Polished The Talon

Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
2,979
Location
Franklin County, PA
So I've slowly been cleaning up the beater Talon and decided just to go for it and polish out what I could to possibly get some shine back in the ol' girl. The paint is micro-chipping and has several more chips and dents all over, but for 237K miles you can't expect much.

The car was iron deconed when I first bought it, so that process was already done. Started off with the roof. Tried a lighter compound at first, but it wasn't cutting it (no pun intended). This appears to be the original single stage black and required a bit of work. Final combo was Poorboy's SSR2.5 on a CCS orange pad and Griot's Complete Compound on a microfiber pad.

What we started with:

cV4mpMS.jpg


Final result:

J0saFVN.jpg


fahYcZ2.jpg


Unfortunately my 10 year old Griot's 6" DA decided to blow apart the backing pad right at the end. It was pretty dry rotten.

(pardon the mess on my work bench, too many projects going on at one time)

gYvwCA8.jpg


So while I wait for a new backing pad I decided for grins an giggles to pick up the Harbor Freight Bauer 6" long throw DA. I am pretty impressed! The trigger/lock is a little tricky sometimes, but that's about it. Now we can get back to the rest of the car!

At one point in this cars life it went from just the regular white to a pearl white. This is an old paint job, probably late 90's. It came out pretty good, shame all the the cracks and chips. Still 100 times better than what I started off with!

Before:

gZsuMYq.jpg


4ttWMs4.jpg


After:

7XT31xZ.jpg


A8lw8w7.jpg


e6ZoE78.jpg


jH0uuQu.jpg


vKm02sY.jpg


This combo was Griot's Complete Compound on a microfiber pad followed up with Collinite 845 for protection.

At this point some of you are thinking why? Honestly I have no good reason, guess I was bored.
 
Talon is looking good for its age. It makes me happy to see people taking care of older Mitsubishis in their personal fleet. I have a 1999 Galant with the 3.0 6G72 V6 with 362,000 miles on the clock and still going strong!
 
So I've slowly been cleaning up the beater Talon and decided just to go for it and polish out what I could to possibly get some shine back in the ol' girl. The paint is micro-chipping and has several more chips and dents all over, but for 237K miles you can't expect much.

The car was iron deconed when I first bought it, so that process was already done. Started off with the roof. Tried a lighter compound at first, but it wasn't cutting it (no pun intended). This appears to be the original single stage black and required a bit of work. Final combo was Poorboy's SSR2.5 on a CCS orange pad and Griot's Complete Compound on a microfiber pad.

What we started with:

cV4mpMS.jpg


Final result:

J0saFVN.jpg


fahYcZ2.jpg


Unfortunately my 10 year old Griot's 6" DA decided to blow apart the backing pad right at the end. It was pretty dry rotten.

(pardon the mess on my work bench, too many projects going on at one time)

gYvwCA8.jpg


So while I wait for a new backing pad I decided for grins an giggles to pick up the Harbor Freight Bauer 6" long throw DA. I am pretty impressed! The trigger/lock is a little tricky sometimes, but that's about it. Now we can get back to the rest of the car!

At one point in this cars life it went from just the regular white to a pearl white. This is an old paint job, probably late 90's. It came out pretty good, shame all the the cracks and chips. Still 100 times better than what I started off with!

Before:

gZsuMYq.jpg


4ttWMs4.jpg


After:

7XT31xZ.jpg


A8lw8w7.jpg


e6ZoE78.jpg


jH0uuQu.jpg


vKm02sY.jpg


This combo was Griot's Complete Compound on a microfiber pad followed up with Collinite 845 for protection.

At this point some of you are thinking why? Honestly I have no good reason, guess I was bored.
Wait a minute, was AutoMechanic at your place? Aren't those his keys on your work bench? :ROFLMAO: He's looked everywhere for them?

Nice job Delta!
 
Nice results! Those cars were everywhere and now I never see one. Yours is in great shape.
 
Talon is looking good for its age. It makes me happy to see people taking care of older Mitsubishis in their personal fleet. I have a 1999 Galant with the 3.0 6G72 V6 with 362,000 miles on the clock and still going strong!
My wife's family has had incredible luck with their early 2000's Hyundais that used Mitsubishi engines, but their best luck was with the XG350s they had that use the 6G74. All of them made it 250k+ miles with minimal issues.

As much as I hate my wife's XG350 it is absolutely dead reliable (mechanically). Electronics are whole 'nother can of worms...
 
My wife's family has had incredible luck with their early 2000's Hyundais that used Mitsubishi engines, but their best luck was with the XG350s they had that use the 6G74. All of them made it 250k+ miles with minimal issues.

As much as I hate my wife's XG350 it is absolutely dead reliable (mechanically). Electronics are whole 'nother can of worms..

They don't make em' like they use to now. I've seen the new Mitsubishis (Outlanders mostly) in processing plants and the quality isn't there anymore, of course that's my opinion.
 
Thanks guys! It's a little rougher in person, but it isn't too terrible. The drivers rocker, mostly in the rear, is completely shot. Oddly enough it's the only rust on the car. They no longer make those panels so I'm gonna have to get creative with some sheet metal and my welder. Might have a metal shop make me a radius'd piece. There are none of these cars left around here; there's no mistaking it in the parking lot at work. Ironically someone in the Eclipse version went up my street the other day. They pretty much stopped when they seen mine sitting on the street. This car is loud, rattles, leaks, but I be darned if it doesn't start every time!
 
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Not bad at all for a 26 year old vehicle. I love that you are putting some sweat equity into it. I don't have many plans for our new beater, I'd like to polish it soon to restore some shine and sand and polish the headlights. Thats about it.
 
I recall the Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse & Plymouth Laser were pretty popular, fun cars with lots of choices including AWD, turbos, etc. They have a fairly active owners forum and maybe you can locate a rocker there https://www.dsmtalk.com/.
Please check in with your updates and we’re all rooting for 325K miles. Good Luck!
 
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