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Old 09-19-2005, 08:16 PM   #3 (permalink)
Riquiscott
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Date registered: Aug 2005
Vehicle: 1972 250C, Ducati ST
Location: Norfolk, Virginia
Posts: 250
RE: General detailing advice and looking for professional detailers in Mpls area

You definitely want to be careful where you take it. Most paint & body shops are geared toward "production work", which is mostly collision repair and sub-$1500 total re-paints. They make their money on volume, and can't be expected to spend a lot of time on your car. They'd probably polish it out and use a sealer or glaze to fill in the remaining swirl marks and fine scratches. The car would likely look great when you picked it up, but the first time you wash it and lose some of the sealer, you'll wonder where all of the swirl marks came from!

Either find a restoration shop that specializes in high-end and collector cars, or find a dedicated detail shop that caters to the same type of cars (I say this because there are production-oriented "detail" shops as well that skip steps in the interest of time.)

For a good buffing/polishing that will remove all of the swirl marks and scratches, I'd expect to pay at least $150-$200. You could easily double or triple that if you have them wet-sand the entire car and buff it out to a perfectly glassy finish. If you have them wet-sand it though, the resulting finish will actually be *better* than new, because all factory paint jobs have a small amount of "orange peel" in the paint that distorts the reflections somewhat and reduces the "distinctness-of-image".

Scott Gardner
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