which kind of wax to use

[sleepy]

I have a '64 Bel Air that is in pretty good condition. The exterior paint has some rust. I have been using the cleaner wax, found out the hard way that a person CAN over wax, should I continue using the cleaner wax or should I -- can I use the Gold Wax. What is the difference?

[Nappers]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Cleaner wax has mild diminishing abrasives designed to clean the paint then the wax cures and leaves a protected finish. Thus calling it an All In One (AIO).

Gold Class, if memory serves has a blend of polishing oils along with the wax to leave a great shine. I like GC among about 6-8 others.

When you say you over waxed, what do you mean? The rusty parts? Cleaner wax is very mild and shouldn't do damage to the paint, in fact it protects it once it's clean!

Keep us posted!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: which kind of wax to use

You might be interested in doing a dedicated cleaning and polishing process before waxing to really maximize the gloss and shine of the paint.

Does the car have clear coat finish or single stage paint?

Do you see the color of the paint on your wax applicator?

Have you ever used detailing clay to clay the paint?

[sleepy]

Re: which kind of wax to use

I do believe that it is single stage, it is the original paint. I have not seen any on the applicator, but the bubbles under the paint have come off and are exposing the rust. Also the rust spots are getting bigger. I talked to a friend of mine and he told me that it was possible to over wax. The car got waxed 3 times after each wash; long story why I did that. I have not heard of detailing clay, please tell me more! Is it like the wax?

[sleepy]

Re: which kind of wax to use

The car was sitting in a garage for 20+ years during that time birds left some presents. Which caused the paint to rust. When I waxed it several times the paint bubbles opened exposing the rust.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Detailing clay removes what we call Above Surface Bonded Contaminants, here's a FAQ on the topic,

Detailing Clay FAQ


Take your clean hand and feel the surface of something like the hood, it should feel as smooth as glass, it if feels rough or like it has bumps or a texture then you need to clay the paint.

If it's a single stage paint and it's original then you're in the right place as we love helping people restore and maintain original and antique paint on classic cars.

A real simple approach that would probably work wonders on this old paint would be,

Wash - Use a quality car wash like Gold Class or NXT Car Wax, not dish soap as this will dry out a single stage paint

Clay - See this online claying video

Clean and Polish - Locate a PBE store and purchase a quart of M80 Speed Glaze, this is a light cleaner/polish that is rich in Meguiar's Trade Secret Polishing Oils that older, single stage paints love. It also contains diminishing abrasives to help clean off any old wax or dead paint.


M80 Speed Glaze



If working by hand, purchase a half dozen foam applicator pads an terry cloth applicator pads and start with the terry cloth to rub the paint out. When you do this only work a small section at at time, about a foot squared or so, then after working a small section with the M80 Speed Glaze, don't let it dry, instead wipe it off and move onto a new section and overlap a little into the previous section.

Do this to the entire car working only a small section at at time, removing the residue before it dries and moving onto new territory, overlapping into the previous section.

After this apply a coat of wax or paint sealant, Gold Class or NXT Tech Wax would both be great choices.

You'll also want to have plenty of premium quality microfiber polishing cloths for removing any paint care product.


If you want to get DA Polisher and learn to use it for this project we can help you with that too...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: which kind of wax to use

The below was done both by hand and machine using M80 Speed Glaze and NXT Tech Wax. We used machine for the large surface areas and rubbed out the hard to reach areas and around any hard body lines by hand.


Blast from the Past! - The dead brought back to life!

Before - Yes the paint is actually turning from red to white in some places


After




M80 Speed Glaze works well for older single stage paints.


You can also simply stay with our Deep Crystal System too a it's a lot easier to find. After washing and drying, and then claying the paint simply rub all the paint out using Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner in the same way described above for M80 Speed Glaze.

Follow this with the Deep Crystal Polish and keep in mind you don't let anything but waxes dry, so after rubbing a section with the Deep Crystal Polish you wipe off the excess immediately and then keep moving around the car.

After cleaning and polishing, now apply your favorite wax or paint sealant and this time let this product completely dry before removing.

The below thread is from our Hot Topics forum, lots of great reading in these two forums,


Hot Topics
How To Articles


Here's the thread,

Hot Topics
How To Articles

[Mike Phillips]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Take a moment to read through the below thread as there is a lot of information that applies to your products.

There's three pages in the thread,

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30775

To navigate between pages, look for the little numbers at the top or bottom of any page, here's a picture to show you what to click on.

[BarryK]

Re: which kind of wax to use

sleepy
if it's still the original paint as you believe it is on your '64 than it's definitely a single stage paint. It will be a single stage lacquer without clear coat.
Back in those days the lacquer paints were good and very durable since they still had the lead in the paint.
A good polishing and wax should bring your paint back looking beautiful as long as it's not massively spiderwebed with cracks (I collect and restore classic Corvettes and spiderwebbing of the old paints is common on the fiberglass bodies but somewhat less of an issue on metal bodied cars).
The spots bubbling because of underlying rust are a different issue though and the rust in the body panels should be looked at before the rust spreads like a cancer.

A friend of mine still has the original lacquer paint on his '63 Vette and 99% of the people that see the car refuse to believe it's the original paint. In fact, he has has points deducted in judging from car shows because the paints looks so good that the judges take off points because the paints is judged as "not typical of factory production" because it looks so much better than when it left the factory in '63. He's actually had to go back and try to reverse his improvements on the paints to make it looks as "bad" as the factory did it for judging purposes.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Just to add to what Barry wrote, if this is in fact the original paint as long as it's not to far gone, and it doesn't sound like it is, then it's actually a very easy paint to work on as older lacquer paints tend to be pretty soft.

You do have to be careful around any high points or body lines for the same reason though, soft paint is easy to abrade and high points and body lines usually have thin paint for a number of reasons, one is paint flows off these area more than a flat area but also over the years anytime it's been rubbed it will tend to get thinner.

Antique paints need to be handled gently.

I've had the good fortune to work on a lot of original and antique lacquers and enamels and it is usually my personal favorite paint to work on. Did this car about 3-4 months ago, half of it was basecoat/clearcoat and the other half was either original over very, very old lacquer that had been re-applied, using the right Meguiar's products all the paint came out looking like new...

MGH-4 Hand Cleaner - Still Good After All These Years!

[BarryK]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Mike, you get to work on some very nice old cars!

I agree with you regarding lacquer paints, I love the old lacquers. Shame the currently available lacquer paint (only from PPG I believe now) isn't anywhere near what the old stuff was. A nicely rubbed out older lacquer is simply beautiful with a warmth and shine that personally i just can't see in the newer style basecoat/clearcoat paints.
Kinda like comparing older record albums versus CD's for music. There was a fullness and warmth to the sound of records that was just plain lost with CD's.
Granted, a very expensive custom modern paintjob using 2-stage paints can turn out beautiful but regardless they just seem to lack a special quality that the older lacquer paints seem to have had. At least in my opinion

[sleepy]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Thanks all!! When the weather warms up I will be getting right on it, then put the car on the gallery as soon as I finish!

[sgrier]

Re: which kind of wax to use

Mike that is an amazing job on red Mercedes Benz!

[sleepy]

Re: which kind of wax to use

I could not find any m80. I did get some show car glaze. I tried the process of washing clay baring and then using the show car glaze and then the gold class past wax on the front quarter panel, just to see how it worked. I can tell very little difference. Granted, I did it in my garage which was about 55 degrees. I did follow the instructions on the clay bar, after watching the video, and then followed the instructions on the show car glaze. Should I have waited till it was warmer? Or is there a trick to it that I may have missed?

This may seem like a stupid question, but I'm still learning. I wish I could show what the car looks like, but its been to wet to get the car out.

[BarryK]

Re: which kind of wax to use

you should have FELT a smoother paint surface after the claying.

Not surprised you didn't see much or any difference though overall - the Glaze you bought is nothing like the M80 that was recommended. The M80 has some cut and abrasives to it to help remove flaws in the paint surface. The Glaze does not so isn't going to do any paint corrections. The glaze could be a nice step to do AFTER using the M80 and before waxing.