Hi All,

My 1980 corvette's paint is pretty badly oxidized. Other than this, the paint is in pretty good shape for a driver.

Now, I wan't to bring the paint back to life. I was told to use the following;

1. 3M Perfect It II - rubbing compound
2. Meguiar's Mirror Glaze (Machine Glaze)
3. Mother's Pure Carnauba Paste wax

and.... to apply the above in this order by hand.


Please offer me your opinions.

Thank you in advance.

 

Don't use a rubbing compound. Use a polishing compound.
I like the 3M Finesse-It II using a power buffer with a good wool pad.
You can do it by hand, but it's a lot of work that way.

If you haven't used a power buffer on a car before, get someone to show you how. You can burn right through the paint if you don't know what you are doing.

 

Don't be hasty with the wax, if the finish is too far gone, or not smoothed enough by rubbing/polishing compounds, the wax will penetrate any rough areas and you'll never be able to rectify.

Steve

 

My suggestion is to try a small 'out-of-the-way' area to see what you will end up with. If that area looks good to you, give it a try. But be careful on edges and body lines....you can wear through old paint pretty quickly on those. For best results, call a reputable paint shop and ask what a 'cut n buff' would cost. They have the experience to do that job well.

 

Wouldn't wet sanding be better in this situation? Wet sand, THEN polish?

 

Not usually enough paint thickness to rejuvenate by wet sanding, rubbing compound might also be too harsh as indicated by one responder.

 

All paint finishes, with or without a clear coat, will deteriorate and dull over time. This loss of luster, called oxidation, is primarily caused by long term exposure to ultraviolet light. Black, red and dark color finishes absorb higher levels of UV and will oxidize sooner than light color finishes. Restoring gloss to dull, oxidized finishes requires polishing and finishing or in severe conditions, compounding, polishing and finishing.

Minor surface oxidation can be removed by polishing with a mild polish such as Menzerna Final Polish, Meguiar's No.9 Swirl Remover or 3M Swirl Remover. After polishing, finish with your favorite wax or paint sealant. Severely oxidized, neglected or abused finishes require a 3-step, compound, polish and finish restoration process. These are the same three steps used by body shops and professional detailers

Compounding abrades away the top layer of dull, oxidized paint and in the process, removes swirls, scratches and minor paint blemishes. Compounding is typically accomplished using an Orange Power Pad or, for maximum cut, a Yellow Compounding Pad. Compounding may leave a surface haze. This is normal. This dullness, or compounding haze, is removed in the next step which is polishing.

Polishing removes compounding haze and restores surface gloss. It creates a mirror-like, highly reflective finish ready for waxing. Polishing is best accomplished using a white foam polishing pad and a finishing polish.

Finishing protects the surface with your favorite wax or sealant. Finishing can be accomplished by hand or with an orbital polisher. Applying a wax or paint sealant by machine is typically done using a black foam finishing pad.


Good Luck!

 

porter cable 7424 and pinnacle xmt series polishes.....nuff said

 

Ok,
Now what I'm about to suggest you are probably going to cringe.
A close friend told me about doing this to both his 62 and his 70 LT-1.
The paint on both cars was chalky like mine when he first bought
them.

In stages, one fender at a time, then a door, hood and so on,
take a clean tee shirt, spray WD-40 on the surface and rub -
(not super hard) but enough to work into the surface.

Then, using another tee shirt, buff it off. No paint came off!
Amazing results. Yes, it took what wax was left on the car off and
the chalky haze was gone. Then, applied the Meguire's paint cleaner,
polish and wax to her. Unbelievable appearance.

Take it for what it's worth.
It worked for us and I'm sure it will work for you as well.

Rudy

 

there is a thread in the "car care discussion" section called 1973 nova-paint only. and the guy gives a great explanation of what he did to rejuvenate a paint job on his bosses nova.you should check it out its quite informative along with some nice pictures to boot.

 

rvazquez,

I just opened your Corvette Photos -
Very nice LT-1.

Rudy

 

Guys, Thanks for your input so far.

 

WD-40 has a lot of uses that people don't know about. It cleans the black streaks off of RV's, crayon marks on the wall, silly putty in the carpet, and removes adhesive residue. There was a site that used to be up that had like 2,000 uses for WD-40.