Best Wax / Compound for old paint ?

[Blue71LWB]

What have ya'll found to be the best for bringing back some shine on these old trucks? My truck has the original paint and it's in real good condition , just a litle dull.

Thanks,
Zac

[Ace in the hole]

Look for a multi step wax system, mothers has a good one. start with either a clay bar or hand glaze to remove the impurities in the finish and start to bring back the shine, then move on to the other steps. It will take some elbow grease but the results are worth it

[jkade]

I went from this


To this with 3m products and a 7" buffer with lots of hard work.

[So.Cal.Super]

I have used the maguires car wax sytem, starting with a wash / clay bar / cleaner wax / polish / wax. I have also used the 3m products with a buffer and had great results. If you not used to a highspeed buffer becareful you don't burn or swirl the paint. or you can do what I do now. I have a good detail guy I pay $60 bucks to just to buff it out every 6 months with the high speed then I just wash every few weeks and wax it once a month.

[AuggieStyle]

clay bar and then 3M trizac all in one system with a 7in buffer would be my plan of attack, ONLY if the clear coat is in good condition NO peeling, fading, or major chips.
and SoCal is absolutely correct if you have never used a buffer, pay someone.
it really comes down to what your time is worth. if it takes you five hours to do it by hand=and sixty dollars to have someone else do it, well that is about $12 an hour.

[So.Cal.Super]

Originally Posted by AuggieStyle

it really comes down to what your time is worth. if it takes you five hours to do it by hand=and sixty dollars to have someone else do it, well that is about $12 an hour.

agreed. the last time I did mine with the wash / clay bar / cleaner wax / polish / wax. then vac detail and dress the inside I think I spent about 8 hours on, granted i'm picky when I do it and it did look good. I think it rained 2 days later.

[TotalChevy1]

my truck was in the same condition as JKADE. 3m has some go stuff and they have a 10wheel. It's not going to be easy, it took a good 12 hours.

[jkade]

The pisser about mine is that it doesn't stay shiny long no matter how much wax you put on it.

[ChevLoRay]

Ain't it wonderful to have the chemicals that we now have? I was thinking about the basic wash, then using the compounds like the pink, then white, rubbing compounds, then a good carnuba wax....all applied with lots of elbow grease and taking a lot of time.

With clear coat finishes, there may be limitations on what can be used, or maybe not. It's been a while since I had anything that was needing a good cleaning/wax, just to be brief.

[greasy68]

You guys have me sold on the 3M stuff. What is it and where can I get it?

[jkade]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3M-PE...spagenameZWDVW


That will get you the results and you will have plenty left over.

[TotalChevy1]

I bought mine at my local auto paint store. I'll have to check, it's called something cut....it's pretty agressive, but it worked, they also told me to use mcquires ?????. It's more like a oil that you put on and wait a couple days before putting a final coat of wax. My guy said do this a couple time before puting the wax (Mcquires 4 yellow wax) on, so the paint can soak it up. The down side is if your paint is completely dead, like on the hood, it's a short lived success. On my hood I have to do it every couple months it keep the shine. At one point I'll run out of paint

[Warren]

no such thing as best. Get a detailer to look at your paint do a few tests and tell you what you have, he will know what it is and what can be done from there.

The red truck up top is one of the easiest, probably older acyrlic enamel or lacquer all oxidized, you could spit on it and rub it with your nand and it would get better. I did tests on one a while back wtih Sure finish and a wool pad and in seconds it came up to bright red again instead of the dead pink colour.

Autobodystore.com sells polish and pads from a good detailer in LA. I use his stuff Surefinish, wool pads and his orange foam pad. I prefer to support them over the big ones, especially McGuires, I doubt Barry has polished too many cars rather deal with someone who actually does it. There is lots of info there on polishing as well and you can post questions, the Sure finish is very easy to use and is a non diminshing abrasive with no fillers.

I saw a car at a meet in Windsor Ontario one year on display from a big company, it was horrible, salesguy proudly said yes it was done with their products when I asked him. Salesguy.

Depending on your truck it probably is not just a case of waxing but a case of preparing the paint and getting it as best as possible then after waxing to take care. You talked about bringing bac the shine so here below is bringing back the shine, that is with no wax but preparing the paint first.

This is 20 year old acrylic enamel. water sanded then done with the Surefinish, there is no wax on it. THere wasnt much paint there and it is acrylic enamal metallic and I should not have water sanded it down flat. Still wanted to see what could be done.

If you want good protection the synthetic waxes are better. I saw a car do one full year car washes through a canadian winter and it it still looked good a year later. It was waxed with a high quality synthetic boat wax.

Sawdust

[AuggieStyle]

i wish you would have taken the picture of the entire vehicle before and after, so we could have had a better idea.

[67_C-30]

My '69 C10 was oxidized when I got it, and used 3M Perfect It II Rubbing Compound and Meguire's Mirror Glaze wax. Here's a before and after.

[jkade]

Originally Posted by Warren

The red truck up top is one of the easiest, probably older acyrlic enamel or lacquer all oxidized, you could spit on it and rub it with your nand and it would get better. Sawdust

That is pretty funny right there I wish it would have been that easy, you don't know how many hours it took me to get that thing to look like that. Wax would not even cut that a bit and neither would rubbing compound by hand. I bet I went over that truck 5 times with the buffer and it was a professional buffer not one of them from wal-mart.

[kaycee]

Did you guys that use the 3-m stuff use a buffer or ??They did turn out nice

[Warren]

Actually on my red truck up here it was not funny it was a joy. Maybe yours was single stage Urathane or some hard paint, maybe it was how you approached it what pads what polishes or if it was watersanded first etc.

Old soft acrylic enamel was on this truck and it was easy, I had a 65 pontiac like that, I spit on it and rubbed it a bit and the oxidation went away, the car was cypress green acylic enamel, every few months it turner purple. Excellent car it was.

It just depends on what the paint is and taking a buffer and sure finish which is very fine to that pink truck brought it to life instantly. It turned the wool pad bright red in seconds.

I didnt polish my whole truck cause to do it right it all had to be watersanding first. Plus the paint is old junk that is toast. That photo showed the paint was crap and that when watersanded and polished back up you will get lots of shine, iprobably 95 percent of the shine will come from paint that is properly prepared if there is paint to work with.

I have been to LA to learn a bit about detailling cars and know a guy up here who is a monster at detaiing and I quiclkly learned if you do it for a living you need a mass of experience to do it well and understand all the dynamics of what is there. Thats why going to a detailer is good, tell you the kind of paint and do some tests and tell you what can be done. Lots of times the difference will be amazing.

You can just wax it and it will have a bit of protection but in many casss there is stuff that can be done to the paint first to prepare it and make it right and in most cases it takes alot of time to do it right.

I watched a detailer take two full days to watersand and polish back up a Golf that had been painted a year earlier, it was pretty much a show car when it was done and it had 400k on the car. Just a damn mirror then he coated it with a synthetic boat sealer and a year later it looked great, it was also used as a work vehicle.

I have only learned a bit about it so far and it was far deeper to learn to polish than I ever thought. After time with this detailer up here who makes his own polishes and started doing this at 12 years old it was very clear there was alot to understand and some of it had to come from many years experience at least when you do it for a living and the history and what you are working with is different on each job.


Sawdust

[jkade]

Originally Posted by Warren

Actually on my red truck up here it was not funny it was a joy. Maybe yours was single stage Urathane or some hard paint, maybe it was how you approached it what pads what polishes or if it was watersanded first etc.

Old soft acrylic enamel was on this truck and it was easy, I had a 65 pontiac like that, I spit on it and rubbed it a bit and the oxidation went away, the car was cypress green acylic enamel, every few months it turner purple. Excellent car it was.

It just depends on what the paint is and taking a buffer and sure finish which is very fine to that pink truck brought it to life instantly. It turned the wool pad bright red in seconds.

I didnt polish my whole truck cause to do it right it all had to be watersanding first. Plus the paint is old junk that is toast. That photo showed the paint was crap and that when watersanded and polished back up you will get lots of shine, iprobably 95 percent of the shine will come from paint that is properly prepared if there is paint to work with.

I have been to LA to learn a bit about detailling cars and know a guy up here who is a monster at detaiing and I quiclkly learned if you do it for a living you need a mass of experience to do it well and understand all the dynamics of what is there. Thats why going to a detailer is good, tell you the kind of paint and do some tests and tell you what can be done. Lots of times the difference will be amazing.

You can just wax it and it will have a bit of protection but in many casss there is stuff that can be done to the paint first to prepare it and make it right and in most cases it takes alot of time to do it right.

I watched a detailer take two full days to watersand and polish back up a Golf that had been painted a year earlier, it was pretty much a show car when it was done and it had 400k on the car. Just a damn mirror then he coated it with a synthetic boat sealer and a year later it looked great, it was also used as a work vehicle.

I have only learned a bit about it so far and it was far deeper to learn to polish than I ever thought. After time with this detailer up here who makes his own polishes and started doing this at 12 years old it was very clear there was alot to understand and some of it had to come from many years experience at least when you do it for a living and the history and what you are working with is different on each job.


Sawdust

I thought you was talking about my truck