How to clean exterior finish that’s been sitting in the sun for years

[awryexperiment]

1) You never stated the goal..... do you want it to be shiny? do you want patina? do you want it jut decent for your daily driver? do you intend to paint it in a few years?

2) Comet and Scotchbrite take a lot of paint off, but they are fast. So these are OK for patina, or for an OK DD, or if you intend to paint it in a few years. These will not give you a mirror finish. A lot of people will put on an oil top coat to make it shinier after the scrubbing is done. Again: quick, easy and OK results.

3) machine compounding followed by polishing could get you a mirror finish if the paint isn't too far gone. This is a slower method and can give the glossiest finish but if the paint is bad then will only give you a finish slightly better than comet or scotchbrite. Note that a mirror finish will also more easily highlight dings dents and other waviness in the body, so this could end-up being a bad approach.