It is the car in the pic, and yes it’s Dark Turquoise. I plan on following the wise advice posted here and will share pics once I get her all shined up!
Restoring paint
- Thread starter Bourbon
- Start date
I must be doing it wrong... I can clay bar an entire car in about a half hour. I know Will is disagreeing and I respect that, but it's not that hard.
Really, the clay bar is to remove the dirt from the surface. IMHO, it makes the rest of the process much easier.
65sporty
Old Man with a Hat
I haven't tried the comet wash myself, but I have seen other guy's who swear by it.
You can play it safe and experiment at the same time. I started with dawn and clay bar. The bar made it obviously smoother to the touch. Armed with a spray bottle filled with water and a drop of Dawn the bar is not hard to use. When it starts to turn colors kneed it and turn it over. Then experiment with Meguires ultimate polish on soft cloth or microfiber towel BY HAND. See if it makes a difference. If not try Ultimate compound...by hand again. I only suggest Meguires because its relatively cheap and found in normal stores. You may see color coming off. A little bit is to be expected . If you want to go the next step get a DA polisher from Horrible freight and 1 each of the HF pads - Orange, Blue, Black. The DA is NOT like an orbital and much harder to screw up with. To be super safe you can first put painters tape over any hard edges or creases. That will stop you from taking off too much if you are sloppy with the DA. Try the Meg POLISH on the black foam finishing pad. That's the least aggressive combo but you are using the DA so a good place to start. If no difference go to polish on blue pad, then on orange pad. If still no difference rinse the pads and try the compound in the same order. After all that you can try wax or sealant of your choice. If you start and think its doing nothing and you are worried then stop and come back the next day. Stuff I have done under the fluorescent lights at night that looked avg to bad looked much better in the sunlight. You just need better not perfect. My car needed aggressive work on an old clearcoat repaint. I ended up wet sanding!!! Talk about butt pucker. I just went slow and tested one thing at a time. And of course you can search for "single stage" correction videos. They use a billion different pads and compounds and all in unknown lingo. But most of it is impressive.
Most everything has already been said, by sources with WAY more experience than myself, but since your Fury is the same age as my New Yorker (see photo) metallic with original finish, and I started with little knowledge, maybe my $.02 will help.....
I found the following link helpful:
The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints
I started with this, with some advice from others on here, and had reasonably good results. Out of an abundance of caution (and lack of knowledge) I did the least "aggressive" sounding steps skipping the clay bar as I was afraid of doing damage with it. No buffer got anywhere near the car. Here's what I noticed:
The Meguiar's #7 was gentle, and really seemed to lubricate the finish. I did the whole car with about half a bottle. Takes a while to remove, but seemed to make the paint easier to work on too.
I stuck with the most natural products, avoiding abrasives or chemicals. After the Meguiar's, I used Zymol cleaner/wax, which was a liquid. Finally I used a couple coats of carnuba wax, using only a sponge applicator, and soft cotton cloths. Step by step the finish brightened up a good bit. Definitely not as well as the red Polara, but I got a good sheen, and the cloudiness went away. A goodnumber of spots, blotches, etc., remain, but the paint is preserved, and presentable. Didn't know about the Dawn wash, sounds like a good first step. Good luck, and hope this helps.
I found the following link helpful:
The Secret to Removing Oxidation and Restoring a Show Car Finish to Antique Single Stage Paints
I started with this, with some advice from others on here, and had reasonably good results. Out of an abundance of caution (and lack of knowledge) I did the least "aggressive" sounding steps skipping the clay bar as I was afraid of doing damage with it. No buffer got anywhere near the car. Here's what I noticed:
The Meguiar's #7 was gentle, and really seemed to lubricate the finish. I did the whole car with about half a bottle. Takes a while to remove, but seemed to make the paint easier to work on too.
I stuck with the most natural products, avoiding abrasives or chemicals. After the Meguiar's, I used Zymol cleaner/wax, which was a liquid. Finally I used a couple coats of carnuba wax, using only a sponge applicator, and soft cotton cloths. Step by step the finish brightened up a good bit. Definitely not as well as the red Polara, but I got a good sheen, and the cloudiness went away. A goodnumber of spots, blotches, etc., remain, but the paint is preserved, and presentable. Didn't know about the Dawn wash, sounds like a good first step. Good luck, and hope this helps.
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Someone advised me the claybar can remove the tint/color from single stage metallic finishes like yours/mine; maybe you could try a small area first. A bottle of spray detailer helps remove residue inbetween the steps. Fortunately blue really shows up on an applicator, so if you start seeing more of it than you should, you'll know right away, that's probably a good sign to stop. For what it's worth, I'd try the other gentler steps first, THEN the claybar if still not having good results...…. good luck. My love affair with 65-68 C-bodies started with my parents '67 Fury, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of yours.
I’ve also got a ‘72 Dodge Power Wagon whose paint is far more oxidized than the Plymouth. I plan on using it as a guinea pig to see what works and what doesn’t! Ultimately I want to get it resurrected as best I can as well.
That's not true. The thing about the claybar is that it's not abrasive. The only way a claybar will hurt the finish is if the claybar has grit in it (dropped etc.).
Of everything listed here, it is probably the least aggressive towards the paint. All it does is remove contaminants from the paint.
Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Here is a YouTube video that is for beginners in paint buffing. After washing and clay barring my car, I pretty much followed the procedure shown here using a Harbor Freight DA buffer:
good to know- I may try it myself, then...… I did try it on my VERY oxidized 1992 Plymouth Acclaim, and it DID help...…
rapidtrans
Senior Member
I clay barred my old black Neon. It was 14 years old and had been hit twice. The clay bar removed all the grit and any remaining overspray from collision repair. The finish came out glass smooth and the spray detailer used in the process left a glossy finish. Stone chips in the hood and all. My final test is to toss the polishing cloth on the hood when I’m done. When it slides right off the other side I’m good to go.
I watch both of them occasionally. Good stuff, except remember that the Chemical Guys are trying to sell product.
This guy has done an old car or two. Check out his video list for older cars.
Apex Detail
MacLebaron
Well-Known Member
After reading all of the comments, I have to add my two cents. Not to take sides, this is just my opinion after spending too much time trying to improve old worn out paint.
I agree with Big John on the clay bar. No, I do not enjoy spending the time but it is worth it.
If you do not believe it helps I have a test you can try. After washing and drying your car get a plain ziplock plastic sandwich bag. Then, put your hand inside the bag and rub the plastic bag over the painted surface of the car. You may think your car's paint is great, but you will probably feel a slight grit or rough feel when sliding the bag over the paint.
Then, use a clay bar as directed on a small area. Now, do the same test with your hand inside the plastic sandwich bag dragging softly over the paint that you used the clay bar on. I bet you will now feel a noticeably smoother finish than before. I only say this because I have done it myself. Plus, it does help anything else you may do after.
I agree with Big John on the clay bar. No, I do not enjoy spending the time but it is worth it.
If you do not believe it helps I have a test you can try. After washing and drying your car get a plain ziplock plastic sandwich bag. Then, put your hand inside the bag and rub the plastic bag over the painted surface of the car. You may think your car's paint is great, but you will probably feel a slight grit or rough feel when sliding the bag over the paint.
Then, use a clay bar as directed on a small area. Now, do the same test with your hand inside the plastic sandwich bag dragging softly over the paint that you used the clay bar on. I bet you will now feel a noticeably smoother finish than before. I only say this because I have done it myself. Plus, it does help anything else you may do after.
azblackhemi
Old Man with a Hat
While I do agree a clay bar is great for maintaining a good clean shine when bringing back oxidized paint it's not necessary since you will be polishing with a buffer. The buffer will do the same thing and remove the surface containments that the clay bar will.
bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
I agree Chris. But to all the doubters, I still contend that a good Comet counter cleanser scrubbing and follow up dawn wash will give the same results with a lot less effort.
Find a well oxidized, enamel painted panel and try it....
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I agree Chris. But to all the doubters, I still contend that a good Comet counter cleanser scrubbing and follow up dawn wash will give the same results with a lot less effort.
Find a well oxidized, enamel painted panel and try it....
If I handed either one of you guys an "old school" rotary buffer with a wool pad and some compound, you'd toss the cord over your shoulder and go to work. I'll bet both of you have done that a time or two.
But, let's go back to the OP.
I doubt if he has the experience with even an orbital buffer at this point. We don't even know what shape the paint really is in for that matter,
You really want him to get serious and get to buffing, where my approach is to be conservative and try to do it by hand first. I'd rather read that he took a couple hours and tried that rather than read "I cut through the paint".
I'm done arguing... You guys have more experience and have worked on cars professionally. I'm just a backyard guy that's made a lot of mistakes. Not to say that I haven't buffed a car or three... I wet sanded and buffed the crappy paint on my Barracuda last summer. I knew what I had, knew the risks etc. It came out a lot better, but I would never recommend that someone that's never handled a buffer (even an orbital with a foam pad) do that, especially without seeing the car in person.
It's up to the OP, take the conservative approach first or go to it like you guys want.
I'm out.
azblackhemi
Old Man with a Hat
True an old school rotary buffer takes practice to avoid disaster but a DA style buffer is very easy to use and pretty much foolproof. Won't quite get the same result but will eliminate a lot of manual labor. Would be a good compromise if the op wants to do it himself.
Thank you, Big John. I originally posted this to get a general consensus on how best to proceed, and I am appreciative of all who took a minute to weigh in. I have used a rotary buffer before and am painfully aware of my rookie mistakes made, which taught me to me very cautious about jumping to that right off the bat. I feel that I have a pretty special car (to me anyway) and really don’t want to screw it up. So, I will take it slow, learn as much as I can before diving in and hopefully will do right by the car.
Thanks everyone; keep your stories and advice coming.
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