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Was detailing a friend's truck last week & really hit a brick wall. It's a '94 Silverado 1500 4x4 extended cab. Is red w/clearcoat.
Started w/ mildest product & worked up to more aggressive (after claying).
Paint is in good shape (sorry, no pics)- some slight discoloration & usual chips/scratches, but no clearcoat failure. Finish is extremely dull- has a sandblasted look- which figures, as he uses it to haul his motorcycle out to the desert for some motocrossing. The front clip & roof look great, but the finish gets progressively worse moving toward the rear. Never liberated any red paint anywhere I worked, so clearcoat appears to still be intact. I thought a clearcoat that old would be extremely soft (especially on red), but thought wrong. Was either a very hard clear to begin with, or the desert sun has baked it hard. Everything I did made only the slightest improvement. The only good thing is that most of the panels are relatively FLAT... not a whole lot of body contours & seams to deal with.
Here was my sequence...
#80 (Speed Glaze) on 8006 Polishing Pad via PC (speed 5)
#83 (DACP) on 8006 Polishing Pad via PC (speed 5)
Scratch-X by hand
#83 (DACP) on Edge finishing pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
#83 (DACP) on Edge (orange) light-cutting pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
#83 (DACP) on burgundy 7006 cutting pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
each pad was new & first conditioned with a little QD. After use, each pad went into a zip-lock bag which identified the product used.
Nothing I did made much of an improvement. It still looks (and feels) dry, though there's no crazing or cracking. I hesitated to go to a wool pad, as my rotary experience is limited. I realize it's tough to diagnose without pics, but would welcome any suggestions for more aggressive pad/polish combinations to bring a shine back to this beast.
Thanks-
Started w/ mildest product & worked up to more aggressive (after claying).
Paint is in good shape (sorry, no pics)- some slight discoloration & usual chips/scratches, but no clearcoat failure. Finish is extremely dull- has a sandblasted look- which figures, as he uses it to haul his motorcycle out to the desert for some motocrossing. The front clip & roof look great, but the finish gets progressively worse moving toward the rear. Never liberated any red paint anywhere I worked, so clearcoat appears to still be intact. I thought a clearcoat that old would be extremely soft (especially on red), but thought wrong. Was either a very hard clear to begin with, or the desert sun has baked it hard. Everything I did made only the slightest improvement. The only good thing is that most of the panels are relatively FLAT... not a whole lot of body contours & seams to deal with.
Here was my sequence...
#80 (Speed Glaze) on 8006 Polishing Pad via PC (speed 5)
#83 (DACP) on 8006 Polishing Pad via PC (speed 5)
Scratch-X by hand
#83 (DACP) on Edge finishing pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
#83 (DACP) on Edge (orange) light-cutting pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
#83 (DACP) on burgundy 7006 cutting pad via rotary (spread @ 600, polish @1400)
each pad was new & first conditioned with a little QD. After use, each pad went into a zip-lock bag which identified the product used.
Nothing I did made much of an improvement. It still looks (and feels) dry, though there's no crazing or cracking. I hesitated to go to a wool pad, as my rotary experience is limited. I realize it's tough to diagnose without pics, but would welcome any suggestions for more aggressive pad/polish combinations to bring a shine back to this beast.
Thanks-
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