When to stop paint cleaner?

[FLAccord]

Ok, I tried swirl x for the first time on my wife's red car. Awsome product! But I have a question about how far to keep using it. The paint is not in bad shape. It's a 2006 that's been Liquid Glassed 2x/yr since new. Factory Suzuki red paint. Do I keep using it until it doesn't pull anymore paint up? I tried some Liquid Glass after the swirl X and it also is pulling up a slight amount of red paint. I tried the swirl x on my 2007 Silver Honda, Nada. Towel came back clean. Wondering if she really has that much oxidized paint, or it's cutting into it? Either way the paint looks fantastic after 2 applications of swirl x. I tried some 10yr old Megs step #1 paint cleaner I still have around and it pulled a slight bit of red up, but the swirl x is a much better product IMO.

[Murr1525]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

If the car is single stage paint, it will always pull up red paint.

Your may be clear coated, and you will never see the paint color on the pad.

[FLAccord]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

I have a sneaky suspicion that's exactly the situation. So I stop when I'm happy with the finish. I've never heard of single stage paint. Is that considered cheap paint? Lets face it, it was a cheap car. But I can't believe the finish you can get out of it with some work.

[Murr1525]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

No, SS paint is fine. Some ways better, some ways worse than Clearcoat/Basecoat paint.

SS was all there was until the early 80's.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

There isn't necessarily anything "cheap" about single stage paint - all cars used to be painted with single stage until the advent of clear coat technology back in the 1970's. The base coat/clear coat process really caught on during the 1980s but a few colors remained single stage well into the 1990s, primarily white, black and red. Even today, Lexus has a single stage black on at least one model in their lineup. Nothing really "cheap" about Lexus!

As for how much color you'll pull when working on the car - that has a lot to do with how aggressively you or your product of choice is going to work against the paint. A gentle application of a wax or sealant with a soft foam pad won't pull much color at all. An aggressive product like Ultimate Compound applied via machine with a polishing pad will pull a fair amount all the time.

You're spot on about how good you can make single stage look, too. Part of the beauty of single stage is just how far back you can bring it after it's oxidized pretty badly. It can be a lot of fun to work on! Have a look at the before and after of this mid '70s Mercedes SL - in single stage red. Talk about a comeback!

[FLAccord]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

wow, what a comeback!!! But I believe it. It is fun to work with. Her car gets kind of oxidizes after a while of not waxing... and then bam back to shiny red. But if I don't want to lose the paint... get it looking good, seal it and keep up with it. Kinda makes base/clear boring. Wonder how I can make my silver clear coat Honda look like a million bucks. that's my next little project. But it's in 9.9/10 shape to begin with. I've always enjoyed working on red paint. Something about the depth.

[William_F]

Re: When to stop paint cleaner?

Wonder how I can make my silver clear coat Honda look like a million bucks.

I have a metallic gray finish on my PT Cruiser and when I got it a few months ago, it looked great (or so I thought). After reading about products and procedures here, I did a few things that really made it pop.

I wased with GC Shampoo, used a clay kit, rewashed it, put down a single layer of the cleaner wax that comes with the kit and then topped it with NXT 2.0. THEN it looked great!