Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

[Kit Sullivan]

Hi. I just got here, and I want some great advice: I know this is the place to get it!

I have a 1990 35th Anniversary Thunderbird that was just painted.

Two coats of sealer, 2 of color (Black) and 2 clear. It was painted using DuPont's Chroma Premier system.
It's black with silver lower sections.

It was painted last week, and it is getting color sanded/buffed this week. When I get it back next week, I will put all the trim and glass and stuff back in.

What is the best suggestion to get the most 'performance' out of this new (and expensive!) paint job?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

Hi Kit,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

Here's some advice given to me a long time ago that seems to work pretty good,

"Find something you like and use it often"

Often is a a relative word, how often you do anything to the paint, as in washing, polishing, waxing, wiping down with Quik Detailers, etc., depends upon how the car is used and stored.

If you rarely drive the car and it's always parked in a nice garage, then you'll have to "do things" to the paint less often to maintain a state of perfection.

If you drive the car every day, park it outside where it's exposed to the weather and pollution and other airborne contaminants, then in order to maintain that "just waxed look", you'll have to find products you like and use them often.

Does that make sense?


In a nutshell, you'll want,

1. Premium quality car wash - Gold Class Car Wash
2. Detailing Clay for any above surface bonded contaminants - Quik Clay System
3. A pure polish to create gloss and clarity in the clear coat - Deep Crystal Polish
4. A premium quality car wax to add protection and create shine and gloss - Gold Class Car Wax, NXT Tech Wax
5. Quick Detailer for use in-between normal washing and waxing

And of course a nice collection of premium quality microfiber polishing cloths, soft foam applicator pads, drying towels, etc., etc., etc.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

Cross your fingers the people that do the final buffing on your car know what they're doing and take the time to do the EXTRA steps most body shops never do.

Remember, time is money and most shops sand, then machine compound the sanding marks out, then if you're lucky they do another machine polishing step to remove/reduce the heavy swirls left by the first step and than after this if you're real lucky the hand apply a glaze to fill in and mask any swirls not removed by the second step, or left by the second step.

In a perfect world they would do the first two steps and the re-polish each panel using a dual action polisher and a cleaner/polish to insure all the swirls are removed. This process takes a lot of time to do correctly and most body shops won't do it, and most body shops don't now how to do it.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

The below picture was taken from this thread,

How To Remove Swirls By Hand



This Mercedes-Benz was painted at a reputable shop, and after it was washed a few times all of the rotary buffer swirls started to show up. This is the norm for most body shops, even the supposedly good ones.

[ronniejay]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

Hi. I just got here, and I want some great advice: I know this is the place to get it!

I have a 1990 35th Anniversary Thunderbird that was just painted.

Two coats of sealer, 2 of color (Black) and 2 clear. It was painted using DuPont's Chroma Premier system.
It's black with silver lower sections.

It was painted last week, and it is getting color sanded/buffed this week. When I get it back next week, I will put all the trim and glass and stuff back in.

What is the best suggestion to get the most 'performance' out of this new (and expensive!) paint job?

Welcome to MOL. We have been waiting for you.

Just curious, What is "expensive"? What shop/person painted your t-bird? Did you get references? Perhaps some Fl. folks can give words of encouragement/caution with that shop's jobs.

[Kit Sullivan]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

Its a brand new shop, and they removed a big dent in the 1/4 panel. They completely sanded off all the old crappy Ford clearcoat, primed the whole car in epoxy primer (yellow) and then used two coats of sealer(black).
Two coats of color, and 2 (maybe three) coats of clear. 15-20 minutes 'flash' between each coat, and 1.5 hours in 150-degree oevn after final 'flash'.

Its the DuPont Chroma Premier system, which I think is a pretty good paint. It carries a life-time garauntee!

The paint is so good now that I thought they were finished. He laughed and said "We haven't even buffed it out yet!"

The owner is a business aquaintance of mine, so I got a 'deal', but he claims the work would normally cost retail about $4-5000.

I would post a few pix, but I don't see a 'manage attachements' section!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

I would post a few pix, but I don't see a 'manage attachements' section!

We don't allow people to "Attach Photos". If we were going to put up a forum for a day or two we would but we've been around for over 100 years and we suspect this forum will be up for as long as forums exist and for this reason we prefer people to upload them to our gallery and then "Insert" them into their posts.

Takes a little longer, sure but works better over the long run.

How to put pictures in your messages

[the other pc]

Re: Just arrived, and I'm happy to be here.

Hi Kit, to MOL.

While you want to follow Meguiar's 5-step paint care cycle to maintain the finish over its lifetime you need to take some extra precautions early on to give the finish the best start in life.

The finish is still curing so it hasn't reached its full hardness yet. You always want to be careful to avoid swirls and scratches but you need to be especially careful now. Any swirls installed now will go in deeper and get harder and harder to remove.

You should also avoid using any wax or sealants on the finish until it has cured. Wash Soap, cleaners, cleaner/polishes and pure polishes are OK, just not waxes or sealants as they will interfere with the curing process. Dupont recommends waiting at least 120 days before waxing ChromaPremier coatings.


PC.