Red Trans Am has milky,white appearance, HELP!

[adreed24]

I have a 1990 Pontiac Trans Am GTA that has its original red, clear coat paint.

The sides of the car look great. The color is good and it reflects well, just by using the Gold Class Liquid. The roof and hood are a different matter.

The roof has three small spots of oxidation. They are white spots and the white will scrape off with your fingernail. The rest of the roof is still red and has pretty good reflectivity, but it has a light, milky haze to it.

The hood has no white, oxidation spots, but it looks like the roof. It has pretty good reflectivity, but it has the milky white haze over most of it.

I need to find out what to use and do, to restore the hood and roof the best I can.

About 2 years ago, I tried the Meguiar's Deep Crystal System (steps 1, 2 & 3) and it didn't help. I also tried the Clear Coat Body Scrub, and it did no good.

I have an orbital polisher/buffer with foam and terry-cloth pads.

How do I remove the white oxidation spots, without damaging the paint?

What can I do to make the roof and hood more closely match the sides, again without damaging the paint?

What Meguiar's products should I use?

Right now, the outdoor temperatures here are in the high 40's to middle 50's, which means I'll have to wait unitl it warms up a bit.

I bought COLOR X and put it on by hand in cold weather, just to try it out. I'll admit this wasn't a fair test, because of the cold. I read where COLOR X is a product that needs to be worked into the paint, probably by machine. Is this true?

Thanks in advance!

[Mike Phillips]

Hi adreed24

It's starting to sound like clear coat failure. Maybe not, you can try using a paint cleaner, or a cleaner/wax like the ColorX to see if you can restore clarity to the areas that show the milky haze.

If after cleaning and polishing the milky hazed areas you don't see the clarity restored, then chances are the paint is past saving.

Same thing goes for the ColorX. Apply the ColorX to one spot by hand aggressively, allow it to dry and then remove. If the clarity is restored, then repeat over the entire car, if not than it's likely the clear coat finish has deteriorated past the point of salvation.

[adreed24]

Should I apply the COLOR X with my orbitial polisher/buffer?

If yes, should I use a foam pad to apply it, or a terry-cloth pad?

Should I remove it with a foam or terry-cloth pad?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by adreed24
Should I apply the COLOR X with my orbital polisher/buffer?

If yes, should I use a foam pad to apply it, or a terry-cloth pad?

Should I remove it with a foam or terry-cloth pad?

You can if you want, if it's a traditional orbital buffer, then these tools are not very aggressive as far as the cleaning ability goes. If you want to test the milky hazed areas to see if they can be fixed then I would suggest just trying a spot by hand where you can apply ample pressure to a small work area, (wax pad or piece of terry cloth towel), and see if you can fix one small area. By fix, I mean restore clarity by removing the milky haze in the clear coat.

If you can then repeat over the entire clear coat. If you cannot make one small area look good then you will not be able to make the rest of the milky hazed areas look good and this will probably mean the clear coat is shot in these areas.

Has this car been parked outside most of it's life?
Is the finish exposed to a lot of sun?
If so, has this car been regularly cleaned, polished and protected during this time?

[adreed24]

The car was bought new 15 years ago. It has spent all of its time outdoors, I have no garage. I have kept a cover on it, but not all of the time.

It was in the sun quite a bit, and I didn't realize that red paint needs more care, than say, silver or white. It was the first car we had with clear coat, so I didn't know it was so fragile, compared to the older, multi-coat paint.

Most of the time it is either too cold to polish & wax, or I have no shade in the summertime to polish & wax, so it's too hot in the direct sunlight.

I know I haven't taken as good care of it as I should have, but it really doesn't look that bad, it just needs some help in certain areas.

I'll give the COLOR X a try. Is this the best possible product that Meguiar's has for my car's problems? How does it compare to NXT TECH WAX?

Does COLOR X have any Carnuba wax in it, or is it all synthetic? What about polish in it, or a UV sunscreen?