Re: IML: Refurb the Paint/Wax on an Imperial

[Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not a chemist or anything, so please forgive any
errors in terminology.  I won't talk about carpeting,
so we should be OK.

As pain oxidizes or ages, it becomes rough.  If you
were to slice a portion of the car body and look at it
from the side through a microscope, you'd see that the
paint surface is no longer smooth, but instead jagged
and rough, with the top layers of paint having been
eaten away by time and corrosive elements such as the
sun and junk that landed on the paint and ate away at
it.

So now you have this rough surface.  What to do about
it?

You said that you used a cleaner/polish, and that the
rag turned the color of the paint when you rubbed it.

This is because polish works just like sandpaper, but
on a MUCH finer scale.

What is happening there is that the particles in the
polish, or maybe even the texture of the applicator
(cloth/material/pad) that is "sanding", or in this
case polishing the rough paint.

The old proverb is that the nail that sticks up
highest is pounded down first.  Looking again at your
paint through the microcope, you'll see that the
surface is rough with high and low spots.  As you rub,
it is the high spots that you are sanding/polishing
off.  They are broken off and razed, leaving a
smoother, flatter surface.

In order to polish the car efficiently and
consistently, most places in the detailing industry
will use a mechanical polisher, which can be either
air or electrically operated.  I have electrical ones
and swear by the Milwaukee one.  It was about $200.

The polishing system from 3M that I have has 2
different pads and two different polishes.  The pads
have velcro and go onto a disc that spins on the end
of the tool where it touches the paint.

One pad is more coarse and takes a "rubbing compound"
and the other one is softer and takes a finer
"polishing compound".  As with sandpaper, you go from
coarse to fine.  Some places that are particularly
rough can be sanded with 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper
on a block before you polish, but you should REALLY
know what you're doing before starting with that sort
of thing, and only under appropriate circumstances.

Polishing by machine is dangerous business.  If it is
done incorrectly, you can heat the paint up and burn
it off, or rub too much and go right through the
paint.  Both horrible scenarios.  Your body will have
character lines that if polished the wrong way, will
get rubbed raw.  There are techniques to dealing with
that, but that's another story.

You really need to know what you're doing, and getting
some practice in on not-so-important cars is a good
thing.  

Your family and neighbors will LOVE you.  

Getting some instruction on how to handle the polisher
is another big part of the process, and is very
important.

If you decide to do the car by hand, I predict that
you'll get really tired, and could possibly not get as
consistent a result.  Unlikely that you'll rub through
the paint at that rate, but horribly inefficient.  

This would mean not as much shine.  When polishing,
you are, after all, going to the least common
denominator - "sanding" the paint level down so that
it is all equal to the lowest spots in the surface so
that the entire surface is flat and consequently
shiny.  Pure wax without polish is then added and it
fills tiny imperfections and protects the paint.

One of our longtime and earliest members, Kerry
Pinkerton, wrote an exhaustive story about how to sand
and polish a newly painted car (actually how to paint
the whole thing start to finish!).  Most of this
applies to getting a used car and bringing its worn
paint back as well.

http://imperialclub.com/Repair/Body/Painting101/Part12.htm

Take a look at Kerry's other stories on the site if
you want to learn how to redo a car.  You can use the
ARCHIVE SEARCH button on the front page.

============
What to do with your faded, original paint 1957?

If that were my car and I didn't have the skills or
the tools to polish it myself with a polisher, I'd
strongly consider spending money on a good detailer. 
Many will come out to you.  Whatever happens, you
should watch what they do to learn (ask lots of
questions) and make certain that they don't screw up. 
You watching will help them stay on their toes.

Lastly, let them see the car before getting a hard
quote.  I got a quote of $100 on my 1973, and I could
tell that by 75% through the guy was really wishing
he'd seen the car first, as there is so much acreage. 
$200-$300 for a complete detail job could make your
car glisten like it just rolled off the factory floor,
and the detailer can teach you how to do just enough
maintenance to keep it that way for years.


 

Kenyon Wills
 
 






















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