Hey all! A friend of mine recommended me to his neighbor for a detail job. This morning I took a look at the truck to give the guy an estimate. Come to find out it's a 1974 Chevy Truck that this guy had repainted himself about 4 years ago. He did a decent job but the paint is really faded from sitting outside all the time. Then the guy tells me that there is no clear coat! I told him I normally work newer cars so I would have to do some research first. I am not sure if I'm willing to take this job on to tell you the truth. What are some risks I should be concerned with? He said he normally takes it to a detail shop in town so I know it's been detailed before. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! LuDawg
A lot of risks. unless you have a PTG (Paint Thickness Gauge) you wont know how much paint there is. And you might burn through. I would suggest light polish with a PC. Since its single stage paint you will get paint transfer on the pad
It's SS paint... its not some scary thing lol... a ptg is a very good thing to have... but if he did any amount of blocking it might give some crazy readings...
reason i said theres a lot of risk is because without a PTG you simply don't know if the owner sprayed it evenly or has some thin spots. If he has a PTG then he should be fine
just have alot of pads handy you will go thru alot since the paint will transfer onto the pads. take it slow start off easy don't get to aggressive ptg would help an would be nice but if you don't have no worries you can do it. it really is kinda fun you just have a different learning curve.
Thanks for the advice! I don't have a PTG but I think I'll be investing in one soon. I think if I take a light approach I might be ok as suggested. It will be a good learning experience! Will the paint transfer ruin my pads? Thank you! Louie
depending how much an how bad the pad gets it might , just a pain to clean don't let them dry to much so easier to clean . good luck enjoy
You can always hit it with a chemical cleaner on a polishing pad to keep the cut to a minimum while taking care of the oxidation. When I am removing oxidation on SS paint, I love using XMT360 and want to eventually try D151 which I think could make a killer combo to knock out oxidised paint.
Thanks for the advise guys! I'm going to take this job on when we get a break in the weather. I'll post pics up as well! Louie
PTG is a must when working on someone else's car. By the way, you can do some amazing restoration on non-clear coat finishes. One trick I've heard of, but never used (because I simply never worked on non-clear coat finish) is prior to polishing the paintwork, apply some glaze to is (Megs #7), and let it sit for 30 minutes or so...then wipe it off and start the paintwork correction...it should be much easier to work on, but it only works on non-clear coat finishes...
I'm in a bit of a pickle at the moment. I'm working on a 1971 Mercedes 220SE. I washed the car with ONR. I didn't need to clay the car as the paint is very clean. Then I did a test panel at the right rear fender, below the trunk with pc on green uber pad and used PBW polish with sealant. I proceeded with an ipa wipedown and achieved a decent correction, BUT when I looked at the pad I have some paint transfer on it. Unfortunately, I do not have a PTG yet. I contacted the owner and notified him that his car probably has only a single stage paint with no clear. The owner also told me that the painter he hired did a pretty shifty job and that he was unhappy with his work and confirmed that I may be right that the painter didn't put on any clear over the base coat. I'm now at the point of researching on how to go about making any corrections when I came upon this thread. I might try supercharged's nifty idea of putting a layer or 2 of some autoglym super resin polish and then try polishing again with an uber blue or black pad and see how well that works. Anyone have any other possible suggestions on a plan of attack?
Ok so earlier I layered on 3 hits of AG SRP and waited about 30 mins before going back over that section with a black uber pad, minimal pressure, with Menz po85rd...no correction achieved. The owner was there watching me at the time I did all these steps and gave me the green light to proceed. I stepped it up a notch with a blue pad and po85rd slight pressure on setting 4-5 with pc7424xp...minimal correction and some paint xfer. I asked him if I can try a different section with a different combo and he said ok. I went with a blue pad with menz po203s on the rear fender section using blue pad with speeds 3-5 and got slightly better correction done, but with more paint xfer than my previous tries. Not anywhere near the correction achieved in my original test portion. At this point I told him it's best to stop here and I'll do more research and come back tomorrow. I'll post some pics in a nit as I'm posting this on my iPhone. I'm beginning to think that I should not continue any further until the owner makes a decision to have the car repainted by a more reputable shop that the previous guy who he went with and skimped him out of doing a proper paint job with a clear coat layer. What do you guys think. I could use some of your experienced minds to help me decide on a course of action. Before: This pic is of the test area i performed. These next shots are typical of the ENTIRE car...makes me very sad. This first Pic is my initial test spot and the following 2 are the areas i tried with different pad/polish combos...
For oxidized paint try the following; • Wash the paint surface and dry thoroughly • Clean the paint with chemical paint cleaner (Klasse All-In-One) using an orange foam pad at speed #4, this may take 2-3 applications • If a chemical paint cleaner doesn’t remove the oxidation use a Lake County (LC) purple foamed wool (PFW) pad and Menzerna’s Power Gloss (POS 34A) clean or replace with a clean pad as the oxidized paint will load the pad • A foam pad will transfer kinetic (friction) heat to the paint and may exasperate the problem • Wet-sanding will remove oxidation but may remove too much clear coat • Once the oxidation has been removed use a decontamination system (Auto International A B C System (Automotive International - Valugard Product Line) • Apply an oil rich product to stabilize the paints binder system (3M Imperial Hand Glaze) apply a thick coat and allow to dwell for 12-24 hours before buffing, repeat as necessary until surface has an ‘oily’ sheen. • Using Gloss It EVP Pad Prime will help maintain sufficient oil lubrication for the polish • Remove residue and apply a Carnauba wax (Zymol Concourse) • Try to keep vehicle paint surface away from UV heat radiation • Keep paint surface waxed on a regular basis.
Thanks for your reponse togwt! The owner has decided to halt the detail work and is looking at quotes from auto body shops to get the car repainted in a proper manner. I'm sad to have to leave this beautiful in it's current state.
SS paint is really nice to polish, but will turn your pads the color of the car. Polish as usual. John
