DC#1 and #80 pulling off dead, oxidised paint?

[paranoid123]

I was working on a neglected black car this weekend (you can see the writeup with pictures on http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...threadid=12448 ). While cleaning with DC#1 and polishing with #80 with the G-100, my 8006 polishing pads and MF towels was showing black. There was a little bit when using NXT wax, too. This is a 1999 car, so I'm sure it's clear coated, was I pulling off oxidised paint? The finish didn't show any evidence of clear coat failure.

[Michael Stoops]

Did you clay first? There was either so much crud on the surface (you said it was neglected!) that the act of polishing is removing it all, thereby making your pads and towels look black, or even though it's a '99 model it's single stage black. What make and model car....some expert will chime in and confirm or dispell the lack of clear on it.

Personally, I'm betting it's single stage paint. (hmmmm, no "fingers crossed" smilie )

[gbackus]

Re: DC#1 and #80 pulling off dead, oxidised paint?

Originally posted by paranoid123
This is a 1999 car, so I'm sure it's clear coated, was I pulling off oxidised paint? The finish didn't show any evidence of clear coat failure.

Don't assume that because a car is new, it is clearcoated. Some manufacturers still use single stage paints on specific colors or models(Lexus black comes to mind).

[paranoid123]

Hi,

The car is a '99 black Nissan 200SX. I'm pretty sure Nissan clear coats their cars. My parents have a 95 Nissan Quest, and that car has clearcoat.

I washed the car with Gold Class, quick clayed (no black on the clay - just contaminants), then DC#1, #80, and NXT Wax.

[Setec Astronomy]

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I did a similar quick job on her daughter's 2001 black Altima, which was definitely clearcoated. What I found is that there was some sticky stuff on the paint (sap or soft tar) which the clay didn't take off, and came off to some degree on the pads. If we had more time we might have gone back and used something like DC1 or MPPC or maybe even some APC to try and dissolve the sticky gunk better.

At any rate, when a finish gets neglected like that, at some point everything starts to adhere to it, and the preliminary cleaning steps don't always dislodge all of it, which means it comes off during the polishing steps (or stays on the car).

[gbackus]

Originally posted by paranoid123
The car is a '99 black Nissan 200SX. I'm pretty sure Nissan clear coats their cars.

Once again, you're assuming. Take BMW as an example. Most of their models have been clearcoated since the early-mid 90's. However, depending on where the car was built, many of their cars in Alpine White were single stage all the way through at least 1999.

[Setec Astronomy]

After re-reading your post, the fact that you still had black coming off when you were applying the NXT (after going through two polishing steps) certainly sounds like you were dealing with single-stage black.