Caring for Custom Painted On Graphics? - New Ride

[mgmoore7]

Guys,
I purchased this truck last week after waiting 6 weeks for the sellers newly ordered truck to come in. It is is '05 with 45k miles and in immaculate condition. It was garage kept by a gentleman that cares deeply about his vehicles and cares for them like none I have known.

It can't continue to be a garage queen for me as it will be my daily driver of about 40 miles a day and will not be garage kept for the most part. I have a family with kids and that means bikes in the driveway, kids in and out, parking lots....

The graphics were done by a professional out of central FL and are hand painted over the clear coat (some is sponged on). There is no clear coat over the paint.

At 1st, I was not sure I liked it but it has grown on me. I will be keeping this truck for likely 7-10 years. I had my last truck for 15.

Questions:
1. From a longevity standpoint, should I consider removing it (assuming it can be) since keeping it looking good over time may not be so easy due to no clear coat, touch ups will be difficult and removing it later when the rest of the paint has faded could be worse.

2. If I don't remove it, what should I do to protect it.

Thanks

[WAXOFF]

Personally I like it. I would load it up with Collinite 845once a month and leave it at that. No abrasives only protection.

[mgmoore7]

Personally I like it. I would load it up with Collinite 845once a month and leave it at that. No abrasives only protection.

Thanks, I do have Collinite 845 on-hand. Good place to start for sure.

[Setec Astronomy]

Is that texture from being "sponged on"? Because if not it looks like that paint is toast already. What does it feel like under your finger, rough?

[mgmoore7]

Is that texture from being "sponged on"? Because if not it looks like that paint is toast already. What does it feel like under your finger, rough?

Yes, the texture is from being sponged on. It is not smooth at all but that was intended.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's my take for what it's worth...

For ease of maintenance as well as speed, remove it. The sooner the better or you're going to have ghosting issues. You might even already have ghosting issues if its removed. I don't think I would remove it just pointing out the maintenance aspects.


If you want to take care of it then here's the dealio.... paint like this will tend to be softer than the clearcoat. This means if you use anything abrasive you're going to remove portions of it. The more often you polish it with anything abrasive the more paint you're going to remove.

This same thing happens to people that get hand painted pinstripes.


No way of telling the accurate condition of the surrounding paint from your pictures but my guess based upon experience is after you do the "Baggie Test" you're going to find that the paint needs to be clayed, if if there's just light contamination and there will be some level of swirls in the paint surrounding the graphics.

So if you want to keep the graphics, carefully clay or in some other way mechanically decontaminate the surrounding paint. Then machine polish the surrounding paint and then seal ALL of the paint, clearcoat and graphics and then after that always be as careful as humanly possible anytime you "touch" the paint.

Touching means EVERYTHING. From wiping with a spray detailing, the microfiber will "touch" the paint. To washing and drying, your wash medium will "touch" the paint as will your chamois or drying towel.

Hand or machine waxing into the future and the wiping any wax or sealant off is "touching" the paint.


Clear coats are scratch-sensitive and that means that they scratch easy but they are hard so it's difficult to remove the scratches, (as compared to softer single stage paints). The single stage paint used for the graphics is soft, it will scratch easy also.


So if you want to keep the graphics, then start out getting the majority of the paint which is the clearcoat paint where you want it and then moving into the future always use the best product you can obtain to take care of the finish.

And never let a dealership wash it. Never take it to a brush style car wash and avoid charity car washes. If you see the local football team holding a charity car wash to raise money by all means pull in and donate to the cause but don't let them wash your truck.

[mgmoore7]

Mike
Thanks so much for the detailed response. I think you got exactly why I am considering removing it. The multiple complications that it can cause cause over time are a driving factor. If it is going to be a garage queen as it has been, I would leave it for sure.

This statement seemed to be a conflict to other things you said. Am I misunderstanding or was it a typo
"I don't think I would remove it just pointing out the maintenance aspects."

As far as the rest of the paint, I have not done a really close inspection yet with a light to find swirling but I would exect it is there. He never polished it with a machine. From general review, it is surely much better as I have seen on any vehicle this age with these miles. There are no surface scratches or maring anywhere that needs to be dealt with. He told me that it only saw rain twice and I would believe it considering how clean it is even underneath. He even treated the spare tire under the bed.

Trying to care for it around all of the custom paint, will be difficult at best. Not touching that custom paint will be hard for sure. There is white inbetween the design that will never be able to be properly taken care of like the rest.

[Mike Phillips]

This statement seemed to be a conflict to other things you said. Am I misunderstanding or was it a typo

"I don't think I would remove it just pointing out the maintenance aspects."

What I mean is, if you like it, that is you like the custom style appearance it gives the truck then don't remove it just deal with it. I did want to point out the work that will be involved in maintaining it and by maintaining it I mean keeping it looking just as good into the future as it looks right now.

So if I were in your shoes, and I like it then I wouldn't remove it as long as you understand all the ramifications.

Personally I'm not a big fan of any graphics not under the clear just due to the work and extra level or "care" required to keep them looking good. (I certainly don't want to squash your excitement)

Trying to care for it around all of the custom paint, will be difficult at best. Not touching that custom paint will be hard for sure.

There is white in-between the design that will never be able to be properly taken care of like the rest.

You're very right.

It can be done but it is tedious to say the least....

There is so much general detailing information in the below thread,


Bumblebee - Testing out the NEW DeWALT DWP849X


Here's just a portion from it....









Pinstriping paint tends to be more on the soft side versus hard side so you don't want to run your buffing pads over any pinstripes but you do want to buff as close to them as you can. In this picture I'm using an extension to position the pad a little farther away from the polisher so I can more easily see where the edge of my buffing pad is on the panel.






For examples like the above and your truck, sometimes all you can do is all you can do....

[HUMP DIESEL]

How about doing what Mike said and then putting a Nano coating over all of it?

HUMP

[oldmodman]

After having many pinstriped motorcycles over the years I absolutely agree with Mike's last plan.
Don't polish it. Ever. Just give it a coat (very frequently) of a good, non abrasive wax.
Never use any form of "cleaner wax" on the graphics.
Polish the white, clear covered paint as you normally would. Just be sure to miss all the graphics.