ideas for restoring UV-damaged paintwork?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Craig's Saab C900 Site - 18 Jul 2005 10:16 GMT

My white 1983 Saab 900S needs some attention to it's decaying paintwork. The
paint finish seems to be suffering mainly UV damage in that every time I
wash the car, the water is turning milky white so I presum the pigment is
slowly being released with more and more sun exposure along with the effects
of other things in the air like salt (but I don't live that near the coast),
and general effects from the stuff that makes up photochemical smog.

The best solution would be a repaint but a good quality repaint is a
budget-blower at present so I'm looking at dealing with the problem by
trying to restore the paint finish as much as possible, then giving it a
good seal/shine treatment to get it to the point where I don't need to worry
about the pigment washing off every time it rains or I decide to wash the
car. I could get a professional car detailer to do this but I want to learn
how to do this sort of thing myself. 8-)

I've had a lot of recommendations for products, but so far most of them are
heading towards trying some of the Meguiars paint-care products, with the
second-most common recommendation a similar suite of products from Mothers.

Given that my only experience with cars is with my Saabs, perhaps some of
you who do a lot of restoring and 'repairing' of decaying paint finishes can
offer some advice on what to try that has a good reputation for quality and
what products I should avoid. 8-)

Thanks,

Craig.

Signature

Craig's Saab C900 Page --> http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900 Sydney, NSW Australia
Craig's Saab C900 Workshop -- For all Saab C900 Enthusiasts world-wide!
http://www.saab900classic.net http://www.saab900.org c900@lios.apana.org.au
Come and explore our site, and check out our web-forums, mailing list, etc.

Reply to this Message

ShazWozza - 18 Jul 2005 11:08 GMT

> I've had a lot of recommendations for products, but so far most of them
> are heading towards trying some of the Meguiars paint-care products, with
> the second-most common recommendation a similar suite of products from
> Mothers.

If your paint is weathered as badly as you describe then forget your Mothers
and Meguires its time for the Estapol. Horses can walk that that stuff.
Apply it with a small roller.

Reply to this Message

Craig's Saab C900 Site - 20 Jul 2005 23:21 GMT

>> I've had a lot of recommendations for products, but so far most of them
>> are heading towards trying some of the Meguiars paint-care products, with
>> the second-most common recommendation a similar suite of products from
>> Mothers.

>If your paint is weathered as badly as you describe then forget your Mothers
>and Meguires its time for the Estapol. Horses can walk that that stuff.
>Apply it with a small roller.

Eww. 8-) Hmm Estapol on a car? on a white car? Somehow I dont think so. lol

Craig.

Signature

Reply to this Message

nix8860 - 18 Jul 2005 15:52 GMT

Sounds to me like the car has not had a polish/sealant for quiet some time.
Its actually not odd for neglegeted white cars to emit the white pigment as
the white car is a base colour and has no clear coat.

Meguairs have some great products and if your going to settle for off the
shelf products then that is the way to go.
Now depending on how good you want the paint work to look depends on how
many steps, but spending about 1 day & a few $$$ can get the car looking
good.

First of all, probably use Meguairs Hi-tech Wash or soft wash gel to wash
the car.
Then use a Clay bar does not matter which brand, this clay bar will remove
all bonded contaminants on the paint work, such as industrial fall out, tree
sap, brid droppings overspray ete ete, it should make the paint work smooth
again. you will need a quick detail spray or car wash mixed with water in a
bottle to use it as lubricant then you can use the clay bar on the surface.

You will then need to use meguairs paint cleaner, depending on how bad the
paintwork is you might need to use fine cut cleaner, or scratch X before
using the paint cleaner.

Then you can top it off with meguairs wet look polymer sealant or NXT
generation

OR the 2 step process, mirror glaze Deep cyrystal polish followed by Deep
crystal Wax which might be the better option.

They also have a paint subscribition, so you put in all your problems and it
will recomend what u need!
http://www.meguiars.com.au/Rx_Paint_Care.htm

Now depending on how much shine you want you can go one step better, and get
some
Klasse twins ( all in one & sealant glaze) or Menzerna products which you
cant get off the shelf and get it from a detailing supplier or online

Menzerna have an intenstive polish that will cure your problems fairly
easily

Check www.eclipsedetailing.com.au, www.waxit.com.au for all those products
and more.

If you keep to once ever 6 months applying a polymer sealer/wax then your
paint work should last a little while longer and have a good shine.

keep away from the usual suspects, sellys, turtle wax, nu finish ete ete.
Try not to use any of the cutting compounds or cut and polish even though it
is easy it will remover a layer of paint and leave swirl marks in your
finish if you have any paint afterwoods.

Mothers will also do the trick, its all up to personal preference and how
much you are willing to spend.

Good luck and report back if you need any help.

> My white 1983 Saab 900S needs some attention to it's decaying paintwork. The
> paint finish seems to be suffering mainly UV damage in that every time I
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> http://www.saab900classic.net http://www.saab900.org c900@lios.apana.org.au
> Come and explore our site, and check out our web-forums, mailing list, etc.

Reply to this Message

Craig's Saab C900 Site - 20 Jul 2005 23:31 GMT

>Sounds to me like the car has not had a polish/sealant for quiet some time.
>Its actually not odd for neglegeted white cars to emit the white pigment as
>the white car is a base colour and has no clear coat.

I didn't think there was any sort of clearcoat as there's no telltale
peeling taking place anywhere. I'm concerned that the neglected paintwork
is inviting rust so that's another incentive to look after it until I can
get a proper repaint done.

>Meguairs have some great products and if your going to settle for off the
>shelf products then that is the way to go.
>Now depending on how good you want the paint work to look depends on how
>many steps, but spending about 1 day & a few $$$ can get the car looking
>good.

Thanks for all your suggestions - I'll track down what's available at the
local auto parts stores and go from there.

>Check www.eclipsedetailing.com.au, www.waxit.com.au for all those products
>and more.

I figured the trade would have a lot more stuff available that what can be
found at retail level. Probably worth checking that out too.

>If you keep to once ever 6 months applying a polymer sealer/wax then your
>paint work should last a little while longer and have a good shine.

That's about the aim of the exercise - giving the paintwork a very good
wash followed by a good seal/wax at regular intervals is where I'm heading.
With our water restrictions we can't wash our cars very often (if at all,
depending how bad the water shortage gets this coming summer - it's bad now
and we're in the middle of a very dry but cold winter) so 6 months betwen
full wash/seal/wax cycles seems sensible, with a wash on it's own every
couple of months as needed.

>keep away from the usual suspects, sellys, turtle wax, nu finish ete ete.
>Try not to use any of the cutting compounds or cut and polish even though it
>is easy it will remover a layer of paint and leave swirl marks in your
>finish if you have any paint afterwoods.

My wife was trying to get me to use Turtle Wax but I've resisted as I'm not
keen on stuff that is highly abrasive unless there really is a need for it.
After all the idea is to *keep* as much of the paint on the car rather than
remove a lot of it to get a smooth/shiny finish. 8-)

>Mothers will also do the trick, its all up to personal preference and how
>much you are willing to spend.

I'll compare pricing, etc. but with most people I asking saying Meguiars is
better I can try their products and if I don't like the results, opt for
something else in the future.

Regards,

Craig.

Signature

Reply to this Message

Patrick Young - 18 Jul 2005 17:10 GMT

> My white 1983 Saab 900S needs some attention to it's decaying paintwork. The
> paint finish seems to be suffering mainly UV damage in that every time I
> wash the car, the water is turning milky white so I presum the pigment is

European cars just don't have what it takes for .AU climate. It's
interesting to note that Toyotas for example built for Europe and
Canada tend to have paint that will outlast the vehicle :-p

> The best solution would be a repaint but a good quality repaint is a
> budget-blower at present so I'm looking at dealing with the problem by
> trying to restore the paint finish as much as possible, then giving it a
> good seal/shine treatment to get it to the point where I don't need to worry
> about the pigment washing off every time it rains or I decide to wash the

Nope, it's stuffed. If you want to learn about this sort of thing, I'd
suggest stripping it back (should not be too hard, unless the mess
that's on there ATM turns to a "goo" with paint stripper - however
never know your luck), then apply 2-pak. It's been a while since
I've done this stuff - used to be able to get Dulux mixed as per the
car's original colour from your paint shop. Dulux sold to ppg, and I'm
not sure it's available to the public now (have not checked).

http://www.ppg.com/aus-refinish/collisionrepair/default.htm

Would be a good place to start.

Note 2 pak (when I used it last) was pretty toxic, so you would
want to take proper precautions ... It will outlast the vehicle
if applied properly, sticks like shite to a blanket too.

Dunno if things have changed much, however I'd *never* use
an acylic paint on a car, even clear coated....

I'm interested in an update on what's out there these
days .... ?

Reply to this Message

Craig's Saab C900 Site - 21 Jul 2005 00:09 GMT

>> My white 1983 Saab 900S needs some attention to it's decaying paintwork. The
>> paint finish seems to be suffering mainly UV damage in that every time I
>> wash the car, the water is turning milky white so I presum the pigment is

>European cars just don't have what it takes for .AU climate. It's
>interesting to note that Toyotas for example built for Europe and
>Canada tend to have paint that will outlast the vehicle :-p

Well given that my white Saab is 23 years old (built in late 1982 - making
it in Saab's '1983' build year program), I think the paintwork has done a
sterling job lasting this long. The bodywork has a few spots of rust in
places and I'm dealing with that as a seperate issue currently. If you want
to read about some of the rust comtemplation, the postings are at:

http://www.saab900classic.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=92

http://www.saabscene.co.uk/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/3/1454.html

>> The best solution would be a repaint but a good quality repaint is a
>> budget-blower at present so I'm looking at dealing with the problem by
>> trying to restore the paint finish as much as possible, then giving it a
>> good seal/shine treatment to get it to the point where I don't need to worry
>> about the pigment washing off every time it rains or I decide to wash the

>Nope, it's stuffed. If you want to learn about this sort of thing, I'd
>suggest stripping it back (should not be too hard, unless the mess
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>car's original colour from your paint shop. Dulux sold to ppg, and I'm
>not sure it's available to the public now (have not checked).

If I was going to head down this path I'd get a professional paintshop to do
it. But yes it's an option I have considered but discounted due to the cost
of setting up for it. Without a proper paint booth I'd be wasting my time
and a paintshop would give a warrantable outcome so if they buggered it up
they'd have to fix it. 8-)

There are some forum postings in relation to this subject at:

http://www.saab900classic.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=75

Regards,

Craig.

Signature

Reply to this Message

Noddy - 19 Jul 2005 03:09 GMT

"Craig's Saab C900 Site" <c900@lios.apana.org.au> wrote in message
news:dbfs14

> Given that my only experience with cars is with my Saabs, perhaps some of
> you who do a lot of restoring and 'repairing' of decaying paint finishes
> can
> offer some advice on what to try that has a good reputation for quality
> and
> what products I should avoid. 8-)

Results can vary quite a bit, but generally once things have got to this
stage the only real fix is repainting.

If that's not an option, then your best bet is to take the car to a detailer
and have them machine cut it, and then give it a good coating that will help
protect it with a carnauba based wax. If you're intent on doing it yourself,
then you'll need something like a "colour restoring" polish (which is
actually a very mild cutting compound) to return the colour to something
like it's original condition, and a carnauba wax for further protection.

Follow the product manufactuer's directions, and be prepared to sweat :)

--
Regards,
Noddy.

Reply to this Message