55 Chevy needs help (with pics)

[jmiller]

I just found this forum yesterday. I have a 55 Chevy that has extremely dull paint, as in no shine at all.





These are the only pics that I have now but if needed I can take some closeups. The problem is the green is dull and moderately heavy oxidised and the white has "dirt" in it that won't come out. As far as I can tell it's a repaint over the original paint. The previous owner told me it was done in the early to mid 80's. I have read a lot since I found this site but the more I read the more confused I get.

What would be the best products to use to take care of of both colors? I plan on doing whatever I can to get it looking as nice as possible until the repaint (it has some rust issues to address).

I plan on doing everything by hand since I don't have much confidence in the thickness of the repaint or my ability with a buffer.

Maybe if it turns out good I can post it as an "extreme makeover".

[KTruck]

Hi:

One option would be Colox X.

You should be able to find it at a local store.

It can be applied by hand and will do a good job of cleaning the paint.

Regards,

KTruck

[Mike Phillips]

Hi John,

What a beauty!

First, do you know if the paint is a single-stage finish or a basecoat/clearcoat finish?

(See my next post on how to check...)

Next, I'm going to copy and paste below this message a how-to for removing swirls by hand and even though the topic is how to remove swirls, if you apply the same products in the same order by hand with care and passion you will create a show car finish on this old Shoebox Chevy...

Pay particular attention to the first three steps,

Claying
Cleaning the paint with ScratchX - (If it's a single stage finish use a piece of terry cloth to apply)
Polishing the paint with a pure polish

After claying, the most important step you can focus on will be the paint cleaning step.

After that do a really good job of rubbing-out, or hand-polishing the paint with the pure polish, you can use Deep Crystal Polish or #7 Show Car Glaze. This will bring out the gloss, depth and beauty of the paint.

If you do these three jobs really well,

Clay
Clean
Polish

Then applying a coating of wax or two will take your results over the top for a show car finish.

[Mike Phillips]

How can I tell if I have a clear coat finish?


To determine whether you have a clear coat or a single-stage finish perform this simple test.

• * Find an inconspicuous area to test, such as the lower rear quarter panel of your car's fender or inside the door jamb.
  
  * Clean this area first with car wash and water or Meguiar's Quik Detailer. You don't want any dirt or grime to interfere with your test.
  
  * Using a small piece of white cotton, such as a piece of terry cloth towel, rub a little paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the paint of this inconspicuous area.
  
  * After rubbing for a few moments, turn your cloth toward you and look to see if there is any color from your paint on the cloth.

If you have a red car and you now have red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a single stage finish. If you have a red car and you don't see any red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a clear coat.

To be 100% sure, you should test in a couple of different areas.

Note: If you have a white, or very light colored car you should use a dark piece of cotton cloth and look for the color of your car's finish on it after rubbing some paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the finish for a few moments.

[Mike Phillips]

How To Remove Swirls By Hand


The below write-up was taken from page three of this Saturday Detailing Class at Meguiar's where approximately 25 people witnessed the products shown below, applied and removed using the correct techniques to remove the gross rotary buffer swirls and restore a swirl free finish by hand.

San Diego Mercedes-Benz club at Meguiar's!


After selecting two Mercedes-Benz automobiles to work on, one being Tom's, we broke for a pizza lunch. After everyone had their fill of pizza and something cold to drink, it was time to re-gather in Meguiar's Garage to see what we could do with the gross swirls in Tom's recently painted hood.




Often times when the topic of removing swirls is being discussed on our discussion forum, or some other detailing forum, it centers around the dual action polisher, foam buffing pads and somebody's compound or polish. Yet many people don't own a dual action polisher. So here at Meguiar's Garage, we like to show people how to use the what they already own... their hands!



Like most detailing enthusiasts, I personally love a challenge, and with Tom's car, I believe most people would agree, his car's finish presents a challenge!

BEFORE - 700 Pixel-wide cropped out section from an un-touched, original photo of rotary buffer swirls in a clear coat finish.





Using some painters tape, we taped-off a section of the hood to separate the before and after results. Then, we applied three, well worked in applications of Meguiar's ScratchX all applied by hand using Meguiar's High-Tech Applicator Pad






The secret to removing swirls by hand using Meguiar's ScratchX is all in your technique. You see in order to remove swirls out of your car's finish, you need to remove a little bit of paint. If we we're to look at a horizontal view of what gross rotary buffer swirls look like in the paint, it would look something like the diagram below. In order to remove these below surface defects, (swirls), you need to remove enough paint from the finish to level the upper surface with the *****t depths of the swirls until you've restored the finish to a flat, level surface.




To do this by hand with ScratchX, you need to,

• * Apply to a small section at a time
  * First spread the ScratchX evenly over the area you're going to work (before working it in)
  * Work the microscopic diminishing abrasives against the finish applying a little passion behind the applicator pad
  * Repeat this process with multiple applications after first removing the residue from each application after working it against the finish

Remember that Meguiar's paint cleaners, like ScratchX do not need to dry before removing. Drying adds no benefit. The only Meguiar's paint products that need to dry before removing are Meguiar's waxes.

Technique Tip

The question is often asked,

"Which direction should I move my hand when applying a Meguiar's paint cleaner?"

A common mis-conception, often espoused on other discussion forums, or by some car care product manufactures, is the technique of only rubbing a product in a certain direction to keep all of your scratches going in the same direction.

Meguiar's teaches that if the products you're using are non-abrasive, that is they are not instilling scratches into the finish, as such, it shouldn't matter which direction you move your hand!

If the products you're using are inflicting scratches into your car's finish, the correct thing to do is to stop using the product! Don't try to camouflage the scratches to your eyes by instilling them in straight-lines as determined by the movement of your hand.

ScratchX can be applied using straight-lines or circular motion and for this particular demonstration we used a combination of both.

Removing ScratchX using Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber after working the product against the finish until the product has broken down, turned somewhat clear and begun to dissipate.




At Meguiar's Saturday Detailing 101 classes, we go through a power point presentation that covers a wide spectrum of detailing topics, one of which is Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle , which includes;

• Step 1 Wash
  Step 2 Clean
  Step 3 Polish
  Step 4 Protect
  Step 5 Maintain

After cleaning the paint with a paint cleaner like ScratchX, we then apply a pure polish, in this case, Deep Crystal Polish which is a non-abrasive pure polish.



In Meguiar's line, we offer two types of polishes, cleaner/polishes, which contain a diminishing abrasive, and pure polishes, which are completely non-abrasive and are used solely for the purpose of creating brilliant gloss. Deep Crystal Polish is a pure polish.



The way you apply a pure polish is akin to applying a skin lotion to your skin. That is you apply the polish to a small section at a time, work the product in thoroughly.



After thoroughly, (but gently with care and passion), remove any excess polish with a clean, soft premium quality microfiber polishing cloth or 100% cotton towel.



Like ScratchX a paint cleaner, it is not necessary to let a pure polish like Deep Crystal Polish dry before removing it. Allowing a polish to dry will not add anything beneficial to the process, so after you work it in well, go a head and remove it.


At this point, we have cleaned and polished the finish. The cleaning step removed the swirls and the polishing step restored optical clarity, depth, reflectivity, richness of color and brilliant gloss. Next we're going to apply a coating of Meguiar's new NXT Generation Tech Wax Paste



NXT Generation Tech Wax Paste is identical to NXT Generation Tech Wax Liquid except that it comes in a paste form. There are two types of paste waxes, the difference is in their consistency. The practical application difference is in how you remove them from the can and then apply them.

With a cleaner/wax (paste), like Meguiar's A12 Meguiar's Cleaner/Wax you can scoop out a small amount and with your applicator pad and then apply it to the finish and work it in.



With paste waxes like Gold Class Clear Coat Wax Paste, M26 Hi Tech Yellow Wax, and NXT Generation Tech Wax Paste, instead of scooping wax out of the can, you can twist, or spin your wax applicator against the wax while it's in the can and this little bit of agitation will help to liquefy the wax and enable it to seep, or penetrate into your applicator pad whereupon making it easier to apply to the finish.





Paste waxes like NXT Tech Generation Wax offer good gliding action and tend to apply very easy. Remember a little bit goes a long ways and it's important to try to apply a uniform, thin coating.



After applying the Tech Wax Paste and allowing it to dry, we removed it using a Supreme Shine Microfiber polishing cloth and the Tom backed his Mercedes-Benz out into the sun where everyone could look at the results and see with their own two eyes what can be accomplished by hand with the right products and the correct techniques.







Here's the owner Tom inspecting closely!



And here I am capturing the results with our Sony Digital which does an excellent job of capture swirls in the sun.




Before



After
















Perfect? No.

dramatically improved? Yes!

Most importantly, we fixed by hand what someone else inflicted with a rotary buffer.

Meguiar's products, applied and removed using the correct techniques will outperform the competition hands down and give your car a swirl-free show car shine!

[jmiller]

Wow! Thanks for the in depth replys. I just took a few more close up pics that really show what I'm up against.

The hood:



close up:



The trunk:


The side:



It's definately a single stage paint and appears to be pretty thin in some spots.
The town I live in is sort of small so if I can't find all the products I need locally can they be ordered online?

Thanks again for all the help.

[matt colvin]

Yes, they can be ordered from a variety of different places online. www.meguiars.com is one place to find what you'll need.

[Mike Phillips]

If the paint is as thin as you think/know/say it is, then you can opt for using Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner with a piece of terry cloth towel.

Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner is a very effective but gentle paint cleaner and part of the cleaning action will come from the nap, (little cotton loops of the terry cloth), and you and the passion you put behind the toweling when applying this product.

If you follow these steps, in this order and the paint is not unstable, then you should be able to revive the color, gloss, clarity, reflective and shine

• 1) Wash - Do this thoroughly, get the car as clean as you can
  2) Clay - If you are unsure as to what and how someone else will chime in.
  3) Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner - Apply with a peice of terry cloth, adjust the cleaning by the amount of passion you put behind your applicator. After applying wipe off, you don't need to let it dry.
  4) Deep Crystal Polish - Apply well, wipe off without letting it dry.
  5) Wax - 2 thin coats of your choice, NXT Tech Wax Liquid would be a great choice

I'm out of here as I need to get to the airport, good luck, have fun!


Some of these will answer more of your questions...

List 'O Links

Many of the things we cover in our Saturday Classes are discussed and talked about in the threads found in the sub-forums of the Information Station


First read this,

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle


Then read these...

Circles or Straight Lines?
Which LSP is Best for Light Colors
How To Remove Swirls By Hand
Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line
How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX
How to locate Meguiar’s Professional & Detailer products in your hometown
How to tell when a Meguiar's wax is ready to remove - The Swipe Test
The Dual Action Counterweight "Controversy"
What are the Differences Between Meguiar's Waxes
What's the Deal with "Layering"?
Measuring Clear Coat Thickness
Rotary vs. PC vs. Regular Orbital Buffer
Glass Polishing...Deep Cleaning
NXT Tech Wax Cure Time
Suggested Products for Taking Care of a New Car
Colored Waxes - Do they really work?
PC + #83 not "Cutting" it! - The Limits of the Dual Action Polisher
What it Means to Remove a Scratch
Why Meguiar’s Recommends Polishing Paint
A Lesson From White Paint
Each one, teach one... Ferrari Fiorano 355 F1 Spider

[SiriusRIMZ]

Your going to love working with single stage paint. You'll see dramatic results ASAP!