Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

[JMGoeckel13]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum so I need a bit of help. I clean cars for a local limo company and they have a 1963 Rolls Royce that is pearl white (tough to keep clean). I haven't done any polishing on it, just clean/wax so far. I was wondering if anyone had any idea about classic cars with original paint jobs so that way I can polish it w/ a DA correctly w/ out messing it up.

[BarryK]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

the car is most going to have a single stage lacquer paint, most likely without a clearcoat over it rather than the modern common two stage basecoat/clearcoat paint.
If the paint is in good condition it should polish up and look really nice, especially if it still has the original lacquer paint. One of the biggest things to remember is that with a single stage paint like this you are doing all your polishing/waxing, etc directly on the color paint, not a clearcoat. You are going to see color come off the car onto your pads and/or applicators. Even more so than normal, follow the rule of LEAST aggressive plan of action to get the job done. After 46 years or so on the original paintwork you never know how thin some areas have gotten so you want to remove the obsolute least amount as possible while working on the car.
Others may disagree with me, but on older classic cars like that, especially ones with their original paintwork, A lot of times I'll decide to let swirls/scratches that are more than just very, very light ones stay rather than try to get them out completely and remove too much older paint. On an older car like that many times some minor flaws remaining in the paint is very acceptable - its considered the paints "pantina" and part of the car's character. New cars can't get away with that but older classic / antique cars can.

Other than remembering that you are dealing with older original single stage paint, your cleaning, polishing, waxing etc is actually pretty much the same in most aspects to working with a modern car.

I do a lot classic cars, especially classic Corvettes from the 50's, 60's, and early 70's, many with original paint, and use my DA on them all the time

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

Do you know for sure if it has original paint, (single stage), on it or if it has been repainted? (basecoat/clearcoat)


You'll treat it carefully either way. Have you inspected the finish in good lighting like the sun to see if it has swirls?

What is the goal for the paint?

Clean and shiny?

or

Clean and shiny and also swirl-free?

Do you have a DA Polisher?
What chemicals do you have right now?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

Just to note, you never know what you might be working on until you start working on it, in this thread here,

How To Test for a Clearcoat or Single Stage Paint Finish


There's a picture of a Rolls Royce that had two kinds of paint on it,


1956 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud - Clearcoat finish except the Trunk Lid which has single stage paint.
(Photo taken in front of Bob Hopes first house in Palm Springs, California)












Here's what my buffing pad looked like after buffing the trunk lid. If you see the color of the paint
on your car building up on the face of your buffing pad.



So whenever you're working on something important, to either you or your customer, and you're unsure of the paint type, take a few minutes to do the above simple test.

[JMGoeckel13]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

I know the owner very well so the paint is original. Right now I have a P/C DA w/ yellow,orange,white, and red LC pads. I also have have #105 and #205 polishes. The paint does have some light swirling and no RIDS. Seeing as the cars is used during the summer only as a limo, I need it to be shiny for photos and for high end clientele, but I want to protect it well. Iv got some opti-seal right now.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

Take and do a Test Spot with the LC equivalent to our yellow foam polishing pad with the the M205.


Here's what you do, for your first Test Spot, use SwirlX with a yellow foam polishing pad on the 5.0 Speed Setting. Try to find and easy to buff panel since you're just starting out, on a Matrix might as well go for the hood as that's about all you have on that body style.

Buff a small section, about 16" to 20" squarish or so using medium downward pressure to start with and after making about 4 to 6 passes over this section lighten up your pressure to just a little more pressure than the weight of the machine and make some cover or finishing passes.

A pass in the context it's being used here means the collection of passes it takes to completely cover or buff over one area, one time. This would be your 1st pass. If you then change direction and make a series of overlapping passes to buff over this entire section a second time, this would be your 2nd Pass. One pass over a section is actually a series of overlapping passes in either a back and forth or side to side direction. See diagram below.




Note: What you're trying to do is use uniform overlapping motions to remove a uniform amount of material over this one section. After you work this section you would then move onto a new section but you would overlap a little into the previous section so there is no un-worked area between the two sections.

The goal throughout the entire panel and/or car is to uniformly remove the same amount of paint that you dialed-in during your Test Spot so that you insure you're removing the majority/all of the swirls and scratches over the entire car.

Make sense? We call this UMR or Uniform Material Removal.


Don't buff to a dry buff. You should always be able to see a wet film behind the path of travel of the foam buffing pad while working the polisher.

Now wipe off the residue and inspect the results, try to inspect in sunlight and good artificial light, maybe get a Brinkman Swirl Finder Light?

Check to see if this removed the swirls and scratches to your satisfaction while leaving a clear, glossy finish. If so, the repeat this over the entire car, if not then post back here what you see or just try the Ultimate Compound next.

[JMGoeckel13]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

Thanks for the great input, I think i'll try some #205 on a light polishing pad first after figuring out if in fact it still is single stage paint. Then yellow if need be. I'll post pics when I clean the car in about a week.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

So test first with the M205 and see what it can do on it's own. It helps to have a Brinkman Swirl Finder Light so you can quickly and easily check your results. This keeps you from having to move the car in and out of the sun which isn't usually an easy thing to do when working on someone else's classic car.

Last time I was in Pep Boys the had the exact Brinkman Flashlight you want to get for around $30.00

Here's what you're looking for...




Be wary... the Xenon Flashlight aka The Swirl Finder... is a Cruel Master

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Detailing a 1963 Rolls Royce

Thanks for the great input, I think i'll try some #205 on a light polishing pad first after figuring out if in fact it still is single stage paint. Then yellow if need be. I'll post pics when I clean the car in about a week.

Definitely tape off any hard edges and look out for thin spots caused by all the people that have worked on it before you.

Posted this first thing this morning from this thread but all these apply to you and your project also,

Meguiar's always teaches,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

The key factor to a scratch is its depth. The way you remove scratches is to remove some paint off the surface until you level the surface with lowest portion of the deepest scratches.

From Hot Topics

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...

So start with SwirlX and one of our yellow foam polishing pads and polish out a section about 16" square or so... then inspect your results in good lighting and see if the defects you're trying to remove have been removed as compared to the paint surrounding your test spot, and then make sure the paint is clear and glossy. If it is, you just dialed in a process you can successfully use around the rest of the car. If you're not seeing the results you want then post back here what you're seeing.

Be sure to read these,

How To use: G110 - G220 - G100 - PC/Porter Cable - UDM
If you're moving up to machine polishing, be sure to read the below thread before starting...
Tips & Techniques for using the G110, G100, G220 and the PC Dual Action Polisher
(These are all similar tools)

Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line

Cleaning Your Pad On The Fly

Which products need to dry before removing?

How to tape-off a car

How to apply product to the face of your foam buffing pads

The Swipe Test

Final Wiping Techniques

How to maintain your car's finish in-between polishing sessions

How-To capture swirls, scratches, etchings and other surface defects with your camera

Then go do some of this -->