Tmichaelson

Hand rubbed entire car very carefully especially the high spots. Didn't apply polish between rubbing and wax coat but I will try that method on some major remaining areas halted from completion due to touchup paint work in progress. Thanks for suggestion.

Faslane

+1 and my paint is not so good.

SDVette

I also decided to try Meguires Ultimate Compound on my 54-year-old lacquer paint job. I applied it by hand and followed it with Zaino (Z3, for 1-stage paints). I had done claybar a few months back so the finish was smooth, but lacked shine.

I'm very happy with the results. It really brought out shine that was missing. It went from being a 10 footer to a 7.5 footer!

wonderful

Glad everyone had success with their lacquer paint refinishing. Hoping no one had any stress cracks. My 63 was repainted with lacquer in the early 80's. The paint is holding up fairly well (still has a nice shine), except for the stress cracks around the head light buckets. I doubt it if lacquer car paint can be purchased anymore. Please correct me if I am wrong.

DansYellow66

It can be purchased from several internet companies - TCP Global being one that comes to mind. Also PPG still sells lacquer paint - although it's availability will vary widely across the country. I can buy it here in Little Rock. From what I understood a few years ago here in Little Rock - the local aircraft finishing and outfitting companies use a good deal of lacquer.

jerry gollnick

I have a lacquer paint job that is 35 years old. The is a small spot on the car( about the size of a soap bar) that was touched up years ago. The color is not a very good match. Rather than a panel repaint i was hoping to have an expert use an airbrush and mix a better match on the color. it's rally red. thoughts?

68sixspeed

I rarely try to contradict others posts,but there is some questionable advise in this thread ranging from first going to aggressive rubbing compounds to metal polish... No, no, heck no. Not for the first step on old lacquer. Usually not needed and you have a high risk of causing damage or wearing through. But don't listen to me, Mike Philips with autogeek has a great writeup on restoring laquer and it works, my 62 was neglected for over a decade and his writeup and advise worked for me, its worth the time to read and make your own judgements.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ge-paints.html

Also meguiars ultimate compound is great stuff but pretty agressive for a single stage paint, after the show car glaze if it needs more correction I would use something milder and work up from there if needed.

SDVette

68sixspeed,

I did read that article in my research.. and I did try the #7 glaze on my car. It did nothing to the finish. It was shiny and slick on top, but still dull and uneven looking - the same as with using wax.

Digging around reviews, I found many people reporting the same - and some stating that the glaze is mainly used to put on new paint (that can't be waxed yet). It is completely non-abrasive... Which is good for some problems... but not when you have a layer of oxidation. At least not for me.

I should also stress that I used the Meguires Ultra by hand, and with pretty light pressure (I was very nervous)!

I'm glad we are sharing all this info so that others can learn from our experiences.

68sixspeed

Ok, if you did the #7 technique then at least you tried the least agrressive and more importantly fed and moisturized the paint. It is a lot safer to work with now. If you have a buffer or even a porter cable type d/a, I would try #3 machine glaze, very mild but great stuff, if that doesnt work to restore some gloss then move up to something more aggressive. #34 yellow wax over that or whatever you like, their nxt is a nice product too for a wax.

Having detailed cars years back I have had customers bring in a lacquer paint job that was first hit with rubbing compound and it can leave so many scratches and remove so much paint I always go at it very carefully. You likely will be removing some paint to remove bad oxidation on laquer so it is critical to not cause any more scratches that require even more buffing.

If the #7 really worked good a mild compound like #3 will let you do minimal work to get it the rest of the way. Think of it as letting the paint flow vs cutting and removing. Oh, and a clay bar as others mentioned is a good technique to clean and prep for buffing and wax. Best of luck.

68sixspeed

One other correction, i just put my foot in my mouth on the black bottle ultimate compund, confusing it with "ultra cut compound" in the yellow bottle, the ultra cut 105 is super aggressive, 10/10 on there scale,. You would not be wrong using ultimate compound in the black bottle now that you have done the #7 in my opinion, follow with ultimate polish or #3, and then wax.

SDVette

Yes I definitely wanted to use the LEAST abrasive solution that would work.

I don't know if it's marketing hype, but the Meguires Ultimate Compound claims to have "dissolving abrasives" or something that prevents it from cutting too much. It worked well for me on my 54 year old original lacquer.. As I said, by hand, with minimal pressure gave great results.