PS: That's original paint, too. 
Before we put our Miata back on the road, we made it presentable, removing the filth so that little kids wouldn’t scream.
But we knew it could look better.
Now was the time for that deeper clean. We got the interior looking good, but the paint still needed love.
When it comes to detailing a car, there are different levels of “clean.” At one end of the spectrum are the perfectly manicured classics displayed on the showfields of Pebble Beach and Amelia Island.
At the other end you'll find, well, most of our cars.
Fortunately, we know a guy who can help: Tim McNair at Grand Prix Concours. He regularly prepares cars for the top shows in the world, but he also knows us–and that we’re always after a big bang for our buck.
For the Miata, he recommended that we follow the same recipe he recently used on our Porsche 911 Carrera. In an afternoon or so, you can get a car looking really good–and the finish will go from scratchy to smooth.
You can dive deeper into this process on the Classic Motorsports page, but here’s the TL;DR:
[To dive deeper on this quick, easy detail process, read more over at Classic Motorsports.]
And that’s how we transformed our paint from rough and neglected to smooth and shiny. This process also removed all of the dirt embedded in the pebbled finish down by the rockers.
Another benefit of clean paint: less likelihood of scratching the finish when applying our magnetics.
The whole process didn’t take much specialized equipment or technique. We just needed some time in the garage.
PS: That's original paint, too.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I'm still using the method, used by Tim, of avoiding washing my Z with soap and water and using microfibers and spray detailer instead, much easier on the car and me. I still use some car wash soap and water if the car has become really grimy (rarely), but I love the detailer method, along with clay bar on occasion.
In reply to 300zxfreak :
Yeah, figure if his cleaning recipe is good enough for vintage Ferraris, it's good enough for our cars.
If a car is muddy or covered with gritty dirt, yeah, break out the bucket. But it's amazing what you can do with some fluffy microfiber towels and today's quick detailer products. (For a quick detailer comparison test, check out our test over on the Classic Motorsports site.)
Totally agree David. I only did 2 full car washes this year. Mostly because 500+ dead bugs on the car.
I have found this stuff to do a good job of removing (dead) bugs.
Taking note of that now that I'm in the bug infested Midwest again.
Found it. They actually rebranded it to Machinist Mate. Got a bottle on the way.
In reply to bmw88rider :
Cool, glad you found it. I admit, my bottle is old. It does seem to work at removing bugs, though.
My wife did a bit of highway driving this weekend, and last night I noticed all of the dead bugs. Yeah, that Splat Bug Remover does the trick: spray, give it a few seconds to work, and then wipe away with a microfiber. It seems to dissolve their little bodies. 
Then I went over everything with some quick detailers.
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