sure thing Mark, do you need this expedited?

[850 LPT]

Getchu some sandpaper. A bit of high-grit paper (start at like 800 and work your way up to 2000) will chomp through those scratches, the buffer alone won't do it. Take it slow and be willing to repeat the cycle, and you won't eat through the clear coat.

This is very interesting. Would you basically suggest wet sanding the whole top of the car? I will look more into this, maybe I'll try a little area on the roof first.
Are you sure about the 800 grit to begin with, that is still very course.

[abscate]

Nice work, Dirk. May I have your old cabin air filter?

Sure thing Mark, do you need this expedited?

ust leave it in the back of my S70 where it magically turns into Maple Elixir

(Mark - I do have a spare frame if needed)

[j-dawg]

This is very interesting. Would you basically suggest wet sanding the whole top of the car? I will look more into this, maybe I'll try a little area on the roof first.
Are you sure about the 800 grit to begin with, that is still very course.

The most conservative way is to start with the finest you can and work your way towards coarser if it doesn't work out, but it can be very time consuming, especially considering how many trouble spots there are on the hood. I'd try out a small spot and see what works, then expand it to the whole hood. Wet sand by hand.

If the damage goes all the way through the clear coat you'll never fix it without spraying, but you can at least reduce the impact a bit, just make sure you stop before you get through the clear. If your rinse water starts becoming the color of the paint, stop immediately - you've worn through the clear coat.

[850 LPT]

Thank you, I am very eager to try this out. The question is, do I find the time to do it?

[j-dawg]

A small spot will take a few minutes.

Forgot to mention - wash and clay bar the area first so you're not grinding grit into the paint. When you're claying and sanding at the coarsest grit you should feel whatever you're rubbing on the surface become smooth once all the high spots are knocked down. That's a good time to move on to the next step. When you're done the surface should feel super glassy.

These cars have really good paint, and my white car responded really well to this treatment when I was cleaning up rock chips in the hood and bumper.

[850 LPT]

I probably should have clay barred the hood, roof and trunk lid before I took the polisher out. Hopefully I didn't do to much damage. But the surfaces were in such bad shape I thought it really doesn't matter.
The difference is pretty dramatic already though. Let's see if I can take it to the next level, thanks for your encouragement j-dawg.

It will be a little while because right now I am focusing on getting the emissions test done, which will happen Saturday. It will fail because the battery went dead on me, so the monitors won't be ready. I also couldn't drive it to get them ready because it's not registered, catch 22 I guess.
But with the test result print I can go to DMV next week and get plates for it. Then I have 6 weeks to get it re- testet.

Next is doing brakes, which shouldn't take long. Then it will hopefully be roadworthy and I can start using it for commuting

[abscate]

I bet that vibration is better with new rotors and pads up front

[850 LPT]

I bet that vibration is better with new rotors and pads up front

The vibration is more like a whobble sort of thing and I was suspecting the old Linglong tires were the culprit.
I have changed those out for some Michelin's. Next week when the car is registered I shall find out.

The front brakes actually look pretty good and there is no vibration when braking. The rear ones are toast though and they will be done as soon as I can find the time.