protecting and improving my finish

[Red69stepside]

My truck has a combination of pretty good-looking red paint, and some areas where it's dull and a little orange, though the previous owner said those areas just need polishing and waxing. Is this right?

What's the best way to make the finish look great and protect it?

also, what does it mean when people say a paint job has never been buffed?

is that good?

[thisolechevy]

Buffing is what a GOOD body man will do after the last clear coat, it invovlves sp?? different soft pads on a high speed sander or buffer to do exactly what the name says "buff" the paint until there are no imperfections, and color changes.
Hope that helps, I your truck has never been buffed I would suggest doing it!!!!

[Orange70chevy]

Are the dull areas on the hood and roof? What I am thinking it is is your truck was painted with a single stage. In my experience with single stage paint is that flat panels tend to dull out (I'm guessing because of a over exposure of the sun?). What you need to do is buff these areas out and then apply a coat of wax. I found that keeping a single stage finish waxed will keep it from dulling out. As far as buffing being good or bad. Buffing is used to remove orange peel, fish eyes, dull finishes, &........... so IMO it is good what I think you are hearing is painters bragging about how smooth they can lay out the paint.

[Red69stepside]

That makes sense.

What do I use to buff it? I'd guess a soft cloth and some sort of compound.

My dad use to use Simonize, but that was even before this 69 was made.

I appreciate the help, I'm new to the board and this is my first old truck.

[guyryan100]

"Never ben Buffed"... wasn't that a movie?

[chevytruckfan]

Welcome from Tampa, FL. I use Meguires to polish and wax for SS paints. You really don't cant to cut into the fininsh on SS. But for DS which is base coat/clear coat you would want to use a cutting compound like mirror glaze as a "buffing" compound. If has not then I would recommend doing it and then polish and wax. It will make your finish look 100 times better.

[Red69stepside]

Wo-o-o. you're flying way over my head there, chevytruckfan.
What's meguires?
What are SS paints?
What do you mean by "cut into the finish"? Is that a good or bad thing to do?
What's DS?
(I'm gonna guess that "base coat" is opaque colored paint and "clear coat" is some kind of transparent top coat, but it is just a guess.)
What's mirror glaze?
What do I polish with?
What do I wax with?

You can tell I'm REAL new at this.

Thanks for the help.

[ChevLoRay]

To those who can buff paint, it is an art. If the compound is too aggressive, and/or you are not careful when you are applying pressure to the paint, you can buff through the paint, even to the metal.

SS = Single Stage paint, i.e., enamel, or lacquer without a clear coat.

DuPont used to make 2 grades of buffing compound: one was white, and was the finer of the two grades. The other was reddish, and was coarser.

Meguiars is a brand name of all sorts of finishes and dressings for automotive use, such as for tires, wheels, paint, chrome, and interiors, for example. Barry Meguiar is the host of "Car Crazy", seen on the Speed Channel.

Old Dupont No. 7 was a good polish, not a wax. For a wax, Classic makes a pure carnuba that is really good. Simonize is another old stand-by.

Bottom line: If the paint on your vehicle is as old as the body, you don't want to get too aggressive in compounding, polishing and/or waxing it, but some protection is better than none. I've seen old cars and trucks that had been buffed and waxed so many times that the primer was shiny where it showed through the paint. If your paint is old, it's probably thin. If it looks good when it's wet, It may be too late, but at least you'll know after you get somel wax on it. Sometimes, when you find that it looks cloudy, like you can't get the wax off of it, it needed to have been compounded first.

[busterwivell]

Welcome to the board. I don't know where you live, but here in the Southwest, the sun is murder on paint. If you have a paint shop (automotive) in your area that will answer questions, they can probably fix you up with the stuff to buff out that paint, if it can be saved. The one I use here (too frequently, according to the wife) is very helpful with stuff like that.

[Red69stepside]

Thanks again for the primer on paint and cleaners. This truck's lived nea san Jose California, and Im taking it to southwest Washington, near Washougal.

So I'm going to start looking for paint and body guys when I get out of this hideously expensive part of the world. My bet is that there are a lot of great craftsmen up there.

Soon as I get the truck back from getting new brakes, I'll shoot it and post it before I attack the finish.

[blazer1971]

No guyryan100, that was not a movie it was a song by Jimmy Buffet.

[67shortie]

On top of what everyone else said, pick up some 'body clay' at your local chain auto parts store and use that first on the oxidation before hitting it with a buffer. This will remove quite a bit of it before compounding, and it is a safe procedure