several months ago i promised a "bring your Guards Red paint back to life" thread.....

well i got really busy and then completely forgot. i no-longer have a Guards Red P-car.

years ago, a good autobody man in Massachusetts told me exactly what to do.... so i did.

here's a good "how-to-do" and many more pics. hope this helps. enjoy.


http://www.detailingworld.com/forum/...ad.php?t=70255




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Wow! That is one hell of an improvement.

 

WOW... what a marked improvement.

 

I have some before and after pics in this thread of a red 924: https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ya-porker.html

An amazing transformation if you do it right!

I don't remember exactly, but I think we put about 12-14 man hours into the 924. Steps were: wash, clay, wash, rubbing compound, fine polish, wax, rubber and trim.

 

that's really beautiful. Van....

it's much more involved, but you can also do a polish, then spray a clearcoat finish on the car. the car didn't come with a basecoat/clearcoat kit, so, you'll have to pull teeth to get a body shop to agree to do it. because removing the dead paint and spraying clear coat over it won't cover up the chips, discolorations and dings already present — and if you were to actually remove all the microscopic canyons associated with lacquer checked paint (the lacquer check actually goes all the way to the primer), there wouldn't be enough of the base coat left to be able to work with — nobody will want to take the job.... especially with dead red paint.... nobody wants less-than-perfect result being associated with their shop, especially, when there are other customers willing to pay for a proper paint job, so, they'll likely say "no" to only removing some of the dead paint.... still, nothing's stopping you from learning to do it yourself and walking away with an improved finish that can be waxed indefinitely — even if there remain microscopic pits that will get worse over time.... and if you learn to do that yourself you may as well just............. you get the idea.

 

Hot damn those cars went from looking beat to sweet! So does this technique work only for red colors, or is it that red responds the best to this (or that everyone wants to hold onto their original Guards Red paint job)? I always rubbed some oil onto my faded headlight covers to bring out their shine again temporarily, not that I'd recommend slathering your whole car in it...

 

glad im not the only one who "spills" oil when changing the filter...lol

 

My '84 was Guards Orange (actually India Orange) from sitting in the NM sun for 7 years, without a bit of shade, while the PO decided what to do about it. It came back to life amazingly well (I have the arms of a jabba-man as a result!). You can see where the jerk PO did a patch of the hood to show a potential buyer 4 yrs earlier that the paint was still good - but he didn't bother to clean the polish off.

 

Who said anything about an oil change? Maybe it's baby oil...that drips off my body...as I lay across the hood of my car...tanning in my Guards Red colored Porsche-endorsed Speedo...

 

hevquip, i think darker colors are what work best. it's more noticeable and more awesome to tan on.

 

This technique works very well on all the "single stage paint colors" - those are the non-metallics. The metallics got a clear coat, so they'll never get that oxidized.

A car with a clear coat will still benefit from a good claying (removing sap, grime and small sticky things) and a polishing to remove swirl marks.

Like this one:

 

I don't remember what thread I had posted, but something about it's contents made me think and suggest that a paint/body forum should be added to Rennlist. Threads like these would be great to post and archive there.

 

IMHO it is much easier and time efficient to wetsand as the first step.. clay bars are great for removing foreign material, but wetsanding is MUCH easier to quickly and completely remove the oxidation...

Pics are before (after clay bar), during, and after.. and finished..

Took me an afternoon to do the entire car, including 3 washes, machine polishing, and hand waxing. 2 years of being parked outside and neglected and the paint still looks great.

And while it is easiest to get effective results on lighter colors, this approach works for ANY finish, single stage, dual stage, multi layer, clearcoat, light dark (usually requires MORE than just the polish stage...)

 

was that done with 2000 or 2500 John? Mine waterspots like a SOB when it rains...(maybe its acid rain?)

 

2000, medium cutting followed by fine polish, followed by carnuba by hand..

Entire car is getting a respray shortly to take care of a few lingering issues, but will return better than ever!