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

[Mike Phillips]

I have indeed read both of those articles(and most of your other ones in fact, haha). My confusion came from the fact that in the #7 article, you touted it as a way to save the paint vs "caveman rubbing compounds," which to me speaks more of a product like M105 or Ultimate Compound than an AIO product like M06.

M105, Ultimate Compound and cleaner/waxes like M06 are state of the art products. A caveman product would be something that uses antiquated abrasive technology that is coarse and unnecessarily aggressive.

I have witnessed first hand a person using a coarse, abrasive compound rubbing on an antique finish and rubbing through the paint, through the primer and exposing shiny steel on the trunk lid.

At that point he stopped.

I took over and rubbed the paint down with #7 and then used good product to "save" the paint on the car.

The entire car looked like it had a brand new paint job except the spot on the trunk lid where the "detailer" rubbed through trying to show how good he was.

Like I mention at least a couple of times in the article, the method is for someone that has a true "Barn Find" that wants to do everything they can to try to preserve the original paint instead of repainting.

Now one man's barn find or fill-in-the-blank can be different for everyone but the big picture is, if it's important to them, here's an option to take versus just starting out compounding like the average person would do.

As I understand it now though, youre saying the big advantage of this process is to help "condition" dried out paint so to speak?

Yes.

I stopped counting how many antique paint jobs have been saved from this procedure.


To everyone reading this into the future, now days there are LOTS of great products on the market but it didn't use to be like this... up until clear coats were introduced in the 1980's most compounds were coarse, abrasive, gritty products that scoured paint.

Today's detailers and weekend warriors are lucky. Like my friend Joe Fernandez aka Superior Shine said a few years ago,

"It used to be you actually needed some skill, experience and talent to create a show car finish... now just about anyone can do it"

And the reason just about anyone can do it is because tool, pad and product technology has dramatically improved, more so in the last few years than I've seen in my entire lifetime in this industry.

I agree with Joe.


Doesn't hurt to have a little experience, talent and skill though...

[Mike Phillips]

Oh yeah...

The bigger picture is....


Craig's Dodge Coronet looks marvelous!



Before



After





Nice work Craig...

[Jomax]

AMAZING turnaround!!!!!!!!!!! Im shocked at the before and after shot!!


Sent from my iPhone using AG Online

[Mike Phillips]

AMAZING turnaround!!!!!!!!!!! Im shocked at the before and after shot!!

Exactly.


I've seen a lot of dead paint brought back to life. Heck I've brought a lot of dead paint back to life.

Craig drove this car to Autogeek when he attended my detailing boot camp class and myself and my co-worker Jeff both went out and looked at his car while it was here in the parking lot and we both agreed the paint was absolutely shot.

Especially being a metallic because single stage metallic paints are without a doubt the hardest types of neglected paint to restore due to the aluminum flake that also oxidizes inside the paint.


But Craig performed a miracle with this old Dodge.


My article on how to restore antique single stage paint actually explains why single stage metallic paints are the hardest to restore...

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





Single Stage Metallic Paint = Difficult to Restore
Single stage, non-metallic paints like the above paint on the Ranchero are actually very easy to fix because the problem is for the most part just topical, that is the problem is just on the surface. All you have to do is remove the dead paint off the surface and if there's enough paint left then it's just a matter of polishing what's left to a high gloss. The most difficult paints to restore are single stage metallic paints.

The reason single stage metallic paints are the most difficult to restore is because not only does the paint itself oxidize, that is the resin used as the binder, (generally some type of seed oil like Flaxseed oil or Cottonseed oil), but also the aluminum flakes embodied inside the paint oxidize. This is where the problem lies.

It's a problem because the entire exterior surface of each individual aluminum flake oxidizes over time but you and I can only work on the surface of the paint and thus we can only work on the portion of the flake that is exposed at the surface level. Any portion of each aluminum flake that is below the surface and is surrounded by paint cannot be cleaned or polished so there's no way to remove the oxidation on the portions of the flakes inside the paint.

Oxidized Aluminum Turns Black
With metallic single stage paints, oxidation can show up as a darkening effect on medium to light colored paints because the aluminum metal flakes embodied inside the paint will stain or discolor the paint with a grayish black color.


If you’ve ever polished uncoated aluminum then you’ve seen this grayish black color coming off the aluminum and onto your polishing cloth as you work a metal polish over it. This same type of oxidation is taking place to the aluminum flake inside the paint.

Polishing Uncoated Aluminum





Oxidized Aluminum Comes Off Black

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Aluminum Polishing System


In the same way you see the black residue coming off the aluminum wheel onto the piece of white cotton terry cloth material above, when working on metallic single stage paints you will see black residue coming off the paint and onto you applicator pads, buffing pads and wiping towels.


This darkening effect can take place even at the same time the surface of the paint itself is turning chalky white. This is because you have two different substances oxidizing, both the paint and the aluminum flake, which both are oxidizing at the same time. The paint oxidizes white and the aluminum flake oxidizes black.

[BillE]

Simply OUTSTANDING!

To paraphrase, "Ah the smell of #7 in the morning..."

Bill

[Durrani_45]

Dude you rule

[vet]

Stupendous job!

[Mike Phillips]

Craig sent me an e-mail telling me that after he did the restoration on his Dodge it gained him at least two new detail jobs.

[Pinpoint_Precision]

I bet! That's a true transformation! It looks like a brand new paint job.

[Threehundredc]

i just polished a early 80s jeep did a light buffing with 105 and some followed by some M26 that sat on there for like 30 minutes. should i have let it glaze first?