Faded classic Mustang at school

[VonLego]

There is an old classic mustang at my school that looks solid, just very very faded. I really really would love to detail it, and use pictures for advertisement purposes later on down the road.

Would a DA be enough to get this done? How many hours would I tell him to expect? I've never worked on a single stage paint before, but I love mustangs and I'm sure this one could shine!

I'd likely take 83 over it at first with a 8006, then clay, then work from there. If I can get the oxidation off quickly, I'm sure I can detail the car just fine.

How do I prevent oxidation from happening again? Just keep it waxed?

Very pumped to get a chance at this car, likely will offer to do it for free randomly when I see the guy in the parking lot! Perhaps I can get some sort of reimbursement, but students aren't exactly made of money.

[PorscheGuy997]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Faded single stage cars are interesting to work on.

How faded is the paint? Turned to white or just plain dull? Pics always help.

If the paint isn't too bad, M80 will do just fine. But, if it's pretty bad, step up to M83 and then back down to M80. M80 works great with single stages, but sometimes you need that extra cut of M83.

It's important to have quite a few microfibers and polishing pads around. The oxidized paint will build up and you have to clean the pad more often.

To help prevent the oxidation from coming back very soon, give the car a coat of protectant - slow the oxidation process down.

Be sure to post before and after pics!

[VonLego]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Here is a pic I took of the car next to mine... forgive my appearance...

I've since replaced that busted up tail light, bumper, top, and removed dealer junk... not to mention detailed it.

[Superior Shine]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Looks like a job for the rotary buffer. I'd have to see the car to know for sure but it looks like a good wool pad and 105 job.

Here is a red one I polished awhile back - RED PONY

[VonLego]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

blast... I was afraid of that. I've read that page a few times before, good read!

I have no rotary, as such I will likely not offer to detail the car... unless a g110 can do it within a decent time frame. I don't mind if it takes 20 hours to do a full detail with a g110, and 8 with a rotary... if thats the case I'd love to give it a wack.

If it isnt' the case, and I'd just make a fool of myself for trying....well.... Good thing I asked first!

[03mach1]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

I buffed a SS paint on a 280 Z for a freind and the car was a very faded and it tooks great now, still faded a litlle but it has a shine now. You can try it and see how it works. I used 83 with a 8006 pad on speed 6 with a g100 and it took the dead paint off but it took time a full day. Talk to guy who owns it or leave a note on his car saying you can try to bring the paint back. just say that you can't garentee it coming back.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Actually, you can rub that car out by hand if you don't want to use a rotary buffer. If you look at all the single stage Extreme Makeover threads you'll usually see people rubbing out the paint by hand using a piece of terry cloth and some M80 Speed Glaze and get this... it works!

Sure a rotary buffer in the hands of a seasoned pro would make quick work of any single stage paint that can still be restored, that's because single stage paints are EASY to work on and that means by HAND or machine.

I say go for it!

In fact, rubbing it out by hand is a lost art, successfully rubbing that paint out by hand is actually more of testimony to your talent than using a rotary buffer. Any Hack Detailer could make hack up that single stage paint with a rotary, sure they'll make it shiny but they'll also burn all the edges if they're not careful.

Here's what you do, get some M105 and some M80 and do a Test Spot.

Use the incredible cleaning ability of the M105 to remove the dead, oxidized paint and then revive the pigmented paint using the polishing oils in the M80 while allowing the diminishing abrasives to gently bring the finish up to a high gloss. Then slap some wax on that Pony.

But first do a test spot, make sure the paint can be fixed before tackling the entire car.

What paint cleaners do you have that you could use to do a test spot?

Do you have a clean, fluffy, terry cloth towel you can cut up to use to remove the oxidation?

[VonLego]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

I have a handful of Meg's terries, prob 15 MFs.

I have 80, 83, 105, and NXT

Should work out great, I'll try to get a hold of the dude in a week or two (I need to catch up on some schooling... and quitting my job for more school time... last day is Friday)

What about this process....

Cleaner with DA -- Get off as much dead paint as possible
Clay
Buckle down and finish by hand
#7
NXT 2.0

As always, test spot first.

Might have the opportunity to pick up a Rotary for Christmas this year... we shall see!! If so I hope to be able to master it well enough to use on vehicles by spring detail season.

[RaskyR1]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

WOW! That looks like grey primer on that thing!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

WOW! That looks like grey primer on that thing!

Kind of does, hopefully that's just the picture quality...

Even so, the first thing to do is to is a Test Spot. Make sure you can make one small area look good before investing any time, money and resources into a finish that it's possible is old enough and to far past the point of return for anyone or any chemical line to restore.

Once you've proven you can fix it with your Test Spot... go to town!

[Pocket_Aces]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

I don't think befores and afters on that particular color will impress anyone. I think you need something like a red or a black car.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Cleaner with DA -- Get off as much dead paint as possible
Clay
Buckle down and finish by hand
#7
NXT 2.0

Okay now follow me closely...

Meguiar's does not recommend using our W-7006 Foam Cutting Pad on any DA Style polisher for clear coat paints. The foam is aggressive enough that while it's true it will remove swirls and scratches, that's only one side of the paint polishing coin, the other side is the goal of any paint polishing process is to make bad looking paint look good, not hazy or micro-marred and with some clear coat paints that's what will happen with too aggressive of a foam pad on a DA Polisher.

That said...

When working on single stage paints, you can get away with more aggressive products without the hazing problem you get with clear coats. Same goes for oxidized Gel-coats on boats.

So here's what you want to try, get one of our W-7006 Foam Cutting pads and use this with your M80 and then try doing your test spot. If you're going to take pictures then tape-off a square area on the hood for maximum impact and be sure to cover the sections surrounding your test spot because old neglected single stage paints will look better just by getting M80 Splatter on them and then wiped off and the goal behind a before and after shot is to not change the before shot by making it look better.

Anyway, test the M80 with the Speed Glaze to a small section and see if this combination will get the job done.

If not, then try using Speed Glaze by hand with some terry cloth and and put some passion behind the pad.

Believe it or not, your 4 fingers can apply more rubbing or "cleaner" pressure/action pushing down on an applicator pad as compared to the pressure you can apply using a DA Polisher with all your pressure being spread out over the surface of a foam buffing pad.

And where the above is key is when working on single stage paints that are oxidized because the goal is to abrade off the dead paint and this takes some muscle.

Like Joe said initially in this post, the way to tackle this car would be with a rotary buffer, a wool pad and some M105, those three things are MUSCLE.

But when you don't have that kind of muscle, or the experience to use that kind of muscle then you can fall back on the old school method of rubbing a paint out by hand and believe it or not you can expert more pressure with your hand to remove oxidation than you can with a DA Polisher.

The problem is you can get tired when rubbing a paint job out by hand and the machine never gets tired, so that's why you want to see if the machine will have enough power to cut off the dead, oxidized paint.

So Test with the M80 first, notice I've mentioned to do a small section for your test, that's because the worse the paint is when it's oxidized like that the more you want to shrink down the size of your work area.

You want the combination of pad texture/aggressiveness, diminishing abrasives and polishing oils, to work with pressure and time to a restricted area. So keep your test section for the DA Polisher down to about 16" square or so.

Then update this thread as I'm sure there are members that want to follow your results with this project. Buffing out, or should I say, restoring the finish on the single stage paint on a classic car like a Mustang is becoming a rare opportunity.

Often times even if you can find a car like this that needs a good polishing by someone that really knows what they're doing, you can't always get the owner to let you "touch' it.

If you're planning on detailing cars for money at any level, then documenting this with pictures can be quite helpful is showcasing your talent to potential customers. But you can't leverage a project like this without good before and after pictures.

If you do go down this road the keep in mind the most important picture is the hood or trunk lid "BEFORE" shot. Before you do your test spot. You need the shot that shows UGLY in all it's glory. You see, once you bring your hand or your polisher down on the paint and start cleaning... it's too late to get that shot.

Just and FYI...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

I don't think befores and afters on that particular color will impress anyone. I think you need something like a red or a black car.

That's a good point especially when colors like that are clear coated, but when working on light colored single stage paints are oxidized you do get dramatic before and after shots where the paint goes from dull or flat to glossy and shiny and you can capture that with a digital camera.

But your right, an old single stage read or black finish is optimum.

[VonLego]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

Wow thanks for so much individual attention Mike. I have a digital camera, but the paint looks green in person... if somehow it turns out to be primer I'll be heart broken.

I'll definitely take a million pictures and let you guys know every step.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Faded classic Mustang at school

but the paint looks green in person... if somehow it turns out to be primer I'll be heart broken.

All you have to do is rub any paint cleaner or cleaner/wax onto the surface for a few seconds and then look at the paint and you'll be able to tell if it's paint or primer.

Primer won't ever get shiny. Oxidized single stage paint will will shine right up with just a little rubbing with the right product.

We're talking about a section 2" to 3" square or so for a quick test... So when you're around the car again and you have the owner's permission, do a quick test to confirm. Did you ask the owner about it? They should be able to tell you what's what.

Hopefully if it is paint it's not a single stage metallic paint as you can't usually save extremely oxidized, neglected metallic single stage paints.

So check it out and update the thread...