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It may be hard to believe but just about any car can be made to have that classic $3,000 showroom shine paint job in about the time of one complete weekend. Now it is not going to be easy and if you do not own a drill or rotary buffer you are going to be looking at some elbow grease, but if you are a fan of the high gloss finish, then you will not be disappointed.

The first thing you are going to need is about $40 worth of product. 3M is one of the most trusted brands by the professionals, but to be quite honest, just about any brand of polish ought to do the job. When you are finished you are also going to want to put a sturdy coat of wax on the finish as you will be unveiling a virginal coat of paint that has never been seen by the world before and it will become susceptible to sun, wind, and chemical damage.

Here is a basic list of ingredients you will need:

• Drill or rotary polisher (can be substituted with good old elbow grease)

• Polishing bonnet (sheepskin)

• Polishing Compound (such as 3M, Turtle Wax, etc.)

• 1,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper

• 2,000 grit wet/dry sandpaper

• Rubber sandpaper block

• Swirl removing/gloss enhancing polish (optional)

• Wax (Carnuba recommended)

• Clean dry cloth

• Gallon bucket filled with clean water

• 3M painters masking tape

To begin, you must be introduced to the quote that in order to make something better, it must first be made worse. This is the hardest part about this process, because once you start to sand off your top layer of pant you will find that the paint will look plain horrible. Just remember that once you get a few coats of polish on the dull surface it will be more shiny than it ever has.

Step 1- Take the sanding block and load it up with the 1,000 grit sandpaper and soak it in the bucket of water for at least 10 minutes. On a “clean car” (do not attempt this on a dirty car or you might as well be using rock gravel as sand paper) wet the surface to be sanded and begin to gently begin to sand the surface of your paint, making sure to keep the block level with the surface with even pressure. Every so often you will need to take a dry cloth and wipe off the surface to inspect how your progress is going.

What you are looking for is a smooth and flat finish. To see the difference of this, before you begin to sand a section, take a few gentle swipes at the surface with the sanding block and then wipe dry. You will notice that there are high spots on the paint that are now dull and then low spots that are still shiny. Your goal here is to knock down all of the high spots and get them even with the low spots, therefore giving you a surface are a that will be equivalent to that of glass.

Note: Use the 3M painters tape to wrap around emblems and creases in the paint. You do not want to brush chrome or plastic with the sandpaper as it will be very difficult to repair. The reason that you will want to use it on deep creases, is that the force of the sandpaper will cut through a small surface of paint much faster, so it would not take to much effort to sand through the paint on a crease… be careful, pay attention, and you should be fine.

Step 2- Once the first layer of paint is off and everything is looking smooth and dull, it will be time to break out the 2,000 grit sand paper and go over the paint using the same technique, but this time you will actually be polishing out the fine scratches that the 1,000 grit paper caused. You could actually have started with the 2,000, but if you have a typical OEM paint job, it would take a very long time to sand off enough paint to get the results we are looking for here.

Step 3- When this is finished you should congratulate yourself as you are finished with the hard part and from here on it should come much easier. Take a polishing bonnet and apply polishing compound and begin to polish the smooth surface. Keep in mind that polishing compound is designed to start out heavy and cut the surface and then gradually breakdown into finer polishing bit that create a deeper shine. You want to continue to buff the surface until the surface is practically dry and all of the compound has been broken down.

Continue this process until you have achieved a satisfactory shine. You should literally be able to now see your reflection as if you are looking into a mirror rather than a river (the ripply effect), as OEM paint is. If you really are looking for a professional shine, you should follow up this step with a gloss enhancing/swirl removing polish.

Note: If you are using a drill, keep the rpm’s low and always move the bonnet around the surface. If you sit a high speed drill on one section of the paint and let it continue to rub without movement you will burn through the surface of the paint and create a burn mark—an end to a rather beautiful beginning.

Step 4- Apply your favorite wax using the drill or orbital buffer and a terry cloth bonnet or apply by hand and then take her out on the town to flaunt your new $3,000 paint job!