Faded red paint - possible to fix?

[Sophzill4]

I have been given the family run about, it is in good mechanical order, typical Mum car (way over serviced under driven) but I don't think it has ever has a wash or a wax.


Do you think that there might be some merit in trying to make this look better (even if it is only slightly better) or is it too far past repair? You can see from the pics, the front bumper is a completely different colour from the rest of the car. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Murr1525]

Have you done anything to the paint so far?

[Michael Stoops]

This is quite interesting - usually we see the color on the bumper covers fade first. Any chance that this bumper was replaced due to some collision damage, or at least repainted?

It is possible that this is a single stage red (although we'd find that perhaps a bit odd, but it's not outside the realm of possibility), and if that's the case you'll be amazed at just how far back you can bring this paint. At the very least we'd recommend doing a little test spot with even just a cleaner wax to see what happens. Primarily we'd be looking for the evidence of color transfer onto your applicator. If your applicator turns red to any degree then you definitely have single stage paint here and the potential for turnaround is extremely high.

[Sophzill4]

This is quite interesting - usually we see the color on the bumper covers fade first. Any chance that this bumper was replaced due to some collision damage, or at least repainted?

Definitely possible. The car has been to the panel shop once in its life, (its an 02 model) because the neighbour ran into the rear bumper in the driveway. I wouldn't have thought that would have warranted a replacement of the front bumper but it certainly looks like it.

So far, we have done pretty much nothing to the paint, the roof, front bonnet, front doors and hatch are this colour but the rest in still that red that can be seen on the front bumper.

[thoryamaha919]

Well it's certainly not just the hood cause the front quarter panel looks to be the same color as well.

[Murr1525]

Well, as mentioned, the first step is just to try something mild and see what happens.

Something like the Cleaner/Wax or ColorX should be cheap and easy to find... if you work it into a test spot on the fender or something with a foam applicator if possible, and see what comes up on the pad, and see how the paint looks.

[Sophzill4]

So followed advice, applied colourX with a foam applicator on a section of the bonnet, it didn't make much of a difference to the colour but it did make it shiny/no longer feels gritty. There was no red paint on the applicator, any ideas what this means?

[scapegoat]

. Quarter panels are located in the rear side area of the vehicle . Fenders are in the front . A lot of people get this confused . Just a bit of info .