In a barn for 20 years - Help

[BassFishMan]

I just bought a 1980 MGB that has been kept in a barn for 20 years. The body is perfect and paint is not faded but has a lot of dirt in it. This is not a base/clear paint. Can I wet sand with 2000 grit and then use a rotory with a foam pad ? What products and wax do you recommend for a non clear coat paint?

Thanks

[Murr1525]

If the paint is fine, just dirty, wetsanding sounds a bit extreme. I am sure one of the guys with experience on older cars will chime in, but I dont think you will need to go quite that far unless the paint is actualy in bad shape.

[LiquidBlack]

Wash with Meguiar's soaps and high quality mitts.

Clay the vehicle.

Use meguiar's deep crystal paint cleaner systems.

After that, a cleaner wax might be appropriate.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: In a barn for 20 years - Help

Originally posted by BassFishMan
I just bought a 1980 MGB that has been kept in a barn for 20 years. The body is perfect and paint is not faded but has a lot of dirt in it. This is not a base/clear paint. Can I wet sand with 2000 grit and then use a rotary with a foam pad ? What products and wax do you recommend for a non clear coat paint?

Thanks

Hi BassFishMan,

Congratulations of the barn treasure, how about a picture or two?

Here's a similar situation only a Volvo pulled out of a garage after sitting for about 20 years.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8443

As mentioned, wet sanding would be kind of extreme when you can probably restore it by following Meguiar's philosophy of always using the least aggressive products to get the job done.

If the paint is noticeably oxidized, then you'll want to follow these steps if you want to restore the finish by hand.

Wash
Paint cleaner
Clay
Paint Cleaner
Polish
Wax
Maintain


By using the paint cleaner first, you'll remove all of the dead, oxidized paint and prevent your clay bar from loading up with unnecessary contaminants.

After the first application of a paint cleaner, now proceed to use the clay bar to remove any above surface contaminants left behind after the paint cleaner. (They'll be some, I'll guarantee it).

Next, now that you've removed any remaining above surface contaminants, you'll want to use a paint cleaner again to clean the paint that was under the contaminants.

Now polish to gorge this single stage paint with the rich polishing oils found in Meguiar's pure polishes.

Last but least, apply two thin coats of your favorite wax.


For the paint cleaning step, use either a piece of terry cloth towel, like this,

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88

The nap, (little cotton loops), will act like a gentle form of abrasive giving your choice of paint cleaner a little more bite and a little more power. You could also use one of our Even Coat Microfiber Applicators as it has a nap also.

Basically, follow this outline except for using the paint cleaner before the clay bar.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7011

If you have a dual action polisher we can list the best steps to restore the finish that way also. Likewise if you want to use the rotary buffer.

[Murr1525]

The only real decision it seems will be what paint cleaner. If you only need mild, then DC#1 would be great. If it has swirls that need removed, you will need to go over the car with ScratchX.

ColorX is a great all in one product for if you were to try that route, though individual steps will usualy give better results than an all-in-one product.

[Dennis S]

Congratulations on the car!
I have a 76 MGB which had one quick respray 13 years ago. It was extremely dirty when I bought it last year. I originally used gold class wash followed by the deep crystal paint cleaner, but two weeks ago used a clay bar. then the dc paint cleaner followed by #7 show car glaze and then gold glass paste wax.
I am very pleased with how the paint has come back.

[Dennis S]

Here is a picture of how my 76 turned out. All work was done by hand.
Dennis