Hailey's Comet

1978 911 SC
Stored inside for last 16yrs un-covered in a working automotive shop. The car is red and had layers of dust, grease, etc from the environment. The car was washed this past weekend and cleaned up fairly well however you can still see grease that is inside the paint. So wondering best way to work that out of the paint? More washing or can a really good wax help?

Recommendations appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

09mageec

If there is "grease" in the paint, wax will do nothing to help work that out, it will only cover the greasy paint up with a gloss, which is not what you want. You are going to want to pull all of that out of the paint before you do anything.

1. What you need to do first is get yourself a good quality Car Wash Soap, and a microfiber mitt and make sure you get that car very clean (using the Two Bucket Method), before you start this process.

2. After you wash and dry the car, you are going to need to use a Clay Bar to pull said "grease" out of the paint. I'm not sure if this is something that you have done before, but if not, don't be discouraged. It's not a difficult task, but you DO want to make sure you are doing it correctly so that you will end up with the best results. Do research on youtube to learn this easy task. Search AMMO NYC's YouTube channel, he's the best.

(Some tips to remember when using a Clay Bar)
- Keep the paint surface lubricated, but not over-lubricated with spray-wax.
- The Clay Bar works off of FRICTION, not pressure. So quick wiping movements do the trick.
-Do your BEST not to drop that clay bar on the ground, because if you do, it's garbage (put a clean towel on the ground beneath where you are working to cover your a**).

3. If I were you, to be safe and make sure you have pulled all that crap out of the paint, after a Clay Bar, I would suggest moving on to a Paint Cleaner. While Clay Bars work to remove particles and contaminants trapped in and below the surface of your clear coat and paint, Cleaners only work on the surface of your paint. A cleaner polishes away contaminants, rather than simply grabbing them and removing them like a Clay Bar. You can also find many YouTube videos, and write-ups online for using Paint Cleaners as well..

4. Once you have removed the grease using the methods listed above, your paint is ready to be sealed/protected, and that is where a good, high quality Carnauba Wax comes into play. Again, plenty of videos on how to do this properly. AMMO NYC's YT channel. Griot's Garage has a whole section of videos on their website on how to use products like these. Even if you aren't using their products, (which I swear by). Really try and use an Orbital Buffer when waxing, if you can. Doing it by hand takes much longer, and less friction won't bring the product up to the temperature it should be to really work it into the paint.

Keep in mind that it may take a little extra work with the Clay Bar to really get all that grease, or what ever it is out. Be patient, grab a 6-pack, and plan on devoting a day (IN A GARAGE) to this.

I hope this advice helps you, and good luck on getting that stuff out!! Post some pictures of the finished product!!

r911

I agree completely with the above.

You do not need to be an expensive orbital buffer tho. A Porter-Cable random orbit sander works as well (except for the grip) and has a similar orbit speed and stroke (I asked P-C about this). I've used it for years on a variety of cars, including 3 Porsches.

theiceman

The only thing I will add is do not use a good quality car wash in the first step. Good quality car wash soaps are designed to clean your car and keep your wax intact
In this particular case use dawn or another high quality dish soap. You want to strip away and old wax and grease and dishwashing soap will do great at this.
You can also use it mixed with water to be a great surfactant for the clay barring
But the rest of the above advice is spot on.
I find on my climate carnauba wax just doesn't hold up so I have a synthetic sealer but everyone likes there own product
I also have a pc. After clay bar I always use swirl remover on an orange pad before polish.
All this will be second nature in no time

09mageec

Exactly, you do not need anything expensive by any means, especially if this will be your first time getting into a project like this. Expensive buffers with a range of speed settings are better once you really get the hang of things, and how the different products (be it wax or polish) react to the speeds/temperature and your paint.

Iceman, very good point, but I tried to play it safe above. In this particular case, yes dish soap will do a good job getting the grease and stripping old wax, assuming there is some. However, DO NOT use dish soap in any other instance than trying to get this grease out.

I'll also add, that while dish soap can be good for you in your case, it comes with some warnings! It is a very harsh method to use on not just your paint, but other parts of your car as well (I'll explain below). If you choose to use it, DO NOT use a lot. Most "high quality" dish soap is very concentrated, so you wont need as much as you think. Use a 5 gallon bucket full of water and stick your hand in the bucket, swirl your thumb and index finger together to get the right consistency (you don't want it to be slippery).

-Don't scrub your paint with this stuff, or you will end up with a ton of swirls, then we add a completely new step of polishing, and that is a whole different ball game.(Back-n-fourth motions, NOT circular)

-It will dry out any rubber on the car drastically if you don't work specifically on the paint. (Remember, we want healthy rubber window seals on our 911's)

-*Consistency* Use too much soap to water, and you will end up having to dump warm/hot water all over your car to get the remaining soapy residue off.

I hope we aren't scaring you. Go for it, and you will be SO beyond pleased with your results!!

theiceman

..just remember the dish soap is a one time shot to " start fresh " and you will be fine .. rinse it after of course.. then you are good to go .. if you do all above and you are still not happy it is possible your paint is worn out.
The other factors are of course is it a single stage paint , or is it a base / clear.

single stage the rag will turn the colour of your car when polishing. They come up nice but are generally not hardy and its tougher to maintain a shine. Base clear tend to be more robust.

Spyerx

clay, compound (chemical not super abrasive, you want to start least abrasive FIRST, so a light cut...), polish, wax.
A harbor freight orbital with their 3 pads will work FINE.
I use meguiars and griots chemicals. Simple easy to find, and work.
Use blue painters tape on all the rubber/seals/plastic to make things go quicker. 15 mins spent on prep saves a lot of time later.
you'll be surprised what comes out since this is single stage paint
Watch a few youtube videos, this isn't hard to do.
and if you keep speeds, motion, and chemicals correct you won't burn through the paint.

theiceman

im thinking he has paint haze and it needs a good polish . I bet it will look outstanding when done.

rstarga

Griots has everything you need and instructional videos too.

r911

Meguiars has everything you need, web and phone advice and instructional videos and... it is not overpriced

Tremelune

I've never used it, but a lot of people have completely ditched carnuba wax for much more durable modern coatings such as CQuartz and Opti-Coat. It's worth looking into.

For protective film, you have to get the paint clean and shiny first.

Amber Gramps

My passenger door has a massive....foot square....flaw in the clear coat. I've kept it somewhat hidden with carnauba, but at 29 years of age its getting harder and harder to hide.

Clive, I still love your car.

theiceman

Thanks Doug ! just wish they made reasonably priced performance rubber in 16s so i can run the fuchs more.

I was actually thinking of springing for the forged 17 fuchs style wheels .. Big dollars last time i checked though.

Amber Gramps

I have the Hankook Ventus R3 and love them. Tire Rack is practically giving them away. Unfortunately for the 9" Maxilite I just picked up I'll have to find something new as they don't offer the right size.

See if Maxilite has a 17" Fuchs. They are half the price, look more correct, have the German TUV stamp, and are lighter than most. My 9x16 were $400 ea

AWDGuy

The ceramic clear coats come with a strong recommendation of polishing the paint before hand. You want to make sure the paint is swirl/scratch free as possible before applying a semi permanent clear coat to its surface.

They are amazing products though. I coated my Lexus with Opti Gloss coat about 2 years ago and it still shines like the day I polished it once it is cleaned with ONR (Optimum No Rinse) and the two bucket method.