recurring oxidation

[acsipres]

I have a 2002 Audi in a clearcoat black. Because of some light oxidation I used Meguiars paint clear followed by polish and Gold Class wax. Within one week the oxidation was back but worse. I think used ScratchX, Cleaner and waxed again, this time with two coats. Now, one week later the oxidation is back again. The car is garaged when at home but does sit in a sunny parking lot at least 3 days a week. I am at a loss as to how to prevent this from oxidation.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: recurring oxidation

Originally posted by acsipres
I have a 2002 Audi in a clearcoat black. Because of some light oxidation I used Meguiar's paint clear followed by polish and Gold Class wax. Within one week the oxidation was back but worse. I think used ScratchX, Cleaner and waxed again, this time with two coats. Now, one week later the oxidation is back again. The car is garaged when at home but does sit in a sunny parking lot at least 3 days a week. I am at a loss as to how to prevent this from oxidation.

Hi acsipres,

Sound like some type of defective paint and perhaps you should contact Audi?

Modern clear coats don't readily oxidize, they will oxidize and turn dull with time, but not nearly as fast or readily as older, traditional clear coats. In fact the feature/benefit that modern clear coats oxidize very slowly is probably one of the most popular features to these type of paint systems as it provides we the customers a car with a paint job that will actually hold up for the service life of the car with normal maintenance.

Perhaps what you're seeing isn't actual oxidation but some other paint problem?

Is the appearance of this problem uniform over the entire car? Or just in sections?

[acsipres]

The haze or oxidation is pretty much across the entire hood. The strange thing is that after using the scratch x and polish the hood look nice. Under sunlight I saw some minor oxidation? so I reapplied the paint cleaner with a little muscle and it seemed to clear up. Then I put the two coats of wax on. One week later (yesterday) it look awful. I used NXT on it yesterday, looked better but not perfectly clear. Ughh.

[Mike Phillips]

These types of products wouldn't cause these kinds of problems. It almost sounds like your clear coat is missing because as far as I know, none of the base coat paints being sprayed offer good gloss without the clear coat and tend to be flat in appearance. It's the clear coat that gives the base coat its beauty as well as provides the protection.

Let the finish return to its ugly state and then find someone that knows something about paint and show it to them and ask them what they think. Perhaps a painter. Perhaps even print this out and let them read it.

[acsipres]

Thanks for the suggestion. BTW, the roof and trunk don't have the same degree of the problem. the only difference as to how I detailed them was the use of ScratchX on the hood. My hope is that it is not something I did. Again, thanks for your time.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by acsipres
Thanks for the suggestion. BTW, the roof and trunk don't have the same degree of the problem. the only difference as to how I detailed them was the use of ScratchX on the hood. My hope is that it is not something I did. Again, thanks for your time.

did the roof and trunk and hood all look the same before you started?

The horizontal surface take the brunt of all the damage caused by the sun which ends up as clear coat failure. I'm not saying this is the problem, just pointing out that it is the horizontal surfaces that are bad on this car and it is typical for horizontal surface to go bad first.

The only way ScratchX could cause problems like you describe if if there was a problem with the paint to start with. Perhaps try washing the car really well, maybe even a few times and then take it to painter and ask him what he thinks.

[acsipres]

I will do that! Thanks, BTW can you explain what is meant by clearcoat failure? I've seen this many times on this forum and don't understand what it is.

[Superior Shine]

I love problems like this. Do you know for sure that your hood is factory orig. paint? Are you getting color on the rags you’re using to wipe the products on the finish with?

It is possible that you have mis-diagnosed the paint finish and are going at it the wrong way.

Does your finish look like this --




Can you post a picture?

[Mike Phillips]

A 2002 Audi should have a basecoat/clear coat finish on it, if it doesn't, then either it's been repainted using a single stage paint system, or as I alluded to above, the clear coat is now missing, thus the dull look.

Here's how to check for a clear coat of a single stage finish.

How can I tell if I have a clear coat finish?


To determine whether you have a clear coat or a single-stage finish perform this simple test.

• * Find an inconspicuous area to test, such as the lower rear quarter panel of your car's fender or inside the door jamb.
  
  * Clean this area first with car wash and water or Meguiar's Quik Detailer. You don't want any dirt or grime to interfere with your test.
  
  * Using a small piece of white cotton, such as a piece of terry cloth towel, rub a little paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the paint of this inconspicuous area.
  
  * After rubbing for a few moments, turn your cloth toward you and look to see if there is any color from your paint on the cloth.

If you have a red car and you now have red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a single stage finish. If you have a red car and you don't see any red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a clear coat.

To be 100% sure, you should test in a couple of different areas.

Note: If you have a white, or very light colored car you should use a dark piece of cotton cloth and look for the color of your car's finish on it after rubbing some paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the finish for a few moments.

[acsipres]

When applying ScratchX or Cleaner there is no color transfer so I believe the clearcoat is in tact. As for the picture, the finish on the hood is now smooth without scratches or swirl marks. When I used the ScratchX, the hood looked clear almost glass like, nothing like it originally did (which is similar to the picture). Also, the car was purchased new from Audi in 2002 and my hope is that it was the original paint from the factory.

[acsipres]

By the way, I did try claying a portion of the hood to see if there was any difference and there was not.

[the other pc]

Here's a guess (and it is just a guess), perhaps your clearcoat is pretty hard and you didn't quite get all the oxidation out yet (it can be tough to do by hand). Between the oils in the ScratchX and polish, and visual effect of the wax maybe you weren't able to see that the oxidation was still there. Once the oils washed off and/or the wax wasn't as fresh the oxidation became apparent again.

I would try the ScratchX again. Try it in a small taped off area in the middle of the most visible oxidation patch and put some heavy passion into it (here's the ScratchX how-to). We're just looking for the effect here so keep the area less than a few inches square. If you were using a foam applicator before maybe try terry cloth this time.

Then roll it into the sun and peel off the tape and have another look. If that works it tells you that you need to work it harder, probably by machine.


PC.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by acsipres
When applying ScratchX or Cleaner there is no color transfer so I believe the clearcoat is in tact.

This means your clear coat is intact.

As for the picture, the finish on the hood is now smooth without scratches or swirl marks. When I used the ScratchX, the hood looked clear almost glass like, nothing like it originally did (which is similar to the picture).

So where are we at now with your car's finish?

[acsipres]

I will try what was suggested and that is to try the Scratchx again. The oxidation was pretty stubborn. So, I'll go with the ScratchX and the Paint Cleaner and see what happens. I do have a dual head buffer with wool pads. Is this something that can be used with SratchX? Also, I'll follow up with NXT. It could very well be that I'm not getting all of the oxidation. I'll try and let you know. Thanks for all of the help.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by acsipres
I do have a dual head buffer with wool pads. Is this something that can be used with ScratchX?

We usually don't recommend using ScratchX with a machine as the product tends to get gummy and thus difficult to remove when it is heated. In your situation, I would go a head and try it and after working one area, before moving on to the next section go ahead and remove any ScratchX/paint residue.

Keep us posted...