1999 Porsche 996: Paint Correction and 22ple HPC Coating

Zach McGovern

7 years ago

This vehicle was brought to us for a complete overhaul of the exterior. The car has been through a lot, and it showed. It was covered in swirl marks, scratches, oxidation, and other surface defects that produced an aged look, which was expected… the car is 17 years old and has over 120,000 miles on it, after all.

Throughout its life, most of the car had been repainted with a base coat/clear coat system, but there were still a few panels that had original single stage paint. Regardless of the paint system, every panel needed extensive correction to bring back some of its lost luster. In the end, it was a tremendous turn around. While there were certainly many defects that remained, the overall enhancement of gloss and clarity made this car look at least 10 years younger. These types of jobs are our favorite!

As always, I started by thoroughly cleaning the exterior of the vehicle. We begin with the wheels and tires using dedicated chemicals and brushes to get the job done (remember I will share a complete product list with links at the very end!). The vehicle was then foamed with a strong concentration of shampoo prior to being hand washed. Once washed, I proceeded to remove the large amount of bonded surface contaminants with a clay towel. After a final rinse, the vehicle was dried with our master blaster and drying towels. Since I was too busy working to take any photos of that process, here is a pretty picture of the car covered in foam…

With the paint completely clean, our high powered inspection lights were used to highlight all of the defects in this aged paint. It is not hard to see that there was plenty of room for improvement.

After a couple of test spots, it was determined that a microfiber cutting pad paired with our favorite cutting compound (Griot’s Garage Fast Correcting Cream) was going to work wonderfully! The defect removal was outstanding, and there was only a slight haze left behind that would be easy to clean up with a good finishing polish.

Continuing my testing, I determined that CarPro Essence paired with a Rupes Yellow Polishing pad was going to be the perfect choice for the final polishing process.

This combo easily removed the light compounding haze, revealing a crystal clear finish that honestly looked a bit better than I was expecting given the original condition of the paint.

Here is a side by side of the door before correction and after the two step correction process. These results really got me pumped up to knock out the rest of the car!

The following collection of shots show off the correction results we were seeing throughout the compounding process.

With compounding all wrapped up, we began the final polishing process on the remainder of the vehicle. This image shows how important this final step is in the overall result. The polished side on the left is far clearer and darker than the unfinished right side.

Once polishing was completed, the vehicle was coated with 22ple HPC to provide a durable layer of protection and to help preserve all of our hard work. We also tended to all the smaller tasks such as glass cleaning, exhaust tip polishing, basic interior cleaning, etc.

In the end, the sun is the true indicator of our accomplishments as it is the light source that the vehicle will be seen in most often. The finish is deep, glossy, and swirl free! One heck of a transformation.