Step by step with 1983 VW Vanagon

**Jay's 128i** · 07-23-2016, 07:10 PM

People have their ways of using Iron X. For myself, I clay first then Iron X. My reasoning is that there can be all sorts of contamination that interfere with Iron X. So if I clay first, the Iron X goes onto just the surface. Less product used as well.

**Jay's 128i** · 07-23-2016, 07:21 PM

No matter what, post up some pictures. Love old VW vans!

**KristianS** · 07-23-2016, 07:23 PM

Thanks! Yes I will for sure. It will be a slow process for me. I try and collect all the products and pads first

**scuff** · 07-23-2016, 07:26 PM

Here's another VW van thread, too.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...abric-top.html

**AZpolisher15** · 07-23-2016, 08:49 PM

Take a look at this thread. Mike starts talking about Megs #7 in post #2.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ge-paints.html

**markiteight** · 07-23-2016, 08:53 PM

L90D Pastel White is indeed a single stage paint. It's also THIN! Much thinner than other colors applied to Vanagons. The T25 was primarily a delivery/utility van in Europe and as such VW churned out basic panel vans in droves...all painted white. They slapped the white paint on thin and fast and sent 'em down the road knowing the owners (mostly fleets and businesses) wouldn't care about a perfect, long lasting finish. All the other colors, however, were typically applied with much more care as they were going to private owners.

The upshot: it's very easy to burn through the paint, even with a DA machine. I've worked on more Vanagons than I care to admit and it's rare to see one without burnt paint on the tricky seams. As others have suggested, avoid aggressive compounding. I'm currently helping a friend restore his '89 Whitestar for sale and like Jim's suggested I plan on hitting it with HD Speed after IronX/Clay/Wash.

**KristianS** · 07-23-2016, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by markiteight

L90D Pastel White is indeed a single stage paint. It's also THIN! Much thinner than other colors applied to Vanagons. The T25 was primarily a delivery/utility van in Europe and as such VW churned out basic panel vans in droves...all painted white. They slapped the white paint on thin and fast and sent 'em down the road knowing the owners (mostly fleets and businesses) wouldn't care about a perfect, long lasting finish. All the other colors, however, were typically applied with much more care as they were going to private owners.

The upshot: it's very easy to burn through the paint, even with a DA machine. I've worked on more Vanagons than I care to admit and it's rare to see one without burnt paint on the tricky seams. As others have suggested, avoid aggressive compounding. I'm currently helping a friend restore his '89 Whitestar for sale and like Jim's suggested I plan on hitting it with HD Speed after IronX/Clay/Wash.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer! Really appreciate it

**KristianS** · 08-02-2016, 07:57 PM

Shipment was just dropped off by UPS. Almost ready to attack the project.

Only thing left is the pads for the griots DA.

**KristianS** · 08-14-2016, 11:55 AM

Okay time for a update. Wife and son out of town so I had some time to put some effort into making the bus look decent again.

Keep in mind this is the first time ever for me working with these products and also the griots da.

I'm happy with the result but learned some valuable lessons down the road - one of the is patience.

My goal was to get a bit of shine back to the paint and also protect it from further damaging from the California sun.

I started out with a two bucket wash and followed up with clay bar - contaminated like crazy.
Followed up with Iron x, which is absolutely amazing, cleaned out most of the smaller rust spots and cleaned up the rest of contamination.

Two layers of Megs # 7 - I found this product to be very hard to get off again with a microfiber cloth? Is this common? Used my hands for this job.

HD speed, amazing!! Two layers and wipe down. Really brought back the shine.

And finished up with a thin layer of the high temp wax.

Again, I'm not super comfortable with all the products and the machine but it came pretty natural to me and I had a lot of fun with it - except for the clay bar part.

And, getting good pictures is kinda hard with a iPhone.

A few pictures.

Before

After

**scuff** · 08-16-2016, 10:43 AM

Looks pretty good to me. Here's a thread that may help with the #7. Mike recommends using terry cloth with it, and explains why.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...-phillips.html