noonie

You're getting it pretty clean.
If you want to get some shine back, you can't beat the old fashoned buffing, starting with course compound and going thru the compounds and glazes to a swirl remover/polish and then wax using a 7" buffer like a variable Milwaukee. If you stay with foam pads, it's pretty hard to screw it up.

Here is a close up of badly aged, faded and water stained paint and the finish product, washed but not waxed. Still has all the gouges and scratches but a few people glancing at it asked if I had painted it.
The area inside the yellow was where I test buffed quickly by hand first.

69 N.O.X. RATT

Great tips.

TheSkunkWorks

It might be OK for these purposes, but I wouldn't make a habbit of using dish soap on good paint. Seen some pretty sad things happen after repeated use.

milo30

yeah his is just an extreme case but it does a good job of removing grease and wax to strip a car down. Use it again after you spend hours waxing and your wax job will be ruined.

Definitely use a good car wash soap after you get the results you want to keep it clean and waxed. I should have been more specific so someone under different circumstances didn't try it.

milo30

That came out pretty nice.

I doubted the OP was going to get anywhere on his paint but his is coming out good enough for a DD. This has actually been a pretty good thread.

shank0668

My great uncle has a 76 he is selling, he is having me do all the selling and paying me commission. I will try this, hopefully he will let me.

shank0668

Do you just use magic eraser and water?

markids77

To all who have porous bodies and weak paint... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not spray your cars with WD-40 or any other "penetrating" product. You'll want to paint the car sooner or later and you'll have the devil of a time getting the penetrating oil out of your sponge-like exposed fiberglass. This is truly a recipe for disaster! Today's "super polymer" type waxes are difficult enough to remove effectively during paint prep and most of these simply sit on top of the paint, without soaking into the body below. WD-40 will soak into the panels anywhere there is a microscopic void in your finish... this is so bad I cringe to think about it!

Ben; I'm glad your car is cleaning up so nicely. A bit of "Color Back" or similar medium duty rubbing compound afterward should bring the gloss up some... I'd follow that with some Meguiar's Deep Crystal Step 2 if you have access to a rotary buffer. I apply it using a worn out wool pad, or a coarse foam pad if that's what's available. It "feeds" the paint surface but contains no silicones or other hard to remove stuff. Light pressure and apply in small areas at a time. Then wax with a paste Carnauba based product... again you might want to paint later and need to be sure you can remove whatever you put on it completely later.

chstitans42

Here you go boys:

Cajun-in-tx

Wow Ben this looks great. I'm impressed.

Mark G

I don't doubt that process will 'clean' the grub off the paint, but will it leave a nice glossy surface that looks presentable? For that, I think a re-paint is the only way to go. Heck, for all the work you're going to have into it cleaning it off you could have wetsanded it with 400 and dropped it off at MAACO. Yes, it'll cost you some to get paint on it, but you'll have a nice, presentable paint job, not a 'tricked up' WD40 job that goes dull in 3 weeks. JMO.

Keep the pictures coming though. I hope you can manage to work up a nice finish.

Fast81

That's cleaning up nicely !!!!! Keep the pics coming.
Now follow the 'waxers' advice and get some coats of "shine" on her..............

chstitans42

Well, I dont plan on putting WD-40 on my paint. I actually got an awesome link from a member on here about how to bring back original paint. I plan on trying a little bit of that. As for now I am going to focus on other things like the brakes, and floor pan

Im hoping soon it will look even better, and ill have saved the expense of a paint job
Here are two pics of it outside and in two light settings. Its kinda crazy the before and after:

milo30

NO WAY! YOu tease us with the post and improvement in the paint. You have to go ahead and put some wax on it somewhere so we can see where it is going. You can't stop and put us on pause.

Texas Stinger

Looks like you're making some progress

Billysvette

Ok im going to give you a secret of mine and tell you what i did.My cars paint is shot,and dull and chipped,i donot have clear coat though,mines lacuor and i used this stuff for fiber glass boats,its a clear coat that you wipe on and then let dry,it drys to a shiny clear coat,like you had it painted.You just wipe it on with a lint free rag and a dust free enviroment and you are good to go,look at my car now. I cant remember the name right now,you can only get it at a boat store,it puts the clear coat back on the boats,the name begins with a P ,maybe someone on here can think of it.$ 20 bucks and my car looks like a new paint job,20 30 feet away
Damit i cant remember the name it would work on your car after you clean it up.

Billysvette

The boat stores also have other wipe on or brush on clear coats too,mine has been on my car for about 2 years now and still holding up .i would think about it if you dont care about the paint.

chstitans42

hmmm well ill consider that, IF you can come up with the name. Im going to try the wax ad polish here soon and if that fails than this can always be my backup plan.

Now if it wasnt so dang hot outside every single day...

texaswilkins

Just a thought here. Since you spent all that time scrubbing the clear and you are not real worried about the quality of paint, try shooting a little spray can clear on there to see if that helps. I have a little left here if you want to try it.

It sure looks better than it did that night we drug it home.

Bill

shok

How did this paint finally end up? I like that you are trying things instead of defaulting right to repainting.