I hate my paint

[Don]

My Suzuki has red single stage paint and no matter what I use on it, I get severe cloudiness or blotching.

Even if I start from scratch with UC then Color-X then NXT I still get the clouds, and I mean severe. No matter which LSP I choose, there they are, primarily on the horizontal surfaces (AKA the hood), but I have seen them on the sides once in a while too. They are primarily visible when the car is in shade and it's bright all around.

I had a black car that did this to me once, but when I changed products it never happened again. These do tend to fade some after time, but when you've just spent 8+ hours going over your car the last thing you want to see is the paint looking worse than before. Don't get me wrong, at a steep angle it looks pretty good, but when viewed head-on it looks like [CENSORED].

[Fly Bye]

Re: I hate my paint



Try a caranuba based wax like #26 or Gold Class.

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: I hate my paint

I use M83/M80 on single stage paint. Always looks great with no cloudyness.

Not exacly a Suzuki but this is SS paint.

[Don]

Re: I hate my paint

Try a caranuba based wax like #26 or Gold Class.

My wife just bought me a can of GCP, it was just as bad. I even changed from using MF cloths to terry....I can feel how slick it is with the terry, but it made no difference in the cloudiness When I stop with just the UC or Swirl-X, the finish is fine, but as soon as I add a sealant or wax to the equation...CLOUDS

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: I hate my paint

Are you waiting long enough for the wax to completely dry?
How thick are you applying the wax?
Did you leave any traces of the UC behind?
Why are you using a terry cloth towel? They are a very aggresive wax applicator. You could be instilling more swirls and scratches using this type of applicator.

Try a cleaner wax. Like the maroon bottle, cleaner wax, or color-x.
Try the foam pad.
Remember thin coat of wax.
Then do the swipe test.
Then remove using a clean supreme shine microfiber.
Hope this helps you out.

[Tuck91]

Re: I hate my paint

I would follow J.A's advice.

You also may want to try out M20 Polymer Sealant.

[BillyJack]

Re: I hate my paint

Maybe my experiences can be of help. I have an '87 El Camino with dark Burgundy single stage lacquer that's seriously deteriorated. The hood is an absolute bear to polish or wax without streaks. At last count I had 27 tins or bottles of waxes, glazes or polishes I've acquired to try and get it shiny and streak/free. I've been viewing this forum to try and learn more about Meguiars products, so I can make a more informed decision on which products are best for my situation. Here's what's been working for me;

First make sure the surface is absolutely clean and smooth. I'll do a complete clay job once or twice a year, depending on how regular I drive it, followed by some work with M03 cleaner on any areas that need it. Then I'll use M07 Show Car glaze to bring up the shine. Absolutely nothing I've ever used can compare to #7. Work it in well, but use it very sparingly. Too thick and it will be a real pain to remove. I've read here that Deep Crystal polish and #5 New Car Glaze give similar results with less effort, but I haven't tried either one yet, since I still have almost a full gallon of #7. Then use NXT sealant to lock it all in. Two coats with about a 1/2 day cure between coats seems to work best for me. Finally, if desired, a final coat of non-cleaning wax such as M16 will top it all off. For gloss maintenance, the horizontal panels will get a periodic redo of #7, followed by NXT and wax. The vertical panels only need upkeep of the final wax step, if attended to regularly.
As I said earlier, my paint is horrible. It's soft and porous, with minute cracks on many of the panels. But thanks to my routine, it looks great from 5-10 feet away. I hope somewhere in this terribly long post is something that may be useful to you.

Bill