banzaitoyota

Sniper-X has wonderful mechanical and electrical advice. In my opinion this is not a wise thing to do to your paint.

Sniper_X

I agree.

I dont reccomend this to just ANYONE...

Only to those who think their paint is on its last legs, as I did with this car.

You see, with this car, there was an IMMENSE amount of crud -in- and -on- it.

I used a total of about 1/3rd cup of mineral spirits from a spray bottle on the ENTIRE CAR.

I also did it in direct sunlight.

This evaporated it quickly.
Leaving an oil residue that assisted the orbital buffer with lubrication.

I then allowed the car to evaporate more while i prepare a clean fluffy new pad and applied a optical grade scratch remover, this bonded to the oil and removed it, the opil assisted in the polishing process when added to the compound as it picked it up from the surface.

I have red ALOT on this subject since last night.
I also contacted my body shop that has a car of mine in there now.

A similar process is used in the final stages of polishing single stage paint on show cars.

Although I did not get a detailed explanation.

Please try this technique if you can, on an INCONSPICUOUS SPOT.

I want real world data on this process to decide one and for all if it is a workable method.

Remember, mineral spirits WILL REMOVE PAINT, but it apparently does NOT remove paint on cars that I have tried.

ALSO...
remember to remove the oxidation BEFORE you try this, so that you can see if the paint is coming off on the pad.

at the very MOST, you should start to see smal amount of color near the VERY END of buffing the car, but this would happen if you buffed the car with water.

I tried it, the sam results of a slight coloration on the pad happened with plain water.

I'll have pictures momentailly.

Sniper_X

Keep in mind that this shine is MOSTLY sue to the product "Scratch Out" by "KIT"

However, the blemish free, dirt free glass like shine is due to the removal of contaminants in the paint by the mineral spirit buffing.


Notice the picture below where the 3rd taillight was also polished to a shine!

Makes it look NEW!

(I just LOVES ME SOME SCRATCH OUT!)

The Mineral spirit buffing also remove IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF DIRT from the rubber peices that i passed over.

They are MUCH blacker now.

dre_2ooo

dude, where's the spoiler?

Ardent_Psyclone

Wow! Looks great!

Do you have any "Before" shots of the car?

Sniper_X

I am restoring this car for sale.

I have a number of interior, antenna, shifter bushing and boots, audio, and spoiler mounting parts arriving tomorrow.

This car is pristine and suffers only from minor dents and scrapes.

The engine, Perfect, (cause i made it that way)
The interior, Perfect, (cause i made it that way)

LOTS of hours in this car have made a nearly NEW car out of it!

Sniper_X

Sorry, the miracle happened before I could take them.
Ill try to find some of the car in the background.

banzaitoyota

Yes the car does look good TODAY, but what about next week? The procedure outlined in this post is not found in any of the Paint Manufactures product use and application books. This is a "technique" that has it roots back in the 40's and 50's that was practiced by used car dealers trying to foist one over on the buying public. They would spray kerosene or mineral spirits over the paint and wipe it off to give it a "sheen".

I gave the general autopia link so you can explore and learn the proper techniques.

And to put my money where my mouth is.
I have a VERY badly Faded Hyundai yard rat, that I will take before and after pictures of. I wiill do 1/2 the car in the "sniper procedure" and 1/2 using Blackfire polish and protectant. We will observe the car on a week by week basis to see the effects of this technique on oxidized single stage factory paint.

Sniper_X

remember, remove the oxidation first.

read all my posts and assemble a step by step procedure.


And the "trick" you speak of is NOTHING like what I mention here.

I am not leaving the stuff on the car for more than about 30-40 seconds.

it evaporates after that.

PuppyDoc

Where can I find that Blackfire stuff? I have black paint just like this car, but it needs help... I am going to get the clay bar and the Scratch-Out, but I can't find the Blackfire around here anywhere.

fc3s.org

I have used Meguiar's products since they are easy to find at the LPS and have had good luck with the finish they give.

I wax the car (91 white vert - original paint) every 3 months
I clean the paint with cleaner wax every 6 months or so while doing the quarterly wax
I use a clay bar once a year to get off the bumbs and so forth that don't come off during the year.

I don't really want to get into the whole mineral spirits discussion, since I am a bit biased. I trip out when I get Armor All on the paint, so I would FREAK if mineral spirits or the like hit my paint.

I just did the cleaner wax and regular wax on Friday, and my paint looks new. I was asked Saturday while driving up to look at my new house if they started making these cars again, as they thought mine was new

I have never used the really "premium" waxes, but I did have my car worked over at a rather elite car wash place, and it looked way better than my work looks, but mine is about $130 less

Just my $.02 on the cars finish for the average guy

banzaitoyota

Go to autopia-carport.com there is a link to a online retailer who sells blackfire

PuppyDoc

Thank you banzai.

Barwick

so what'd you find out banzai?

Sonic

I would not EVER use brake cleaner on paint. I can tell you it will dull the finish for sure. that is WAY to strong for paint work dude...

This is NOT something that should be recomended to do. There are products out there made specifically for this.

I can't belive this was posted.

Sniper_X

NEITHER CAN I!

uh... wait...

It WASN'T posted! HA! I never actually said that..

whew...!

Sonic...

I used brake cleaner to remove the WRONG paint from the car.
Yes i KNOW its "too strong for paint" thats why i used it to STRIP the (wrong) paint from the nose.

Go HERE to see the car now. (new nose included)

I knew what I was doing.

I used Mineral spirits (in small little spritz's that evaporated immidiately) with a orbital buffer.

It worked miracles and removed embedded red and brown CRUD from the paint.

It also removed all the glue left from the pinstriping tape i removed.

I never said I used BRAKE CLEANER to get this car like this.

Please read more carefully.

banzaitoyota

Ok I was being lazy, But the wax test has begun:
Here is the plan: Beater Hyundai. Left side SNIPER_X method with mineral Spirits.

Right Side:
Meguirs polish (SOme crap I have lying around)

Heres the start

banzaitoyota

Right Side: BEFORE

Sniper_X

Make SURE that you remove that oxidation using somthing like "Scratch Out" BEFORE you use the mineral spirits.
Other wise you will not be doing it the same as I.

I list the steps I did in the series of posts.
Write down the steps and then see what happens.
Im dying to see the results!

I had the paint down to what most would consider as shiny as its gonna get, and then even used some light compound.

It was AFTER i thought i had it all done and BEFORE my firt waxing that i did the mineral spirits in a spray bottle.

you have to use almost NONE to be as safe as I was being.

I used enough to linger for about 20 seconds behind the polisher.

I then went over it "dry" by adding very little so that there was almost no lingering spirits.

I was rubbing the paint with my hand the whole time to see if the bumps and rough feeling were going away.

remember to wash it really good after to get the oil off.

I used a citrus cleaner.

FYI, i have sice tried clay bars to see if this does the same thing.

banzaitoyota

I have more pics, wont have time to pdot b4 2nite or thursday.