CD melted in a Scion CD player?

My husband leaves CDs in his xA all the time, all year round. No CD has even been damaged, much less melted.

Natalie

I think I messed up big time. Here is my story.

I have a 98 white camry, it had alot of scratch marks, dirt that couldn't be removed, and oxidation all over. So I took the 2000 grit sandpaper, and wetsanded the car, all the scratches are now gone, it's perfectly smooth however it is very dull, no shine at all.

so i took it to a local detailer, assuming that a wax shop would bring back the shine. however, he informed me that he can't preform any detailing becuase the clear coat has been stripped off the car.

what should i do now? the paint is in very good condition, it's just missing the clear coat.

should i go to maaco and let them spray clear coat on it?

thanks

You could - but I'd go a bit further to make sure you only have to do it once. When you sanded off the destroyed clear-coat, you may have taken off enough of the paint layer to make trouble later - luckily, that's the whole idea of the clear-coat, to protect the paint underneath. You don't want to pay to have it clear-coated, and then spot the areas where the grey primer is starting to show through...

I'd have the painters buff out the color coat again to prepare the surface and get all the oil and wax off, put one healthy new color coat on (or two thin ones), bake it, then shoot fresh clear coat on top and bake again.

Shouldn't cost that much more, and you'll be good for another 10 years at least...

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Your car is only a '98, and its paint is already in that sort of condition? Why do people allow their cars to deteriorate like that? I've never understood that. The things aren't that dif- ficult to take care of, cosmetically. I'd never buy such a car, if I saw one for sale used. If the parts of the car that were easily visible had been so badly neglected, I'd have to wonder what had been neglected mechanically.

You had the right idea in principle, but you should've used polishing compound instead of sandpaper.

There are two products that are similar and are often confused: polishing compound and rubbing compound. Both can be found on the car-wax shelves at your local auto parts store. They come in flat, circular plastic containers, just like car wax does.

Both are abrasives suspended in a semisolid base. The difference between them is that polishing compound has a much finer grit than rubbing compound does. For that reason it should be used first. If it doesn't get a scratch or stain out, then go to rubbing compound. That way you'll know you're removing the least-possible amount of paint or clear coat in order to get the job done.

You could just wax it, preferably with some high-quality wax that would last for awhile. Having it clear-coated would be a good long-term approach, though.

Geoff

MAACO?!?!?! Find a good local body shop.

But what I can't figure out is, how did a melted CD do that to your paint?