How to restore the OEM paint on a 1967 Corvette?

[Mike Phillips]

How to restore the OEM paint on a 1967 Corvette?



Received the below via an e-mail. Going to answer here on the forum and Mr. Tomato will be joining in on the discussion.



Mike

Morning there Mike! First of all thanks for your article on the Lincoln Land Yacht. Most intriguing yet intuitive article to read regarding preserving and polishing very old paint. You have a certain way of getting your point across to even someone like me with severe ADD!!

Anyways I have a client with an all black '67 Vette with OEM paint non metallic.

The paint for the most part is in pretty good condition considering the age. However it is covered in swirls and few surface scratches from the guy who services his cars mechanically wise. Of course excellent on that aspect of things but clueless when it comes to washing cars!!

My approach is thorough wash (no rust anywhere, hard top non vinyl exterior), clay treatment then first give it a shot with white 5" Hexlogic pad, Sonax Perfect Finish via Griot's Garage DA with Megs MF System 5" backing plate.

From previous experience I do expect gloss galore but as for the cutting pretty sure it won't clean up the scratches or swirls 100%. If so my next step will be to hit the paint with Megs D300 and Megs MF 5" pad at 3.5-4.5 setting on my GG DA. This usually cleans up mostly anything I've thrown at it so far without any problems. Might do minimal wet sanding if needed and clean that up via Megs MF/D300 which works wonders on sanding marks.

My question to you is do you think the above will suffice to Safely correct this '67 OEM Vette paint? I don't own a rotary or any wool pads as my collection of Megs MF and various makes of foam pads have been able to give excellent results on the types of cars I work on which are usually much newer Euro toys. Any info on how to tackle this $250K toy would be greatly appreciated!!

From the DFW area

Mr. Tomato

[Mike Phillips]

Here we go...

Morning there Mike! First of all thanks for your article on the Lincoln Land Yacht. Most intriguing yet intuitive article to read regarding preserving and polishing very old paint. You have a certain way of getting your point across to even someone like me with severe ADD!!

For those reading this into the future he's referring to this article, which as of today had over a 1/4 million views...

Views = 264,653



The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints





And "yes" if like I stated in the above article, if the paint is important to you (or your customer), then rub it down with the #7 first to condition it before working on it.

Especially for very neglected paint. Paint that has not been polished or properly taken care of for a long time.

Anyways I have a client with an all black '67 Vette with OEM paint non metallic.

The paint for the most part is in pretty good condition considering the age. However it is covered in swirls and few surface scratches from the guy who services his cars mechanically wise. Of course excellent on that aspect of things but clueless when it comes to washing cars!!

Sounds about right...

My approach is

1. thorough wash (no rust anywhere, hard top non vinyl exterior)

As a practice, I don't normally wash classics, antiques, streetrods or muscle cars. I also teach to avoid this in my detailing boot camp classes.

I'm pretty sure I explain why in this article.

How To Wash a Classic Muscle Car


The exceptions to this rule are,

A: If the owner currently already washes the car the traditional method of using running water.

B: If the benefit outweighs the risk. For example if the car in question needs to be chemically decontaminated with a product like Iron X to remove iron particles out of the paint.


Back to your plan of attack...

2. clay treatment

3. then first give it a shot with white 5" Hexlogic pad, Sonax Perfect Finish via Griot's Garage DA with Megs MF System 5" backing plate.

Sonax Perfect Finish is a great polish. It's a Medium Cut Polish that finises down like an Ultra Fine Cut polish so this makes it very versatile and it seems to work on a wide spectrum of paint systems.

I would try this polish and either a foam polishing or foam cutting pad on your Griot's Garage polisher on the 5-6 setting.

Single stage paint tends to be soft. Black single stage paint tends to be the softest paint there is to work on as compared to all other colors of single stage paint.

In fact, I just polished out the original, single stage paint on a 1978 Trans Am and since doing this last week the most common comment I hear is

That looks incredible







And there were portions of the paint on the above Trans Am that were physically white before it was buffed out.







Personally I'm not a big fan of pads with a design or cut in them, flat pads are really the way to go when it comes to foam and for dual action polishers like the Griot's, Porter Cable, etc.

Thin is in...

From previous experience I do expect gloss galore but as for the cutting pretty sure it won't clean up the scratches or swirls 100%.

If so my next step will be to

hit the paint with Megs D300 and Megs MF 5" pad at 3.5-4.5 setting on my GG DA.

This usually cleans up mostly anything I've thrown at it so far without any problems.


Might do minimal wet sanding if needed and clean that up via Megs MF/D300 which works wonders on sanding marks.

Be sure to do a Test Spot if you go with the Meguiar's system on this antique single stage paint. See my article on how and why to do a Test Spot here,

How To Do a Test Spot

My question to you is do you think the above will suffice to Safely correct this '67 OEM Vette paint? I don't own a rotary or any wool pads as my collection of Megs MF and various makes of foam pads have been able to give excellent results on the types of cars I work on which are usually much newer Euro toys.

You never know what's going to work best until you go out into the garage and start doing some testing but I would lean towards the Sonax product before the Megs D300 but again... without being there and doing some testing hard to say. The D300 is an amazing compound and it "may" work great with the old single stage paint.

Also, don't forget to get some #7 Show Car Glaze and after all the correction and polishing work, hand or machine apply some #7 with a soft foam pad, the idea being to gorge the paint with the oils found in the #7 and then seal with a wax or sealant.

Old single stage paint like this works good with any high quality finishing wax.

I used Blackfire BlackICE on the Trans Am. Machine applied it and wiped it off by hand and I'm not kidding you... it looks like a brand new paint job.

Any info on how to tackle this $250K toy would be greatly appreciated!!

From the DFW area

Mr. Tomato

Approved your account this morning and sent you the link to this thread. After you do some testing let us know how the project is going.

I always do my best to take GREAT before pictures because after you buff out the car you can never go back in time and get the before pictures.

Then it's just your "word" when you tell people how bad the paint was before you buffed it out and pictures do a much better job of telling the story than your words.


Like these before pictures of the Trans Am....

[ElTomateDFW]

Mr. Phillips

HUGE Thank U sir for giving my account the green light and for your very prompt replies regarding the car at hand. Very much appreciate your wisdom, time and feedback. I'm ok detailing wise but nowhere close to talent level your on so I'm very grateful and very appreciative on the feedback.

I'm with you 100% and will be getting a bottle of #7 to condition the paint. Will also look into waterless car wash products and after the #7 application (day after) will check to see if claying really necessary. Like you stated in an article no sense ruining an expensive Clay if it's just going to get covered up in old paint from the car. Very smart move just saved me about $30-40 bucks :-)

I will take your advice and order some new polishing pads without any patterns on them. Very anxious and curious to see results currently using Megs Soft Buff Yellow but willing to change it up a bit per your suggestions. Will leave the Megs MF out of it unless it is completely necessary. Due to having to order new supplies for this project and other toys already waiting in line will not get to this '67 Vette till later time. However I do promise you that I'll take pics and let you guys know how it goes once I get started on it.

Damned Mike I can't wait to get to this car. It will be my first time experimenting with #7 on an old single stage paint so very much looking fwd to it.

Thanks again Mike much LOVE for you Sir!!

From the DFW area,

Mr. Tomato

[Mike Phillips]

Mr. Phillips

HUGE Thank U sir for giving my account the green light and for your very prompt replies regarding the car at hand. Very much appreciate your wisdom, time and feedback. I'm ok detailing wise but nowhere close to talent level your on so I'm very grateful and very appreciative on the feedback.

I have two passions in life...

1. I like to detail cars.

2. I like to show others how to detail cars and do it right the first time so they won't have to do it a second time.

I'm with you 100% and will be getting a bottle of #7 to condition the paint. Will also look into waterless car wash products and after the #7 application (day after) will check to see if claying really necessary. Like you stated in an article no sense ruining an expensive Clay if it's just going to get covered up in old paint from the car. Very smart move just saved me about $30-40 bucks :-)

Good plan...

I will take your advice and order some new polishing pads without any patterns on them. Very anxious and curious to see results currently using Megs Soft Buff Yellow but willing to change it up a bit per your suggestions.

The Griot's dual action polisher has a lot of power and this makes it easier for it to maintain good pad rotation when using larger, thicker pads.

Even so... smaller, thinner pads will still rotate better. Here's two option...

1. The Lake Country 5.5" Flat Pads I show in this thread,

Video: Mark your backing plate to make it easy to see pad rotation


Lake Country

5.5" Flat Pads

In order from the most to the least aggressive

Yellow = Cutting pad (most aggressive)
Orange = Light Cutting Pad
White = Polishing Pad
Black = Finishing Pad
Blue = Waxing Pad (softest)





2. the new Meguiar's thin foam discs I show in this write-up...

NEW! Meguiar’s Foam Buffing Discs





Me?

I love the new Megs thin pads but for this car with this paint I'd stick with the LC pads and having a little more cushion via a little more foam thickness will be a benefit when working on a rare car with antique paint.

Will leave the Megs MF out of it unless it is completely necessary.

Fiber pads, any fiber pads are going to offer betting cutting action as the fibers themselves will cut the paint. That means you'll have two things cutting the paint,

1. The fibers.

2. The abrasives in whatever compound or polish you use.

For soft, antique black single stage paint you really don't need the fibers cutting it.

Also, on softer paints, fiber pads on dual action polishers do cut the paint and we call this micro-marring or DA Haze when caused by a DA polisher.

Due to having to order new supplies for this project and other toys already waiting in line will not get to this '67 Vette till later time. However I do promise you that I'll take pics and let you guys know how it goes once I get started on it.

See my article here,

The power in the after shots is created in the before shots

Damned Mike I can't wait to get to this car. It will be my first time experimenting with #7 on an old single stage paint so very much looking fwd to it.

Thanks again Mike much LOVE for you Sir!!

From the DFW area,

Mr. Tomato

You're very welcome and welcome to AutogeekOnline!


See now how a forum is more powerful for this type of thing than an e-mail?

[ElTomateDFW]

Yes sir U can cover more ground rather quickly. From others who've been there before to those who will be at same junction sooner or later.

Saw on AG foam pads but there's trillions of them. For this car, my GG DA with Megs MF 5" backing plate can u please recommend the proper pads so I can order them from AG? Looking for 5"-5.5" white and orange. Will order few of each for my arsenal. Will stick to Sonax PF as its yet to disappoint me.

Thx again!!

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[Mike Phillips]

can u please recommend the proper pads so I can order them from AG?

Looking for 5"-5.5" white and orange.

Here you go...



Lake Country

5.5" Flat Pads

In order from the most to the least aggressive

Yellow = Cutting pad (most aggressive)
Orange = Light Cutting Pad
White = Polishing Pad
Black = Finishing Pad
Blue = Waxing Pad (softest)

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2 and weights %3.


Get orange, white and black for compounding and polishing. Get a blue or two if you want or like to machine apply waxes and paint sealants.

The black pad will work good for machine applying #7



Also... with a car this old and no way of knowing who's buffed on it in the past and what they used...

Be very careful around raised body lines and edges and also any horizontal panels like the tops of fenders where people tend to buff a lot.

It's possible to have very very thin paint in all these areas.

[ElTomateDFW]

Roger that totally understood. Need to head out but will place an order tonight. Already notified client of game plan and he's ok with waiting till supplies arrive and schedule allows on both our ends. Thx again!!

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[Mike Phillips]

Here's a great example of getting great before pictures.

I recommended to Craig to get a step ladder so he could get up high enough to enable him to shoot down at the horizontal panels and capture the entire panel.


The before and after pictures he captured are a text book example of how to showcase your talent.


1971 Dodge Coronet Original Paint Extreme Makeover with Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze

[ElTomateDFW]

Thx again Mike excellent tips to keep in mind.

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[Mike Phillips]

Thx again Mike excellent tips to keep in mind.

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Looking forward to your follow-up....