Category 12 - Past the point of no return by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

Category 12 - Past the point of no return by Mike Phillips


When I wrote the "The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine", there was NEW content, new ideas, new terms that evolved out of the writing process. I invented things that did not exist to educate people interested in car detailing. One of those things was categories of paint condition. Or in the book, it's called Paint Condition Categories and you'll find it from pages 30 to 36. This is the liberty you have when you take it upon yourself to write an article and anyone can do this... all you have to do is have confidence in yourself, your knowledge base and even skill level. I see a LOT of people throw around their opinions.... try writing a book about your opinions.


In the book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine, one of the categories is called,


#12 Past the point of no return

Paint in this condition falls into one of the above categories, but is so far gone that nothing you pour out of a bottle or scoop out of a can from ANY company will fix it.


Yesterday on the Autogeek Detailing 101 Facebook Group a member shared a picture of their antique 1959 Hillman Minx and asked how to restore the original paint? This turned into a healthy discussion on the right way to go about doing this type of work and this then turned into an argument over the value of using Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze to restore paint.


Here's the link to the discussion on the D101 FB Group.


How to restore the paint on a 1959 Hillman Minx






After looking at the paint on this car, just from the above picture of course, to me it looks like it's very possible that the paint on this car is in paint condition 12 and that is,

Past the point of no return

That is, nothing you scoop out of a can, (old school rubbing compound or polish), or pour out of a bottle, (modern compounds and polishes), is going to undo the years or decades of neglected and create an acceptable looking finish. Not even Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze.

Of course, a person won't know what they can do until they try and I have personally restored a LOT of antique single stage paint in my life and helped hundreds of others do the same.


I created this thread and have sent the link to the guy that owns the above car and started the thread about fixing the paint the link to this thread because I want him to have REAL-WORLD expectations. AND because I WROTE A BOOK about car detailing and came up with the 12 Categories of Paint Condition - there is a precedent or a guide that has existed since the first printing of this book that calls out and defines cars and paint in various conditions. It's not like this is a NEW THING. But I don't know if the guy that started this thread knows about the book, the chapter on paint condition categories or anything as I do not know him.


Here's the book....





Here's pages 38 and 39






And in the lower right hand corner, here's the blurb about paint condition 12 - Past the point of no return





Me?

I would do a Test Spot. See my article here,



Test Spot - The story behind the story...

[Mike Phillips]

Here's the link to the discussion on the D101 FB Group.


How to restore the paint on a 1959 Hillman Minx

And this is what sucks about Facebook. The link I shared above worked when I posted it but it no longer works now.

Unlike a forum, anything posted to Facebook is like a vapor, here for a moment and then gone.


I wonder what ever happened with the car? Probably never know.

[Mike Phillips]

Just shared the link to this thread to a guy looking for help and reaching out to me via Facebook Messenger.


I never mind sharing stuff on the forum on FB but most of these people could find SO MUCH more information on this forum than drudging through all the sludge on FB.

[Mike Phillips]

And this is what sucks about Facebook. The link I shared above worked when I posted it but it no longer works now.

Unlike a forum, anything posted to Facebook is like a vapor, here for a moment and then gone.

I wonder what ever happened with the car? Probably never know.

Vindicated again.

FB = a Vapor - here for a moment and the gone. Wasted time.

[Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN]

Wow! Thanks Mike, and the gentleman who asked the question. I actually had an autographed copy of your book. You wrote, Keep on Shining." on the inside cover. Unfortunately the pages began to fall out and I dont know what happened to the book after that. I'd forgotten about that section until I read this thread. I'll have to order another copy.

[Icarus]

I should post up the pics of my 2004 Jeep TJ I had. The paint looked exactly like that Hillman. I brought it back with Meguiars Ultimate compound, polish and wax, but it only lasted a few months or so before breaking down again. I did this a few times over a couple years but it was a lost cause as mentioned. I was surprised how well it looked after finishing it but sad it didn't last at all

[Billy Baldone]

Hmmm.... I wonder if any YouTube influencers could bring the Hillman back to life? Maybe using basic household items like an old piece of carpet on a DA, and baby lotion....

[Farmallluvr]

It's a neat little car and I would give it a go just see what I could do with it,,I did a 53 MG a few years back that was white sprayed over red at some point in it's life
It was a detrimmed for me so I washed it with comet and polished it lightly with a soft black pad on the rotary at 6 to 800 rpm and about 10 pads (alot for such a small car)

The guy was happy with it but I could see through the white to the red under it (I could before I started too)and it had a pinkish hue to it,,this was definately a "point of no return" car

It was after that car I found the AG forum and learned about the Megs #7 method so I have waiting for a car to try it on....maybe someday

[Mike Phillips]

Shared here,

Looks like its past the point of no return or just severely oxidized? Can it be fixed?