My old paint looks great!

[Teekass]

I have a '77 2+2 and I stumbled onto a product that made my paint look great. Before I go into it, I promise I am NOT affiliated with Meguiars or Porter Cable.

 

I was looking for a way to fix my wifes car (not the Z) because her clear coat was pretty dulled. I called Meguiars, and they asked if it would be applied by hand, or with a polisher. I told them I planned to use my polisher (Porter Cable 7424-same as you can get at Lowes, but they call it a 7336sp $100.00). They recommended "Meguiars 83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish" ($25.00 at a nearby paint supply store) applied with the random-orbital sander/polisher, followed by Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax (Wal-mart). It worked really well, so for kicks, I tried it on the Z and I could not believe the results. I used the polisher on medium speed (speed 3.....max is 6) with the buffer pad they included. It was extremely fast and easy....I'll never apply wax, etc. by hand again.

 

I think the M83 Polish is made for base/clear paint, but it still worked great on my one-step enamel paint. If you have a one-step paint job, just beware when you use it, and know that you are removing a small amount of actual paint (the dulled top layer) and dont spend a lot of time buffing one area. My paint was very dull, and actually had a rainbow look to it (like the way gasoline does on the surface of water). I was almost embarrassed do drive it, but now it looks great. If you are considering getting a new paint job, I would NOT recommend doing what I did....just put the $125.00 towards the paint job. I was just looking for a way to spruce up my dull paint job, and now am very pleased with it!

 

 

I didn't use this pad, I used the BUFFER!

 

 

I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I didn't. Here is an after picture of the right front fender showing the clear reflection.

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1768&stc=1&d=1164653844

 

Oh yeah, I'm new to this forum....is there an easier way to attach an image from my computer than by doing the thumbnail/link? The top 2 pictures were from web-sites, so I just copied and pasted them.....couldn't do it with the picture of my car which was on my hard drive.

[Teekass]

Thanks for the kind words Ernie. I've read many of your posts, just browsing around and you set a great example for the rest of us. I regret not having any pics to add, but I especially enjoyed reading your "old school photo" thread....great stuff!

Thanks again,

Chris

[Rollins240z]

Was it a wool pad or a foam pad? What color was it? I know there are a lot of different options on what type of pad you are using for different levels of cutting or polishing. Do you have any swirls.

 

Thanks --- Ryan

[Teekass]

Ryan,

I used 2 different pads, one for the M83 polish and another one for the wax....however, they were both made of foam. I used the foam pad included in the Porter Cable kit (white colored) for the M83 and I bought a Meguairs W-9006 foam pad for the wax (beige colored). http://yhst-69137106204828.stores.yahoo.net/meg231.html I would recommend getting something like the 3M "Hook-It" #05776 pad http://www.azautobodysupply.com/3mhodipa056i.html that you see below. It has velcro on the bottom of it, so all you have to do is tear off the polish pad, and stick on the wax pad, or sandpaper or whatever else you want to use......rather than having to unscrew the entire wheel each time. (Obviously you have to get the velcro backed foam pad or sandpaper to use the Hook-It setup). It's a little bit more expensive at first, but by the time you buy a couple of the foam pads with the velcro on the back (as opposed to the whole assembly with the pad and screw), you get your money back......and its a heck alot easier than trying to figure out where you left the special tool to change the pads, and actually changing them. I bought all my stuff from a local auto paint supply house.

 

As far as texture goes, I'm not sure what level the white pad was that was included in the Porter Cable kit.....it seemed to be very close to the Meguiars buff pad I used, which is a very NON abrasive one. I think you get most of the abrasion from the polish that you use. Mequiars is pretty neat in that they put the level of abrasion on the outside of the bottle shown as a scale with an arrow. The M83 is in the middle of the abrasion scale.

 

The big thing about the "random orbit" polishers is they advertise to be "swirl-free." I'm sure you could damage your paint with one if you tried, but if I could do it without swirls (and I did) anyone can. What I did was the first time I used the pad, I applied some polish to the pad to lubricate it, then just squirted a line of polish on the paint. From there on, I just put a small line of polish on the paint, and moved it around with the polisher. The thing that suprised me was how quickly it worked. I used speed 3 (of 6) on the polisher and moved the polisher roughly 24" in 3-4 seconds. I started on the fender, by the time you get it done, the part where you started starts to haze, so I buffed it off with a terry cloth (by hand). It comes off very easily and shiny. If its not shiny at that point, you might need to move the polisher across the paint a little slower.....but that speed worked for me. I applied the wax the same way (with the foam pad, and buffed clean by hand).

 

I don't claim to be even close to knowledgable in this area, this just worked for me. I have heard that a wool pad in the hands of a professional will get the best finish by far.....but in the hands of an amateur (like me) gets swirl marks and areas of burned paint and bare metal . In my opinion, the random orbital polishers are easy to use, swirl free and allow me to do a way better job than I could using a high speed buffer.

 

The pics below show the Hook-It pad, the middle two are the white pad the comes with the Polisher (I used for the M83 polish), and the last one is the Mequiars pad I used to apply the wax.

 

Hope this helps,

[AK-Z]

Nice. I don't really like Meguiars because of the fact that its formulated to work in temps higher in average from wher I live (experience). Seems to work great for you from what I see.