Severe oxidation

[manny99]

Let me first start of by saying what a great site this is! I am so glad That I found it. Ok I am new here but not new to "trying" to take care of paint, but, I am a little confused. I just purchased a 1990 Ford Thunderbird for my 16 year old son. The paint is oxidized pretty bad because it has spent it's entire life outside. Now, the confusion. With a clear coat paint do you go about the process of removing the oxidation like you do a single stage paint job? What would that process be? I am pretty clear on what clear coat failure looks like form looking though the boards and this doesn't look like that. I will post some pictures soon so the experts can see it. I might add that I know this car will never have a showcar finish but I would like to see it a little beter than it's current condition. Plus this car will be practice to take better care of my truck. Thanks again for any help you can give!

[Murr1525]

Re: Severe oxidation

Pics will help most, but the process in general is pretty simple. Will you be wokring by hand?

[manny99]

Re: Severe oxidation

Well, I do have access to a rotary but not a D/A, so I could use that if working by hand gets to be too much. I will add again that I know that's not a tool for a rookie, but anything will be an improvment to how it looks now.

[Murr1525]

Re: Severe oxidation

I am sure you will be able to do a lot by hand quite safely.

1. Wash - Gold Class or Nxt Soap, 2 buckets, quality towels, etc.
2. Clay - Smooth Surface Clay kit, maybe an extra QD bottle.
3. Clean - You will want to buy SwirlX and Ultimate Compound. Sounds like you will likely be jumping right to the UC at first, then using SwirlX in the future.
4. Polish - Optional, but might be good in this case, if the paint is so neglected. Deep Crystal Polish is good and easy to use.
5. Wax - Nxt 2.0
6. Wax - 2 thin coats are best.

So you can take the UC and a smooth foam applicator and work the product into the paint some. Cant just wipe it on and off. 100% Cotton terry cloth will add a little more bite if needed.

I would also refer you over to this thread, where we just were discussing another car left out for 20 years, and how to clay it, etc. So you might have to just wash, and then try a test area claying, and see if you can get results. Otherwise, you might try UC, then clay, then some more UC or SwirlX as needed.

As always, do a test spot/area and look at it good before doing the whole car and finding something isnt working.
Question on Smooth Surface Clay Kit

[manny99]

Re: Severe oxidation

Thank you for your response. I am going to get to work on it this weekend. I will let you know how it goes. Ill try to post some pictures too. Thanks again

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Severe oxidation

Have a look at The Clearcoat Failure Photo Archive and see if any of this looks familiar to you.

Unfortunately, clear coat paints don't usually oxidize in the same way that single stage paints do. More often than not when someone comes here asking about oxidation on clear coat paint what they're really dealing with is clear coat failure. There are a variety of reasons for this issue, but the two most common are UV exposure and occasionally a problem in manufacturing. In either case the problem almost always begins where the color coat and clear coat meet, meaning the paint actually fails from the middle out, not the top down. Because of this, there is simply no way to fix it, or to stop it. Some procedures may make it look a bit better for a brief period of time (days or, maybe, a couple of weeks) but the only permanent fix is a repaint.