Paintwork
When I bought the Hawk, I planned three things to do:
- engine inspection,
- chassis preservation/restoration,
- paintwork corrections.
The first two are long behind me, and now it’s time for the third. The car had some kind of incident to the right rear side, something fairly minor, more of a dent than a crash. But it was repaired poorly. Under the paint, there were bumps.
It’s easier to see when the angle of the light changes:
While I was in Poznań, I bought a replacement right rear quarter panel, if I remember correctly, it came from a dealership liquidation. I did it in case it turned out to be a more serious issue.
I dropped the car off at a trusted body shop and waited. Two things were confirmed: the damage turned out to be minor indeed, and the rubbish nature of the previous repair was also the case. The plastic wheel arch trim was broken, rejoined with a metal plate on rivets and glued with two-component resin. A poorly fitted bumper and the trim had rubbed the paint in several places:
I always wonder about this kind of approach, especially since the trim piece is available, even today, and doesn’t exactly cost a fortune.
But maybe a dozen or so years ago, when there were still lots of STIs on the streets, they were treated differently.
Either way, the replacement panel will stay in the storage for now. The painter said the bubbles are a sign of poor-quality previous work - moisture that wasn’t properly dried before the paint was applied - definitely not rust.
During the work:
The passenger door was also repainted - shoutout to the former neighbor from the underground parking with the grey Octavia; I hope you open the doors a bit more gently now :)
Parts with ugly scratches/chips were also resprayed:
I was also tempted to do the hood, but the painter laughed and said against his interest, obviously it would mean extra money, but he wouldn’t personally do it. The chips are there, but nothing serious.
Right after the paint shop came the annual oil change.
And finally, something I had been waiting a long time for. Can anyone guess the difference between these two photos?
Before:
After:
Yes: door stickers appeared. There is an interesting story behind them. I bought them right at the beginning, and I remember thinking that when I finally stick them on, it will mean the car is pretty much sorted.
So, I’ll say it out loud: “It seems the car is pretty much sorted”.
