Polish, not wax, for old paint!

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Looking for guidance on how to revive the paint on the '37 Alvis. Definitely looking for a polish, not a wax. In the old days, there was something called T-Cut, but the modern T-Cut seems quite different.

Amazon lists a product called Trinova Scratch and Swirl Remover. Any experience with this? Or could clay bar, which I've never used, work? Or start with 2,000 wet & dry?

Sorry if this have been covered previously in detail. Have searched and found references to good old orange bottle Nu-Finish, but not much else.

Thanks!
 
Meguiar's M7 Show Car Glaze. Apply it thick with your hands, let it skin over, and rub rub rub till your arms fall off. Brings so much life back to old paint.

If you need to do a correction and you have enough paint thickness, M105+M205 is a winning combo.
 
Is this the original or a repaint? If a repaint is it enamel, lacquer, base clear coat or lacquer with clear? what condition is the paint in and what are you looking to achieve?
 
Trav - Doubt it's original, but if it's a repaint it would have been done in the 1960s. Looking to minimize the dull crazing, swirls & scratches and give some sense of shine from 20 ft.
 
Probably lacquer without clear coat but just to make sure take a little polish on a white rag and polish a small inconspicuous area and see if the color is on the cloth.
On something like this without a paint thickness gauge I would not sand it, if you knew it was thick enough I would go with 3000 or even 5000 just enough to smooth it a little and remove surface garbage embedded in the paint.

Without sanding I would use 3M Perfect-It with a DA polisher on low/med and a soft to medium foam pad not a heavy cutting pad.

Perfect-It

To finish Use the 3M Hand Glaze topped with a good carnauba wax. It will look great with a minimum paint removal.

Hand Glaze
These can be found at any body supply store, ebay and Amazon.
 
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Just throwing this out there, but what about wet paint glaze? I offer this option because of an experience I had using it on an old semi restored pick up. Paint composition unknown. It cleaned the paint up nicely and put on a very nice shine. Nice product IMHO.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Probably lacquer without clear coat but just to make sure take a little polish on a white rag and polish a small inconspicuous area and see if the color is on the cloth.
On something like this without a paint thickness gauge I would not sand it, if you knew it was thick enough I would go with 3000 or even 5000 just enough to smooth it a little and remove surface garbage embedded in the paint.

Without sanding I would use 3M Perfect-It with a DA polisher on low/med and a soft to medium foam pad not a heavy cutting pad.

Perfect-It

To finish Use the 3M Hand Glaze topped with a good carnauba wax. It will look great with a minimum paint removal.

Hand Glaze
These can be found at any body supply store, ebay and Amazon.


Perfect advice!

To ad, the clay bar will not do anything except remove contaminants "on top" of painted surface. Clay bar should always be used instead of sanding when possible because it removes little to no paint material, and compounding/polishing is not needed after use, just wax.

3M perfect-it is one of the best materials there is. 3M handglaze is my favorite also!
 
of all the how to videos you pick a 3min one from wheeler dealers?


type in how to use da polisher and go with a result from any of the detail supply companies over a 3min tv show snip. Edd is a great presenter but hes first a mechanic and engineet, versus someone whos heart and soul is only about paint and appearance.
 
I would skip the pressure washing, one slip and there goes the paint right off the car depending on the pressure washer. Hand wash it and use a bucket grit guard with a separate sponge/mitt for the lower body parts and wheels.
I usually only use rotary buffers but for paint like this the DA is perfect but with any buffer do any hard edges by hand.
Heavy compound on this who knows how old paint with a rotary can burn through or damage the paint pretty quickly. One panel at a time with finesse and patience will get it done nicely.

BTW Nice car!
 
OK, just applied The '#7 Rub Down Technique by Mike Phillips' from above video and am waiting overnight. Thought I'd start by hand and move to rotary.
 
Originally Posted By: vintageant
OK, just applied The '#7 Rub Down Technique by Mike Phillips' from above video and am waiting overnight. Thought I'd start by hand and move to rotary.

Good idea!
thumbsup2.gif
 
The overnight '#7 Rub Down Technique by Mike Phillips' didn't do much.

Today "without sanding I would use 3M Perfect-It with a DA polisher on low/med and a soft to medium foam pad not a heavy cutting pad, with Perfect-It." Minor, barely noticeable improvement, but improvement!

Have just applied the 2nd overnight '#7 Rub Down Technique by Mike Phillips'
 
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