1970 TX9 Black Velvet Dodge Dart

[AJ Skrove]

Hey Mike.

I have read some of your articles on #7, and i have gotten a hold of a big jug of it.

I have a 1970 TX9 Black Velvet Dodge Dart with original paint. (On most panels anyway.)
And it is basically drier than standup night at the retirement home. (Hard to describe, but it almost looks like panel-long swirls in many directions.)

You have written that these paints are very soft etc, especially black because of the charcoal pigment. (Or at least this is my understanding.)

The problem is that my paint seems suuuper hard.
Before learning about #7, i went at it with a rotary and Scholl S3 Gold(Pretty rough stuff).
This only gave me a hint of more shine, but nowhere near what was excpected. (Only did this on a part of the trunk lid.)

In pure desperation, i even went at a section of the roof panel with 1500grit wetpaper on a DA sander. This resulted in a bit more shine, but mostly the car was looking at me like: "Is that all you got kiddo?"

I have tried #7 on some panels, though not overnight yet. (No garage to put it in.) I see lots of contaminants coming off, but not really any shine improvement. I did clay the panels before applying #7.

Should i just follow the tutorial and soak soak soak, or is there anything i can do to ease the soaking process?
I will try to get the car inside somewhere for overnight soaking.

And is there any reason old Mopar paint would be this hard?

There is a spring break event in my town (Ok, it's 2 grocery stores and a gas station) next week, and i would really like to get at least some shine.

Any ideas/help will be wildly appreciated, and i am a trained photographer so high quality before/after photos can be supplied if so desired.

These are the only pictures i have of the car right now, although not very explaining it at least gives you an idea. (Does not show how bad it is in any way, these were not taken for this purpose.)





Thank you in advance.

[Mike Phillips]

Hey Mike.

I have read some of your articles on #7, and i have gotten a hold of a big jug of it.

I have a 1970 TX9 Black Velvet Dodge Dart with original paint. (On most panels anyway.)

And it is basically drier than standup night at the retirement home. (Hard to describe, but it almost looks like panel-long swirls in many directions.)

Hi AJ,

First thank you for bringing this to the public side of the forum. There's no rule against sending me a PM and people do it al the time but now days I'm so busy and I get so many e-mails, messages and PMs with questions that it's simply not a good use of my typing time or a good leverage of the information shared to keep it in a medium that only one set of eyeballs will see.


From your description of the paint being both hard and having,

"panel-long swirls in many directions"


It sounds like aged, cracked paint. I've seen this many times in my life and there's nothing you can do to fix it. I have some picture of others cars with this paint issue and I'll cyber dig them up later today.


For now, here's your pictures, I downloaded them and then uploaded them into your free gallery here on AGO








As I type this it's 6:45am here in Florida and I have to move out to the garage and walk the walk and put some new product to the test for some new product reviews.

After that I need to post some pictures to the forum and my facebook pages to promote our TV show as we have a brand new episode airing tonight on the Velocity Channel but I promise I'll get back to this...



And welcome to AutogeekOnline, the best car detailing discussion forum on the net...

[AJ Skrove]

Thank you for your answer, i will make sure to use the gallery from now on.

Just get back to me when you can, i will as discussed earlier try the #7 magic properly this weekend.
I will post progress-pictures here as i go along.

Thank you for the welcome!

[Mike Phillips]

Thank you for your answer, i will make sure to use the gallery from now on.

Just get back to me when you can, i will as discussed earlier try the #7 magic properly this weekend.

I will post progress-pictures here as i go along.

Thank you for the welcome!

It's always great to have members from places as far away as Norway!

I had a GREAT time out their as a guest speaker for RUPES at their first European BigFoot Seminar. It was sunny and warm and that was good because I wore shorts!


This is pj, one of the owners of Dodo Juice Carnauba Waxes and Waxstock greeting me at the airport in Norway.





Back later, have to get to work...

[Mike Phillips]

Hi AJ,


Click the link below and look at the pictures of

Clearcoat Fracturing


Clearcoat Fracturing versus Clearcoat Failure


From the sound of it, I think this is what you have and if so, you cannot fix it or remove these types of paint defects.

Their age defects.


More on Monday...

[AJ Skrove]

So i tried a little MF pad action with some Rupes Coarse just for fun...



It seems to have kinda... Worked.

[AJ Skrove]

So yesterday i finally got around to claying and applying #7 to the trunk lid.

The Meg clay did not pick up all that much, just barely enough to discolor it.

I then started vigorously applying #7 as described, making sure to saturate both the cotton rag and the paint.
After working it in for a couple of minutes, re-filling the rag with product as i went along, the rag was getting full of dead paint/contaminants.
I then decided to take a break, i work in an office so my stamina is not really what is used to be.

Within a minute or two, the #7 had almost dried completely out/or had been absorbed by the paint.
Seeing as this might be expected of old dry paint, i re-applied. And re-applied. Aaaaand re-applied.

After this, i tried rubbing over the paint with the same rag, but without putting on more product.
This took off the "dry layer" of product, leaving behind an oily film. This did not seem to dry as fast, but impatient as i am i went in for another application of product.
This application started drying almost as fast as the first ones.

So my question to you Mike is:

Am i doing it wrong, or is the paint so dry that it just soaks up all the product? Should i maybe go at it with a light abrasive to remove the very top of dead paint to let the #7 soak into the important bits?

As you see in my previous reply, i have tried some correction on a panel i have had a single application of #7 before, with very good results.

Picture of rag and trunk after about 8 applications:

[Mike Phillips]

So my question to you Mike is:

Am i doing it wrong, or is the paint so dry that it just soaks up all the product?


Should i maybe go at it with a light abrasive to remove the very top of dead paint to let the #7 soak into the important bits?

Two things...

First - The #7 soaking treatment is for paint that is chalky looking, or visibly oxidized. If the paint is still shiny, or smooth and hard, (the opposite of chalky), then you polish first, or if the paint is really bad you feel comfortable with the idea, then compound and polish and THEN apply the #7 before sealing with a wax.


Secone - It's possible that the paint has become unstable or is past the point of no return.


See categories #9 and #11 in this article which is also in my how-to book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine


Paint Condition Categories



So yeah, if the paint isn't visibly white from oxidation then try compounding and polishing first to peel off or grind off the old dead paint and then AFTER the last machine polishing step and BEFORE the sealing step, apply and work in a thin application of the #7 to gorge the freshly uncovered single stage paint with the TS oils and the after removing it apply your choice of wax or sealant.

[Mike Phillips]

Also, did you click the link below and look at the picture of paint fracturing?

Hi AJ,

Click the link below and look at the pictures of

Clearcoat Fracturing


Clearcoat Fracturing versus Clearcoat Failure

From the sound of it, I think this is what you have and if so, you cannot fix it or remove these types of paint defects.

Their age defects.

[Mike Phillips]

So i tried a little MF pad action with some Rupes Coarse just for fun...

It seems to have kinda... Worked.

Looks like this is working great! I'd keep going down this path and save the #7 for use after the last polishing step.


I put this in your gallery,