Which way to go with this car??

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

Kevin Brown told me to use some APC on the car after/during the wash before i clay.

[Murr1525]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

Interesting idea, never done it myself. Might be for the same effect.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

I think this might be one of those cars you want to use a paint cleaner on before you clay.

Good point Matt,

If the paint is oxidized then you want to do something to remove the oxidation before you clay or you'll load your clay up with dead paint.

Get your hands on some Ultimate Compound and some applicator pads, for this kind of work I personally like either cotton applicator pads the you can usually find at most auto parts stores. The nap of the cotton look will act like an abrasive to work with the UC to chew off all the dead paint.

After you remove all the dead paint, wipe the car clean with a quick detailer and then try claying the horizontal surfaces, see if you're removing any contaminants.

Everyone always says and thinks that if you use a compound over the paint at the same time it's removing the dead paint it will also remove any above surface bonded contaminants and in most cases compounding will remove most everything on the surface if you do a great job.

But I've seen paint that was cleaned first and then clayed anyways and when we turned the clay over we saw contaminants coming off the paint that were not removed with the cleaner. I actually have a picture of it somewhere.

The first step however is to wash the car thoroughly and then compound it with Ultimate Compound. Work a small section at at time, about a foot squared or even up to about 16" square or so, you just want to make sure you're removing the dead paint equally over the entire car so don't tackle too large of an area at a time.

As for washing the car with APC I don't know about that, APC is a cleaner and in my personal opinion it's pretty harsh to use on an oxidized finish when you could just use a quality car wash.

I've known people to wash oxidized cars with products like Comet or Bon Ami and basically use the cleaning power of these types of products to abrade off the dead paint instead of compounding but that's kind of the backwards approach although it does work.

Single stage paints are fairly open or porous and they will absorb what you put on them or dry out if you use things like Dawn or APC or Comet washes.

We teach people to always be moving forward in the paint polishing process, that is each step should be making the paint look better and better, not dulling it down.

So get a couple of bottles of Ultimate Compound or a quart or two of M105, then get some applicators or cut up some quality terry cloth towels and then start on the roof and work downward and remove the oxidation of this really cool car.

After you chew off the oxidized paint you're going to want to polish the paint with one of our cleaner/polishes, M80 is the richest in polishing oils and is usually my personal go-to product for restoring neglected single stage paints but you could try our new products like M205 or SwirlX if you want.

[Andrew C.]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

You may want to try using some Color X in there. I did a 1970's Dodge van that was SS a while back. It wasn't as oxidized as this, but I clayed then went strait to color X. Here is a picture: (the right is color x, i accidentally went over the tape a little on the left)


The tape itself removed a little left over oxidation, but the Color X really brought out the color in the green and white.

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

hmmmm ok, Kevin Brown was rec. this process listed below

M105 - 7207
M105 - 8207
M20 - 9207

He says the M20 is a really nice glossy sealant.

[Kevin Brown]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

This thread was brought to my attention by Iowa Redneck.
Via a previous long AOL IM, I mentioned that he may want to use properly diluted APC in a squirt bottle to mist on his car's paint to pre-clean the surface prior to using paint cleaners or polishes. He would be washing the area with a car wash soap mixture, rinse, mist APC, agitate, rinse.

A bit of confusion here, as it was not taken in complete context! No blaming, just clarifying.
We just had another IM conversation, and he said it would be fine to post the gist of it here:

Iowa Redneck 04: They were saying on MOL instead of using APC to clean car with before claying, to use a paint cleaner.
Iowa Redneck 04: thoughts?

iamwaxman: Yes, that is correct in general, but a lot of the guys do not know all the ways and why's something should be done...!

Iowa Redneck 04: Oh, well I had told them the process you told me. Then they got curious about the APC. lol

Iowa Redneck 04: And i was like i dont know anything more than what i was told!

iamwaxman: Let me explain... you can copy and paste this if you want to as added info for the thread.

iamwaxman: Before I knew how to buff cars, I used to do everything by hand. Living in Southern California, the cars down there get very dried out (oxidized), and the oxidized paint built a layer of crusty chalk-like powdery residue on the paint. Most cars back then were single stage (as opposed to basecoat/clearcoat).

Iowa Redneck 04: ok

iamwaxman: This residue would really grab ahold of all the dirt and smog particles floating around in the air. Plus, when a car was surrounded by literally thousands of other cars (like when stuck in traffic during rush hour), all of the exhaust from those cars lingered about the car. Of course, all the driving along the dirty roads (where DOES all that rubber go from the tires that wear out, anyway?), there is even more grimy stuff to deal with.

iamwaxman: Using a water-based degreaser in a manner as I explained in our last discussion helps to PRE-CLEAN the heavy accumulated stuck-on contamination. Then, a dedicated paint cleaner would be used to remove the remaining attached dirt and oxidation.

Iowa Redneck 04: Oh, so I'd be using both, not just APC then clay.
Iowa Redneck 04: It would be wash, APC, paint cleaner, clay, then compounds/polishes/waxes.

iamwaxman: A water based degreaser should not be used all the time. In fact, harsh chemicals also oxidize paint! So, repeated exposure to such chemicals would likely shorten the life of the paint job.

Iowa Redneck 04: That's what mike phillips said, which is why he didnt understand it. LOL! Nor I for that matter.

iamwaxman: For most paints, this is not a necessary nor recommended step. However, since your car's paint looks very dirty (similar to those I used to work on in the Eighties in So-Cal), this method may save you a lot of time and elbow grease. Try a test spot first!

For the record, I also recommended using more traditional cleaners and polishes on this car (as opposed to M105/M205).
If he purchases a kit of goods from me, I will be sending him enough "freebies" to do the car with "traditional" products (M85, M84, M83, M09, used pads).

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: Which way to go with this car??

there....kevin explained it better now