cars without clearcoat

[fletch]

Hi.

When did automobiles begin to get manufactured with clear coat?

What are some tests to determine that the car does not have a clear coat?

How would normal procedure change when restoring these vehicles?

For example, would I wash, clay, paint cleaner, polish, wax? or are there other things that need to be altered/ modified in some way?


I would imagine that the paint cleaners or #83 and #80 would cause the w-8000 pads to get extremely dirty. Anyway to deal with this?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

[placid warrior]

My first vehicle was acrylic enamel...a non clearcoated paint. My procedures were as follows and only a few things would have changed if i had the compounds on hand.

#2 fine cut (heavy cut in a few areas)
#6cleaner polish

The #2 and #6 i would have replaced with 83 if i had it at the time

then i went with a scratch remover (mothers brand...its what i had)

then i used a glaze and protectant (also from mothers)

i dont see a problem with using #83, then #80 and after that u choose...ive used high speed glaze topped by gold class, but either way, the procedure was the same for me

the paint job turned out great, no problems with it (it was a home paint job too) but the color really comes off on the pads, just clean them regularly with a (nylon?) brush. To test if a car is clearcoated u can run some 3000 grit over a small spot so u can buff it out later, but when u sand, if the dust is white as apposed to the color of the car, than it is clearcoated...

I'm still a newb, so just wait for someone else to relply

[Murr1525]

Hello,

Most things will actualy stay the same, as far as procedure. Not much to worry about there.

As far as testing, simply using a paint cleaner on a small foam pad and rubbing it on the car will give you your answer. If the foam sort of turns the car color, then is not clearcoated. If it just stays yellow, with a bit of dirt, then it is clearcoated.