Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

[Lydia]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

Regarding the scratches on the black, are you able to feel them with your fingernail? If so, they're too deep to remove. They don't look that deep to me but I wanted to mention that just in case.

I think that UC's cut is pretty close to ScratchX and may in fact be greater. I'm not positive about that but either way, you could try a couple things:

Go over that area another time or two with UC with the yellow pads you have.
Buy the maroon pads and give those a try with UC.

Regarding using ScratchX, you could try using it by hand to remove the scratches. Your fingers exert more concentrated pressure than the DAPS pad. You'll want to avoid applying pressure with just your fingertips - try to apply pressure evenly with your whole fingers. Keep in mind regardless of what method you use if you can feel it with your fingernails it's too deep to remove with compound.

If these dont work, they may just have to be left. Sometimes they can be too deep to safely remove and you have to be content with 99% improved.

I'm looking at this on my phone and can't get the red picture big enough to give you any advice on it. Two things come to mind with your description:

The red in that area was more oxidized and needs a little more compounding.
You're actually seeing some minor hazing that will be removed by the UP.

I would try a test spot with UP first. If that doesnt fix it, try a test spot with UC again on the yellow pad.

UP is worked in pretty similar to UC although you can go a little more quickly and a little lighter pressure since you are polishing or refining the surface, not compounding. UW can be applied quickly with minimal pressure as you are simply applying it. Just make sure to apply the wax very thinly (a little goes a long way) and do go over each area a couple times just to ensure even coverage. This step should go very quickly. Yellow pad can be used for UP and black for wax. I would do a test spot with UP to see if you can discern a difference when its been worked in. Sometimes UC itself finishes out well and UP afterwards is not needed.

Well done thus far, by the way!

[M.N.mach1]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

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OK so i just got done compounding the whole car it seemed to do a pretty good job the only two spot that are giving me trouble are the ones in the two pictures the hood which is the black picture basically on both sides of the light are these scratches that i cant get. i used uc. should i use the scratch x i got? next question on the top of the cab its kinda hard to see in the picture but near the light you can somewhat tell but i cant seem to get that to buff out. its like a oxidation or something of that sort not entirely sure any suggestions? all i used was the yellow pad that comes with the daps. next question is how fast do you wanna go when using ultra polish and ultra wax. Thanks everyone for the replies and sorry is the pictures are lame.

[M.N.mach1]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

looks like the hood has a clear coat didnt get anything on the pad when scrubbed. and it does look like the stripe is painted. but i think that is what ill do light and quickly over it

[Lydia]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

Is the pin stripe a "sticker" or is it painted on? The problem has less to do with it being two colors and more to do with the possibility of damaging the pin stripe. If it's a sticker you'll want to be a little careful of the risk of damaging it/lifting parts of it off with the buffing pad. If the stripes are in good condition I've had pretty good success in general just buffing right over them, but I try to avoid dwelling on top of them for any extended period of time (so I would go a little lighter pressure and move a little more quickly when over the pin stripe). You'll just want to do a thorough inspection and tread carefully if it looks like it's in bad condition. If need be you can work the UC in around it by hand.

If it's painted on, since this is single-stage and no clear coat over it I would still tread carefully and not buff for an extended period of time over it. Someone with more experience with that scenario may chime in to provide more information. I don't know with single stage paint whether they paint pin stripes on top of the SS base color or how that works.

Just FYI if you ever work on a base coat/clear coat paint system, it's not uncommon for the pin stripes to be applied before the clear coat (I see this a fair amount with motorcycles). Those are my favorite to deal with because you're just treating the clear coat so you treat it like the rest of the paint.

[M.N.mach1]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

The part where i have that black pin stripe around my hood do i need to worry about anything when polishing there being its two colors

[Nick Winn]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

Happy to hear it is going well! Feel free to try using Ultimate Polish in-between UC & UW if you are trying to get the best results. Ultimate Polish will typcially provide a more noticeable gloss & depth especially for a dark color.

Feel free to keep posting questions or pictures of your results.

[M.N.mach1]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

so i just tried the ultimate compound and the ultimate wax. so far looks amazing. did find out i got single stage, at least on the trunk. do i try ultimate polish and then ultimate wax? or just stick with uc and uw

[ffboy]

Re: Restoring a Mach 1 to its full potential

Mach 1 looks nice, almost looks like you might not have to work that hard.. Almost..

Yes, for the clay bar you have to wipe the car dry after you clay bar. You follow that up with ultimate compound to remove any imperfections or oxidation. To check if your car's paint is single stage, on a small area, use a cleaner (ScratchX or Ultimate Compound). If your there is any paint (color) transfer, then your paint is single stage You may or may not use ultimate polish, depending on how well the paint looks after ultimate compound. To be sure, try it on a small area first. Compare Ultimate Compound+Ultimate wax to Ultimate Compound+Ultimate Polish+Ultimate Wax. If you are more than happy with just the Ultimate Compound+Ultimate Wax combo, then you may not need the Ultimate Polish.

Take note, meguiar's cleaners/compounds/polishes (Ultimate Compound, ultimate Polish, ScratchX 2.0, SwirlX) are to be removed while wet. If applied like a usual wax, it may cause more problems (Marring, difficulty in removal, etc.).

[M.N.mach1]

Hello, this is my first post so i will try to be a detailed as i can so you dont have more questions. heres the scoop. the previous owners didnt seem to give the car the attention it deserved. I was sitting there wondering if i needed a new paint job till i discovered this site and what you guys are able to achieve. so i have about 4 to 5 pictures of what is going on all around the car from what looks like streaks, dots, scuffs, swirls, and scratches. these are the products i purchased. i have scratch x 2.0, clay kit, ultimate wash and wax, ultimate quick detailer, ultimate black, ultimate protectant, ultimate compound, ultimate polish, and ultimate liquid wax. i have the yellow foam applicator pads. i was going to do everything by hand but got the DAPS, so with that it has the yellow and the black pad. i still need to check all panels for single stage paint or clear coat im not 100% on that. as far as i know im going to start with wash then dry car then clay bar, do you wipe car completely dry after clay bar? after that im not sure whether to do scratch x or compound, but following those itll be polish and wax. please give me your opinions on the pictures i post and what you believe would work best Thanks in advance for your time. apologize in advance if the pictures are tough to spot what the problem is.