removing oxidation...advice.

[digitaldrifter91]

today i bought:

medium cut #1 mequiars
3m Imperial Glaze
8 inch wool pad...mequiars velcrow thing buffin

now my grandpa has a 1989 rx7 and has some oxidation on the hood. before i tried claybar but that got some of the junk off of it and not all. the reason i think the oxidation is on the hood is due to paint over spray when these idiots painted half his car.

i tried normal things to get it out but it never worked...my uncle though tried this bottle that was a fadded 3m hand glaze like the one i bought and it worked, though it was very old and dry...so we had no more.

my question to you guys is this:

since my grandpas car has oxidation, should i hand apply the 3m or use a buffer with that buffin pad i bought?

or what else you guys got in mind??

i bought 2 differnt luquids so i dont have to go back...what do you think of mequars # 1 professional line? would that work better than 3m...i think its a meduim cut...thank you

 

[Scooter]

My advice would be to use the products by hand. A rotary buffer, wool pad and agressive product in the wrong hands is a recipe for disaster. Try the medium cut cleaner first by hand to a small area. It is a fairly agressive product and should cut any oxidation you have. Follow it with the glaze and top it with a good wax or polymer sealant.

 

[bretfraz]

First, a question: What kind of machine will you be using with that wool pad and the Meguiar's polish? Your answer will dictate responses.

Meguiar's #1 is indeed Medium Cut Cleaner. Its pretty aggressive stuff. But its sometimes what is needed on neglected paint. As far as a brand, Meguiar's is excellent. There are plenty of polishes out there so don't focus on who makes what, focus on how a product works and what results you can get from it.

You can certainly try the polishes by hand but you will find they perform better by machine. However machine polishing takes a certain level of skill while hand polishing can be done by anyone. I strongly recommend you work by hand unless you are experienced with machine polishing.

The 3M glaze you have is not going to cut it for oxidation removal. Glazes are nothing more than "makeup" for car paint; they don't fix problem, they only hide them. Do all your polishing *before* you glaze, then apply a wax to protect the paint you just polished.

Your basic steps are:

1. Wash the car.
2. Clay the paint.
3. Polish the paint to remove oxidation, scratches, swirl marks, and any other defects.
4. Glaze the paint to restore shine and gloss and fill in light swirls.
5. Wax the paint to protect your hard work.

Have fun.
Work on one small section at at time until its as good as you can get it.
And take your time, there are no bonus points for finishing the job quickly.

[ January 02, 2004, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: bretfraz ]

 

[digitaldrifter91]

scooter: i was thinking about that, trying it first by hand, and then use a orbital buffer.

BretFraz: thanks for the extended advice. i had no idea this imperial hand glaze wont work, but now i realized that it was a glaze...polish as we say(i think)

i definitley want to remove the oxidation on his car as much as possible. covering it up with polish to me is a waste of time in my opinion.

would a medium cut cleaner leave swirls? actually i should rephrase...if i do it by hand i wont get swirls correct? yet if i use a orbital buffer (and keeping the pad even to the surface with my wool pad) i wont get swirls correct?

--about my buffer--

my buffer is a orbital that stays in one spot...its actually a polisher, but not a super high speed buffer...i believe the rpms is 1650/1400...2 speeds...

ill try to do it by hand, but i will get better results if i use a buffer i bet. but ill try to do the whole hood by hand. then later if i cant get the desired affect...ill use a buffer cautiously. i dont like taking HUGE steps in processes like this.

"cut n shine" 8'' wool cutting pad. w-4000
if i dont have to use my buffing pad ill be glad, save me 15 bucks. plus that hand glaze which i have no idea what it does will save me 20 bucks.

to top it off..ill use a polymer sealant...most likley polymer sealant from mequiars pro line or their meddalian paint cleaner.

excuse me for the long post, but i think that you fellas deserve as much detail as possible.

 

[uconn1150]

Can you get your hands on a different orbital buffer (it's easy to use and you can't really mess up the paint)? A lot of people refer to the Porter Cable series (ie 7336sp) as a PC--that puppy can go up through 6k rpms...it will work great with a relatively weak rubbing compound.

[ January 02, 2004, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: uconn1150 ]

 

[bretfraz]

Will a Meduim Cut Cleaner leave swirls? Probably, yes. Bear in mind its a pretty aggressive polish designed to remove moderate oxidation and scratches. Something with that much bite usually creates swirl marks of its own.

But...... using it by hand is milder than using it by machine. And paint softness plays a big part in this as well. So that's why I suggested using this product by hand first to gauge results. If it works OK, great, keep the polisher on the shelf. If its not doing the job you want it to then break out the polisher and give it a spin. IOW, use the safest, mildest methods first. We don't want to cause more problems than we solve, do we?

If you follow the Medium Cut with Medallion Paint Cleaner, I think you will end up with a very nice surface. Top that with a sealant product (Medallion Paint Protectant, Meguiar's #20, or something like Liquid Glass or Mothers Reflections) and you should be sittin' pretty.

Well, the car should be sittin' pretty. You'll prolly be sittin' tired and worn out.

 

[JohnBrowning]

digitaldrifter you might recosider such an agressive compound. If you have not done a lot of buffing then start with "3M Safe Cut". Most jobber stores carry it all paint supply store have it! You might also look at Nortons products.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

i really tried to scrub the heck out of it...but no luck...

maybe ill try a fine cut compound first...agreed safer is better. i dont want another problem with that car.

ill look around for 3m safe cut.

 

[HOndaGuy]

by safe cut, are you referring to 3m fine cut rubbing compound? Either name, this product is pretty safe to use. If you can get your hands on some meguiars dual action cleaner polish, that would be another polish that removes swirl marks and oxidation. Either product that you use, you should follow up with a lighter polish like meguiars #9, 3m swirl mark remover, or meguiars #82 swirl free polish(probably best choice). Hope this helps!!!!!!!!