SONAX Fallout Remover - How to chemically decontaminate paint before restoring a show car finish by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

SONAX Fallout Remover - How to chemically decontaminate paint before restoring a show car finish by Mike Phillips






My very good friend Mike Stowe, former owner of Classic Instruments and bonafide car guy in the car hobby purchased this 1957 Oldsmobile from a museum. He installed a big block 455 Olds engine with aluminum heads and a big cam to help it get the groceries home. He also had some one-off custom wheels made for it and stuck some fatties in the back to help it launch off the line a little better... don't want the ice cream to melt before you get the groceries home.

Outside of that and a couple of wash jobs he says he's never done anything else to it. So I asked him if I could warm it over and amp up the gloss and clarity to the antique single stage paint and he said

She's all yours...


I also asked if it was okay to wash the car and Mike said yes . I don't normally wash classics like this but since he said he's already washed it a few time there's nothing I'm going to do that he hasn't already done in the way of getting water into all the nooks and crannies. So first process for this project...

Wash and chemically decontaminate the paint

In case you've never buffed out original, single stage lacquer or enamel paints, you can get AMAZING GLOSS out of them as they react so well to machine polishing. But first I need to create a foundation for which to build off of and that means chemically decontaminating the paint, getting the car uber clean and then I'll follow up with claying, machine polishing and then waxing.


So here's my preferred way to chemically decontaminate paint.

Step 1: Before getting the car wet, spray each panel down with a quality product that will remove all the junk that can build up on car paint over time. The SONAX Fallout Remover is more than an iron remover as it also removes industrial fallout, pollution and lime deposits.


Note the warm, gold glow this pictures has? The sun is just coming up over the horizon, it's early in the morning and temperatures are still cool.





Some of my favorite tools,

Wheel Woolies Wheel Brush
SONAX Fallout Cleaner
Foam Gun with SONAX Gloss Shampoo Concentrate
Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitt
Roll-around-cart







I've detailed 3 cars in the last year that were all purchased out of Museums and all of them needed decontamination, correction and polishing work and of course... a fresh coat of wax.







































On Autogeek.com

SONAX Fallout Cleaner

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...



Step 2: Foam the car, wash each body panel and then rinse.
















No water beading

I took this shot just to document it's been a while since the paint on this car has had any real attention...







Step 3: Dry car

To dry this huge car I'm going to use two Guzzlers from start to finish.





Finished and the car is completely dry and ready to move into Autogeek's Show Car Garage...






Here she is 100% absolutely surgically clean and ready for the next steps...






On Autogeek.com

SONAX Fallout Cleaner



To show the final results of the rest of the machine polishing steps performed to the original single stage paint, here's the after pictures from this project.

[FlyinLow]

Nice!! To this day I'm always amazed at the reflection that can be brought out on old original single stage paint. Can't wait to see the finished product. Mike, share the construction history on this vehicle… that was interesting.
-Jen

[axel06]

Very cool interested what polisher you are going to choose

[Marc08EX]

Great product showcase for the Sonax Fallout Cleaner Mike! I can't wait to see the final results for this car.

What are your plans to it? Meguiar's #7 before anything else?

[WRAPT C5Z06]

How is the smell of the Sonax? I just tried Poorboy's new Iron Remover and it smells TERRIBLE!! Very strong odor. Will make you cough. I understand the Iron Removers won't smell like air fresheners, but damn, Poorboy's was bad. Product worked good, though.

[Mike Phillips]

Very cool interested what polisher you are going to choose

RUPES

Mike, share the construction history on this vehicle… that was interesting.

-Jen

I'll have to get the details from Mike the owner. I agree, finding out that Oldsmobile did not build this car as a station wagon but another company took the four door model and turned it into a station wagon is interesting.

What are your plans to it? Meguiar's #7 before anything else?

The #7 Rub Out Technique is to restore or bring back from the dead antique paint that is visibly chalky and oxidized. This car doesn't have paint in that bad of condition. It would be a good idea to apply the #7 AFTER the machine polishing steps and BEFORE the machine sealing step but I don't know if I have time for that between now and tomorrow.

How is the smell of the Sonax?

You know.... I didn't notice an odor at all. I'll have to open the bottle and smell it.


Normally odors don't bother me. Vibration doesn't bother me. I just don't think I'm as sensitive to some of the things that bother other guys or I simply don't pay attention.

[Mike Phillips]

What are your plans to it? Meguiar's #7 before anything else?

After compounding and polishing the paint today I've decided to invest the time to machine apply an application of the #7 Show Car Glaze.

Because the car has the original paint, it's the right thing to do... I'll come in early to get a head start on this project.


Stay tuned...

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***


I clayed the car today using a white clay bar. The clay pulled all kinds of black stuff off the baby blue paint.

Just goes to show, chemical decontamination is limited in what it will remove. After chemically decontaminating the paint you must still mechanically decontaminate the paint.

[sawacs]

Mike, I noticed the Sonax Fallout Remover looks just like the IronX stuff in that it turns a purple color when sprayed on. What is the difference between the Sonax product and the IronX product?

Thanks,

Shawn