Red Paint

[Eddie6th]

Hi All,
A question of interest.

20 years ago,I had a red car(Lancia Prisma).Kept it for about 5 years and the paint job was fine.
I've noticed over the past decade or so,a lot of medium red(non metallic), lose their shine,as if the clear coat has disappeared,and the color is faded.Almost pink!

I was told by a bodyshop guy,that the paint industry had changed the chem. formula of paints to remove harmful chemicals,(probably for health and environmental reasons),and this unfortunatley affected the above color.

Probably,a lot of these cars that i see are daily runners and never had much attention,but my question is, Would proper attention(as everyone here does),have saved these cars finishes? Or would they have deteriorated just the same?

I think,today the paint industry has addressed the problem.I havn't seen that problem with cars that are 3-5 years old,just the ones prior to that.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Red Paint

Probably,a lot of these cars that i see are daily runners and never had much attention,but my question is, Would proper attention(as everyone here does),have saved these cars finishes? Or would they have deteriorated just the same?

99.9% of all new cars have a clear coat finish and as long as you take proper care of the clear coat finish any color underneath will hold it's appearance over time. The key is doing regular maintenance in relationship to how the car is used and using quality products with good technique, but this holds true for any paint system.

Older single stage paints will oxidize but with proper care you can preserve and maintain these paints also.

How To Test for a Clearcoat or Single Stage Paint Finish


Even when single stage paints go bad you can still restore them but it takes the right chemicals and techniques...


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

[Eddie6th]

Re: Red Paint

Hi Mike, I seen the 2 pics of that Merc when I first joined,(except was a side view). It's incredible the difference between the before and after.Looking at the first pic you would say it was impossible,but with the right people and chemicals it shows what brilliance can be achieved.

Thanks for the reply,Eddie.

[chtorr]

Re: Red Paint

My '91 Toyota 4x4 is an example of faded red single stage paint. The Ultimate Compound made a night and day difference. Maybe not quite as startling as the photos posted, but pretty close. People who haven't seen the truck in a while always do a double take now. And I mean people who don't really go around thinking about car detailing, it's just a huge difference now that the Ultimate Compound removed the oxidation and brought it back from a light pink (white in some areas) to a shiny red color.

[xantonin]

Re: Red Paint

Mike, would you say that Red is a challenging color for a car, right next to black?

I watched in a Meguiar's video that all Meguair's employees drive black cars because it's the most challenging color to maintain as it shows defects the easiest. Personally I don't like black for my vehicle but I'd like to have a color that shows its true shine easiest, and red seems to be the most commonly faded color I've seen. At least, non-metalic red.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Red Paint

Mike, would you say that Red is a challenging color for a car, right next to black?

No.

Black is the most difficult because it shows everything to your eyes the easiest. After black it would be other dark colors, like dark blue, dark green, maroon, etc.

Technically, if you're working on all cars with clear coats then the color has nothing to do with how easy or hard it is to maintain the appearance as it's under the clear coat.

Red gets a lot of discussion on forums and sometimes in marketing because red is popular and simply gets a lot of attention because it's red.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Red Paint

Hi Chtorr,I didn't think a '91 toyota wpould have had a single stage paint on it.I thought it would have had a clear coat finish.

[chtorr]

Re: Red Paint

Yeah, surprisingly mine is single stage. And I removed a lot of paint with the foam pad and Ultimate Compound. Maybe the cars and pickups had different types of paint? I don't know.

[doh!]

Re: Red Paint

I have a bright red 2002 Suzuki Aerio SX. The hood was beginning to fade to pink. I cleaned it up last weekend using ColorX. It took 2 full applications and a couple of additional spot applications, but it now looks good. Not as nice as the Merc above, but still good.

It appears that there is no clear coat on the car as the polishing cloth was turning red as I polished.

- Greg

[chtorr]

Re: Red Paint

That's the way mine was too. I kept spraying my foam pad down with a hose to rinse all the red paint out of it. I probably spent 8 to 10 hours on my truck over two different days (a week apart). But this was by hand, and I went over each section at least twice, if not more.

My new Jeep is red too, but I'll never let it get looking like my truck (I'm the second owner so it wasn't all my fault).

[Tuck91]

Re: Red Paint

I dont know, I like my red truck.

I would say its in the middle.

Is it true that red oxidizes the fastest?

[Eddie6th]

Re: Red Paint

There must be an answer to the red paint issue.

I was out today for a coffee,and outside the bar were two cars parked next to each other.

A 2001 mitsubishi space star (red,not metallic)

A 2001 fiat punto (black)

The black punto's finish was still good.But the space star was dull. The roof had no gloss at all.the doors had no gloss at all,but the plastic parts that were painted did(allbeit,the clearcoat was peeling in a lot of places).

Then as i was drivin' home,i saw a red ford fiesta,same year as above and again not a bit of gloss on it!

I think i have to agree with my bodyshop freind on this one.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Red Paint

I dont know, I like my red truck.

I would say its in the middle.

Is it true that red oxidizes the fastest?

Hi Tuck,I don't know either,but from what i've seen i would say that red oxidizes quicker.I found this never used to be a problem 20 years ago and before.New cars?....time will tell.....