How to remove paint oxidation?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 159
Likes: 0
From: Wisconsin
How to remove paint oxidation?
the top part of my rear bumper on my red c4 is oxidized. The red has patches of rough oxidized whitish patches. I washed the car and tried using rubbing compound. The paint looks like it magically is fixed when I rub it in, but as soon as it dries and I rub it off it goes back to looking oxidized. I even bought this special liquid that's supposed to help, and it does, but when it dries it goes back to normal like the last time. What can I do to get my paint looking good again?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,495
Likes: 475
From: New Jersey
Very little, really. It looks ok when you rub the product in because it is filling in the microscopic flaws and damage which is reflecting light and making it appear whitish.
If there is a lot of "meat" left to the clear you may be able to wetsand and carefully machine polish. But it's a longshot. Or you could carefully sand the clear and respray some clear over it. This may help.
Is the car garaged or covered?
If there is a lot of "meat" left to the clear you may be able to wetsand and carefully machine polish. But it's a longshot. Or you could carefully sand the clear and respray some clear over it. This may help.
Is the car garaged or covered?
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 30,427
Likes: 1,609
From: Outside the Quick Stop N.J.
My 89 has the same problem, short of a respray there is not much that you can do. If it is just on the bumper cover, I had mine resprayed last year for around $500. The decklid is getting pretty bad as well, but the car is not garaged, and I can't see it from the drivers seat !
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 20,179
Likes: 673
From: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
St. Jude '03 thru '24
We tested the hood where the clear was peeling.
Touched the base coat with 400 grit and nothing could help it.
Tried to clear coat and it was better off looking like leprosy.
& GL
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 6,314
Likes: 508
From: South-central Missouri
I know squat about paint, so take it from there. But! As a casual observer, it occurs to me the clear coats are beautiful...up to the point they break down. Then...forgetaboutit! Nothing but a repaint will do.
However, BMW (and some others?) have moved away from clear coats in favor of a new (for lack of better words) "all in one" polymer (?) paint from PPG.
Brett put me onto it last spring when I had my car painted, and maybe all quality paints look good new, but this paint came out absolutely stunning, and it is suppose to be more durable than the color/clear regime currently "in Vogue" (including the C7s). Time (and sun) will tell. But, from here, it looks very good, and it is a ONE STEP paint process: NO clear coat.
I would think that if you removed the bumper cover and prepped it yourself, so that all the shop had to do was spray it, you could get by a lot cheaper. Color matching...would be a question tho... As others have said, the whole car might (as well) need to be painted. ($5k IF you disassembles and prime it yourself first, and the put it back together...)
However, BMW (and some others?) have moved away from clear coats in favor of a new (for lack of better words) "all in one" polymer (?) paint from PPG.
Brett put me onto it last spring when I had my car painted, and maybe all quality paints look good new, but this paint came out absolutely stunning, and it is suppose to be more durable than the color/clear regime currently "in Vogue" (including the C7s). Time (and sun) will tell. But, from here, it looks very good, and it is a ONE STEP paint process: NO clear coat.
I would think that if you removed the bumper cover and prepped it yourself, so that all the shop had to do was spray it, you could get by a lot cheaper. Color matching...would be a question tho... As others have said, the whole car might (as well) need to be painted. ($5k IF you disassembles and prime it yourself first, and the put it back together...)
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