Original Red Paint

[CarterG]

My 1988 BMW has original red paint and it can take a good amount of wax. I wax by hand, and recently I use a 3x3 applicator pad and the Meguiar's # 27. It's a good first coat, then I follow with the 'show coat' by Meguiar's I think it's a #7. Both applications created a good deal of red on the applicator pad and buffing it out by hand also raised some red on the microfiber.

My question is this: Clearly there's a lot of paint that is powdering off, how do I stop this? What is this called and is there a way to limit this deterioration?

I recently switched to a carnauba wax, Mother's California Gold Brazilian Carnauba and ordered some Dodo Juice Supernatural in the mail. I own a variable speed grinder and have a backing pad and hook and loop foam pad but haven't used it since I worked on the boats in Miami. Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Carter

[rider9195]

Your car sounds to have single stage paint. I would start out by reading this article. http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/21924-practical-differences-between-single-stage-paints-clear-coat-paints.html

I will probably repeat some of what is said in the article.

The red coming off on your towel is your paint. Single Stage paint does not have a clear coat on top of it like the modern base coat clear coats. There is really no way to stop it happening as that is just how single stage paints work.

With that said if you use a finishing wax the red paint will not come back onto your applicator because there are no abrasives in the product. You can read more about finishing waxes vs. cleaner waxes here. http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/23263-difference-between-cleaner-wax-finishing-wax.html

I would stay away from using a polisher on your paint as single stage paints are usually on the thin side. Also, I hope you mean polisher and not grinder as a grinder will take your paint off before you could blink.

[Edse30]

I'm not an expert but I brought my 89 bmw e30 back to life thanks to the info here. I bought a porter cable DA and buffed out all the oxidation on my white paint. There was a lot of paint coming off and it worried me a little but kept going. After I finished, I used colinite 845 to seal it and now it shines nice and no more paint is coming off.
I guess what I'm trying to say is a good amount of oxidezed paint will come off, keep going till you see a nice shine and then stop and seal it up or wax. You shouldt need to keep polishing afterwards, just use proper washing proceedures and reapply sealant/wax as needed.
Just my two pennies.

[CarterG]

I'm not an expert but I brought my 89 bmw e30 back to life thanks to the info here. I bought a porter cable DA and buffed out all the oxidation on my white paint. There was a lot of paint coming off and it worried me a little but kept going. After I finished, I used colinite 845 to seal it and now it shines nice and no more paint is coming off.
I guess what I'm trying to say is a good amount of oxidezed paint will come off, keep going till you see a nice shine and then stop and seal it up or wax. You shouldt need to keep polishing afterwards, just use proper washing proceedures and reapply sealant/wax as needed.
Just my two pennies.

Thanks for the input. When you remove the oxidization with your DA or rotary as it explains in the single stage vs clear coat article, what product are you working into the paint?

Carter

[Edse30]

Thanks for the input. When you remove the oxidization with your DA or rotary as it explains in the single stage vs clear coat article, what product are you working into the paint?

Carter

I used pc7424xp with an orange pad. Started with the XMT360 AIO but wasn't cutting it that well(first time with a DA so it was probably user error) then went with megs ultimate compound and it did beautifuly. Did a test spot with the ultimate polish but didn't see any improvement so I stopped there and sealed it up.

[CarterG]

Thanks for this advice! I've read a bunch of Mike's postings and I'm patting myself on the back because Meg #7 is tried and true, and my attempts are almost textbook to Mike's suggestions. My next move will be a super fine glaze with a good pad, then seal the thing. That should prime the red beast for a while and I will most likely revert to hand applications of hard Dodo.

Thanks for this info.


Final question for now, how do you approach oxidization on alluminium? I have considerable oxidization on the front and rear bumpers and tried Collinite's Metal Wax (which is amazing on steel) but no luck. I was thinking about something with less cut, any suggestions? I respect the least aggressive approach at all costs, but what are my options as far as compounds?

Take a look, I appreciate any advice. Cheers

Carter