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

[cartman57]

The knowledge you have and the information you share is invaluable for everyone.
Thank you!!

Has there ever been a paint finish that intimated you or didn't turn out as you thought it should have?

[Motrecrerbnom]

Hi all,
thanks for reading.
Im planning to replace my cushion cover or to replace them, thinking of semi-leather full leather if the price is right.
Since my car is already obsolete design, will have to custom-order the seat covers.
Anybody can recommend a shop around Klang Valley - good quality and affordable.
Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Here's another original single stage paint job restored...

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



Before







After

[Countersteer46]

Mike, the white microfiber towels that you used on the Lincoln that you originally said would be available for a limited time, were those the same as these: Arctic White Microfiber Towel, microfiber cloth, detailing towel

If not, what would you recommend that is similar to the towels you used? Seems like the style of towel was integral to the process. Thanks!

[Countersteer46]

Ok. Read through the entire article and it is all clear, except for one thing. After hand applying the wax, what is the reason for polishing and then re-waxing? I would have thought it's best to apply #7, then polish, then wax at the end. If I'm understanding the article(s) correctly, apply #7, then hand wax, then machine polish, then machine wax. The "hand wax" step seems out of place to this neophyte. I would love to know the reason behind it, as I've always been told that wax goes on last.

Mike, I was also wondering, I plan on helping my uncle with his '68 GTO in mayfair maize with a white top. I've read your articles about how hard white SS paint is due to titanium dioxide powder. How would one modify the procedure in this article for harder white paint? Thanks!

[sproketser]

Gee , just saw that thread , great results , Had to see it in order to believe it ! Just perfect work from Mike again .

[Mike Phillips]

Mike, the white microfiber towels that you used on the Lincoln that you originally said would be available for a limited time, were those the same as these: Arctic White Microfiber Towel, microfiber cloth, detailing towel

If not, what would you recommend that is similar to the towels you used? Seems like the style of towel was integral to the process. Thanks!

At the time I wrote this article, Autogeek had in stock the microfiber towels you see me using in the article. They were a fairly stout nap microfiber towel.

When doing the first step, in most cases you want a cloth that has a stout nap, not a soft and gentle nap because you're using the NAP as your abrasive. Too soft a nap and too little cleaning or abrading ability.

What I normally use is a good quality, 100% cotton wash cloth, like you would use to bathe with. When I rubbed out Wayne Carini's 1946 Hudson I "borrowed" the wash cloths from our hotel as most hotels use some type of 100% cotton terry cloth for all their towels.

I use a wash cloth because they are the right size once you fold them 4-ways to create the perfect square that the face of your hand will fit on while rubbing the paint.

Ok. Read through the entire article and it is all clear, except for one thing.

After hand applying the wax, what is the reason for polishing and then re-waxing?

(bunch of stuff cut out)

IF you go to post #4 you'll read this...

Machine Polishing AFTER Hand Conditioning
In the first installment of this article we looked at how to safely and carefully restore oxidized, neglected single stage metallic paint by hand without using abrasives. Besides removing topical oxidation we conditioned the paint, making it more workable than it was when we started. And to some level this can prepare the paint for more advanced techniques like machine polishing to try to take the paint to an even higher level of finish quality.

When I wrote this article I wrote it for a very wide spectrum of people. The machine polishing step is an OPTIONAL step. It just depends upon how nice the paint came out after ONLY HAND POLISHING AND WAXING.

And it depends upon your APPEARANCE GOAL for the car and your comfort level with the amount of paint still left on the car. Machine polishing is going to remove more paint so SOME PEOPLE might want to stop after the first section above, the hand polishing and hand waxing.

SOME PEOPLE might want to go further so if they do... I wrote a section for them.


IF a person wants to machine polish after conditioning the paint then instead of waxing like I did you would go right to the machine polishing step and only apply your choice of wax at the very end of the process.


Sorry for the confusion but that's what sometimes happens when you write everything into one article.

Mike, I was also wondering, I plan on helping my uncle with his '68 GTO in mayfair maize with a white top. I've read your articles about how hard white SS paint is due to titanium dioxide powder. How would one modify the procedure in this article for harder white paint? Thanks!

Good question, for those reading this into the future, here's the article he's referencing....

The Lesson White Paint Teaches Us


As to your question... I would stay with very paint safe products and only use clean soft "application materials", by application materials this means ANYTHING you're going to apply any product with by hand or machine, so applicator pads or buffing pads.

What you want to avoid is putting any scratches into the white paint as they will be difficult to remove. Removing what's already there will usually be hard enough.

That said, by hand or machine the Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover and Advanced Finishing Polish are very safe by hand or machine.

When working by machine, use foam pads when you can and if you cut with a wool pad on a rotary, use a quality compound and follow-up with a foam pad by machine.


How about some pictures?


Good questions by the way...

[Mike Phillips]

I've been asked to restore the ORIGINAL paint on this 1955 DeSoto Firedome with the original Hemi engine. I'll be using all the techniques I shared in this article for the restoration.

[r1lark]

Mike,

I’m trying to bring back an early-‘70s repaint that is on my ’54 Studebaker, and am following your instructions regarding the use of M07 to ‘feed’ and restore the neglected paint. I’m in the process of using the M07 on the car now, concentrating on the hood/roof/trunklid. I’m on my second 24-hour soaking and plan on continuing that until the paint doesn’t seem to be taking any more of the oils. I’m amazed at how much the terrycloth takes off the oxidation.

Not sure if I will try the M80 at this time, but if I do which of the following Lake Country foam pads would you recommend with my Porter Cable 7427XP: white, orange, or yellow? What speed setting would be best?

The car is stored in an open carport, so does get some sun, dust, etc and will get driven frequently to work, shows, etc so something fairly tough and long lasting is needed to ‘seal in’ the oils from the M07. I have Griot’s Paint Sealant, as well as Meguiar’s Gold Class “Carnauba PLUS paste wax. Would either of these work well? I sort of lean to the Griot’s Paint Sealant since longevity of the protection is primary and the ‘shine’ factor is secondary. Anything even more suitable that you would recommend?

Mike, thanks for any help you can provide me on these questions. I’m just glad that I found your ‘restoring antique single stage paint’ article before I started on this rejuvenation – it definitely changed my direction!

[Mike Phillips]

Mike,

I’m trying to bring back an early-‘70s repaint that is on my ’54 Studebaker, and am following your instructions regarding the use of M07 to ‘feed’ and restore the neglected paint. I’m in the process of using the M07 on the car now, concentrating on the hood/roof/trunk lid.

I’m on my second 24-hour soaking and plan on continuing that until the paint doesn’t seem to be taking any more of the oils. I’m amazed at how much the terrycloth takes off the oxidation.

It is somewhat amazing considering most people think of abrasives as particles that are more like sand then the simple cotton loop called the nap that makes up terry cloth toweling...

Not sure if I will try the M80 at this time, but if I do which of the following Lake Country foam pads would you recommend with my Porter Cable 7424XP: white, orange, or yellow? What speed setting would be best?

If using the M80 Speed Glaze, which is like #7 on steroids as it's rich in the same polishing oils as #7 plus diminishing abrasives, then try it first with the white polishing pad on the 6 setting.

The car is stored in an open carport, so does get some sun, dust, etc and will get driven frequently to work, shows, etc so something fairly tough and long lasting is needed to ‘seal in’ the oils from the M07. I have Griot’s Paint Sealant, as well as Meguiar’s Gold Class “Carnauba PLUS paste wax. Would either of these work well? I sort of lean to the Griot’s Paint Sealant since longevity of the protection is primary and the ‘shine’ factor is secondary. Anything even more suitable that you would recommend?

Old school single stage paints seem to always look great with Carnauba waxes but synthetic sealants do tend to last longer.

My recommendation to you would be is that after you've done all this work, follow the sage advice of,

"Find a product you like and use it often"


In your case, what this means is instead of doing all this work and then trying to use a wax or sealant that will keep the paint looking great with no more attention for long periods of time, instead, apply the Carnauba Wax as this will provide that deep, wet shine like everyone loves and then on a regular basis, like every 3 months, re-apply the #7 to maintain the results you achieve and then re-apply a coat of wax.


Frequent car care is easy car care...


It's only when you let the paint go downhill that you have to do all the extra steps and work to undo the damage and get the paint back to where it was...

Mike, thanks for any help you can provide me on these questions. I’m just glad that I found your ‘restoring antique single stage paint’ article before I started on this rejuvenation – it definitely changed my direction!

So glad to hear this... I can't count how many times I've seen a single stage paint job on some classic car or even worse, a survivor pulled out of some barn or old garage only to be ruined by the local car detailing expert that the first thing they do is start in with the compounding...


Now... did you take some GREAT before pictures?

Because you can never go back in time and get the before pictures and it's the before pictures that make the after pictures powerful. I explain this in my article below...

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


One of the first questions I asked the owner of the 1955 DeSoto was,

Has anyone buffers a small section on the hood or trunk lid?

And the answer was "no".

My follow-up was to tell the owner,


DON'T LET ANYONE TOUCH IT!


Because experience has shown me that all too often some well-meaning buddy will come along and show how smart he is by buffing a small section on the hood or trunk lid and ruin the before pictures.

When taking before pictures of neglected, oxidized single stage paint what you want is,

Uniform Ugly


What you don't want is,

Mostly ugly with a shiny spot right in the middle