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

[MitchLiving]

I have not seen the video but what I teach and practice myself is to use the least aggressive process to get the job done.

I don't know if the paint Larry was working on would be considered antique or original as I have not seen the video.

IF it was antique single stage paint I would not have wetsanded it but instead would have used the product and techniques I present in this article you're posting your question to.


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


Rubbing oxidized antique paint down with #7 and a piece of cotton terry cloth is the least aggressive process I can think of to restore antique single stage paint.

Wetsanding antique single stage paint is the most aggressive process I can think of to restore antique single stage paint.

So if the car and the paint were antique I would not myself wetsand the paint or recommend it. If he was working on modern or recent paint then I personally would have probably not started out by wetsanding but I don't know the back story on the car, the paint or the project. I'm sure Larry did know the story and his procedure was spot on for his purposes.




If I go by just what you shared above, this part,


very old oxidized Porsche

Then I would personally would NOT wetsand the paint on the Porsche. I've been doing the #7 rub-down all my detailing life and I've been sharing this technique ever since I started posting to the Internet and I've been contacted by HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of people over the years that have followed the techniques I share for saving antique paint with nothing but glowing stories of success.

Rubbing with #7 and terry cloth and your elbow grease is very safe and very effective on this type of paint and that's what the goal is... safe and effective.

Wetsanding removes paint
Compounding to remove your sanding marks removes paint
Polishing to refine the results of compounding removes paint

That's just a little too much emphasis on removing paint for my taste when working on antique single stage paint and especially when it's someone else's car.

Read this write-up and look at the pictures and know that this antique single stage paint was saved by the simple approach.

Pictures: 1958 Cadillac Extreme Makeover- Original Single Stage Paint!


BEFORE



AFTER



And the above was done without wet sanding... just a little elbow grease, some cotton terry cloth and a product that's been around since the time of the Model T.






Where you at with this project? I'm confident you'll make the right decision and the car will come out looking beautiful!

Mike as always your answers are always so detailed and to the point. I will be going to look at the car sometime next week, He's a teacher and I wanted to wait until the end of the summer semester.

I wanted to get the research done before I made it over there with a huge question mark over my head. I will take pictures of the car next week and try the least aggressive method as you suggested.

[mc2hill]

Wow, I cannot believe I missed this great article Mike!

I picked up some #7 yesterday for the 1919 White truck I will be working on this weekend.

Thanks again Mike!

[BillE]

Wow, I cannot believe I missed this great article Mike!

I picked up some #7 yesterday for the 1919 White truck I will be working on this weekend.

Thanks again Mike!

WOW!

Pictures please.

Bill

[mc2hill]

Wow, I cannot believe I missed this great article Mike!

I picked up some #7 yesterday for the 1919 White truck I will be working on this weekend.

Thanks again Mike!

WOW!

Pictures please.

Bill

I was mistaken, it was a 1918 White truck. It had been repainted in the early 1980's, and the paint is in good shape, but I applied the #7 anyway.
I will get some pics up soon. We are 'freshening it up' for possible resale.

[Mike Phillips]

I was mistaken, it was a 1918 White truck. It had been repainted in the early 1980's, and the paint is in good shape, but I applied the #7 anyway.

Can't hurt. Plus it helps to stave off future oxidation.

I will get some pics up soon.

We are 'freshening it up' for possible resale.

Already looking forward to the pics....

[mc2hill]

WOW!

Pictures please.

Bill

Can't hurt. Plus it helps to stave off future oxidation.





Already looking forward to the pics....

As requested, a write up and pictures are in this thread - Cleaning up a 1918 White truck

[House of Wax]

Well, I've got a project I did some testing on and will be scheduling soon. It's my buddy/neighbors 78 or 79 Lincoln Towncar. It was his grandfather's car that he bought brand new and got passed down. Going to be a TON of work, but I'm pretty excited to do it:










Did some testing on the trunk to try this method out and make sure the paint would come back and be worth doing:









I'd say it looks a little better

[mudman]

Thanks for this incredible thread Mike. I will be using this process to bring back and protect the single stage paint front bumper, on my 2008 Toyota Tacoma after years of neglect.

[mudman]

Mike,

I did your steps to remove the oxidation on my door handles, it was turning pink.

Would 105 be too aggressive to remove the swirls that are left behind with a DA polisher? I was thinking 205 with a white CCS pad might not be aggressive enough.

I also have Ultimate compound, Swirl-X, and Scratch-X. Not sure which is more appropriate vs the 105.

Thank you
Gary

[kaanage]

Hi Mike and other single stage paint experts,

I'm still a bit puzzled by the hand buffing requirement for this process. I understand that one of the goals is to revitalise the paint by working in the oils in the Show Glaze but another is to also remove the oxidation with the abrasive action of the terry towel.
Couldn't this be done using the Show Glaze with a VERY soft (eg LC Gold CCS) pad on a 8mm throw DA at speed 2 or 3 with no pressure?

The main issue that I could think of is that you may need a lot of pads as they could quickly clog with the oxidized layer that is being removed.

Or does the following mean that you would use up a lot of product with the pad swaps as well (although the pads wouldn't absorb the oils the same way the towels do.

Your towel acts like a filter
Here I've unfolded the towel to show you what it looks like. As you can see the towel is completely saturated through and through with the polishing oils found in #7. The towel acts like a filter: as new product is placed onto the working face of the towel some product seeps through while the majority is worked into and over the paint after the towel reaches maximum saturation. The oils that filter through the towel are different than the original product that comes out of the bottle. If I were to refold the towel when applying the #7 I would be in essence changing the product as I would be introducing the fresh product out of the bottle to a different version of itself on a different fold of the towel. I could switch out the used towel for a fresh towel but then I would have to re-saturate the towel all over again and that would use up a lot of product.

I just like to understand the physical processes involved a little better.

Greg