My recipe for old paint restoration.

[garyd1961]

At first I had planned to repaint my truck but after working on it for a while I decided to keep as much of the old paint as possible. It was in bad shape. I actually used a wire brush on the hood when I bought the truck 10 years ago.
My recipe is simple but effective. I oiled the whole truck with motor oil and let it soak in for a day then go over it with Johnson Paste Wax. Johnson Paste Wax doesn't turn white in the scratches like car wax. I need to apply a second coat of wax but here is the results. Sorry this was a spur of the moment thing and I didn't get any before pictures but the change was dramatic.

[JCD]

In a way you've helped your truck's finish.
Red paint oxidizes faster because it's iron that makes it red.
If it starts to oxidize again, let me recommend a product that's available at most Pep Boy's and the like.

TR3.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...A.oap?pt=N0458

I've applied it to two different red cars that were terribly oxidized, and it took off the dull coating, and brought it back to a shine.
Lasts for years too.

J.

[CG]

When I was a kid I had a 69 AMX that the paint had oxidized on. I wanted to sell the car so I used what I had on hand to pep it up a bit ... I armoralled the whole thing. Looked great, but the next owner was going to have a heck of a time with a new paint job, fish eye city. Is that the same thing that will happen if you use motor oil on the body and want to paint it in the future?

[davepl]

Does Turtle Wax still make "Color Back"? It was a weirdly annoying and impressive product.

It could "restore" old faded paint in one step chemically, somehow. But if you didn't then take care of it, it'd fade with a massive new oxidation step about 2 weeks later. That was my only experience with it... if it stayed nice with a coat of wax, it'd be an amazing product.

[garyd1961]

Originally Posted by CG

When I was a kid I had a 69 AMX that the paint had oxidized on. I wanted to sell the car so I used what I had on hand to pep it up a bit ... I armoralled the whole thing. Looked great, but the next owner was going to have a heck of a time with a new paint job, fish eye city. Is that the same thing that will happen if you use motor oil on the body and want to paint it in the future?

I wish I had done this 10 years ago. If I had I would still have 99% of the original paint left. The reason I didn't is because I thought I would just put a cheap paint job on it someday. This truck was in pretty bad shape when I got it and I never thought I would be rebuilding it as far as I have. I probably save it from the junkyard and although it will never be a show winning truck it's still a good truck and I enjoy driving it.
I'm thinking of getting another and taking it back down to the frame and rebuilding it but I enjoy driving this one too much to set it down for that long.