Styling Polishing 19 year old paint...!

Chas Uno · Aug 11, 2005

I've attached a picture of my 19 year old Uno roof after what amounted to a days work. The paint had really badly oxidised, so much so that it was completely matt. T-Cut on it's own didn't have much effect, so drastic action was required. Two going overs with Turtle Wax rubbing compound got rid of most of the oxidisation. Then I gave it two going overs with T-Cut, and this time the paint came up really nice. Both these are good for developing arm muscles!

Then I used Turtle Wax High Gloss polish. I just happend to have a some lying around, I don't know if it's even still available. I gave it one coat, then a good buffing by hand. Then I gave it a second coat and used an electric buffing machine.

Then end results look pretty good I think, especially considering it's the original paint put on in 1986!

Bloody hard work though, and now I have the rest of the car to do

Gonna take ages, but it should look nice when it's done

Luke · Aug 11, 2005

Did a good job there

I had to use rubbing compound to bring my paintwork back to life - but only had the roof, bonnet and rear hatch to do as i resprayed the sides of the car

EDIT: And an important point i would like to point out to others - you can only really cut the oxidised paint off with rubbing compound once - twice if you do it very cautiously, otherwise you'll end up taking all the colour off and be left with the white primer coat

jamie86 · Aug 11, 2005

Looks great has to be said as soon as my new engines in and the bays steam cleaned i'll give mine a good old clean and se how it comes up anywhere near as good as that and i'll be well chuffed

Great Job there!

bulldog5046 · Aug 11, 2005

very nice

also, i'm tempted to put 6x9's in my rear quarters

Louie Bee · Aug 11, 2005

Nice work Chas! I would expect nothing less

I see you’ve got the turbo tailgate on, and the roof strips off too. Good show

Regards,
Louie.

joecinq · Aug 11, 2005

Looks fantastic! Can't believe how good that has came up

Great work

, a finish that good was definately worth the effort.

F R O S T Y · Aug 12, 2005

Nice work Chas, when your done you can do mines as well matey??

hehe

F R O $ T Y

Steven · Aug 12, 2005

Very shiny.

DRUE1 · Aug 13, 2005

looks wicked m8y just a bit of spit and polish does the trick

Hellcat · Aug 13, 2005

The title of the thread only said "Polishing 19 year old..." on the main page so I wasn't sure what to expect..

Does look really smart though, with 19 year old paint looking as good as that my 1994 tipo has no excuses. Were the Uno's given a different paint treatment to the rest of the range?

Chas Uno · Aug 15, 2005

Thanks for the kind words everyone! It was very hard work to get the roof looking like that, but I think the end result was worth it.

Fro$ty, if I were to do your paintwork too I'd end up with arms like Arnie Schwartzenegger! Once is enough for me

Louie, yes, the roof strips came off no problem. Thanks for telling me how to do that

And yes, I've fitted the turbo tailgate. Paintwork doesn't quite match, but it will do for now.

Hellcat, I doubt if there is any difference in the paint on my Uno compared with your Tipo. If you use the same technique as I did you should get the same results.

A lot of cars from new had orange peel on the original paint. By using rubbing compound what you are effectively doing is grinding some of the paint off, but at the same time also flatting out some of the orange peel. Thus, when the polishing is done it should look much nicer.

But as Luke said, you have to be careful with rubbing compound. If you use it too much or too hard you will wear the paint away to the primer. Not good.

Polishing paint is no different to polishing metal. All you are doing is smoothing out the paintwork, and buffing it to make it shine. Then a coat of polish should accentuate that and hopefully keep it shiny and protected.

Red is a notorious colour for fading and oxidising, so it remains to be seen how long mine will keep it's shine. Then again, I did the same for most of my bonnet a year ago and it seems to have held up pretty well. I've attached a picture so you can see what it looks like, plus also you can still see the strip of oxidised paint that I've still yet to polish up. The oxidised paint you can see is what pretty much covered the whole of my car. Also attached is the bucket of water I was using for rinsing the cloth, and you can see quite clearly how much paint and oxidisation came off in the process

I'll get it all done one of these days and have a nice shiny mk1 Uno

Steven · Aug 15, 2005

Wow. I must attack my Panda with that stuff.

GhostWKD · Nov 7, 2005

hmm i wonder if some kinda cutting compound can bring back my faded tailgate/bumper/skirts/arches :chin: (then just need new bonnet

lol

)

Luke · Nov 7, 2005

GhostWKD said:
hmm i wonder if some kinda cutting compound can bring back my faded tailgate/bumper/skirts/arches :chin: (then just need new bonnet lol )

yes - just get some cheapo car plan stuff - it seems to be watered down so its not too abrasive

Ferecula G grade will be quick, but be gentle

GhostWKD · Nov 7, 2005

and i get that from...

Luke · Nov 7, 2005

GhostWKD said:
and i get that from...

Any good motor factors should do some form of rubbing compound

one · Nov 9, 2005

you cant beat g3 (farrecla) used with an electric buffer and then follow that up with a good wash down and a good quality wax when dry.

perfick everytime but be carefull with the g3. keep the buffer moving or you will burn the paint. if in doubt use it watered down a bit.

sumplug · Nov 9, 2005

one said:
you cant beat g3 (farrecla) used with an electric buffer and then follow that up with a good wash down and a good quality wax when dry.

perfick everytime but be carefull with the g3. keep the buffer moving or you will burn the paint. if in doubt use it watered down a bit.

G3 is to abrasive.use G6.much better and a nice finish. a tip is to use 1500 used wet and dry first,then polish off to seal the paintwork.saves a lot of elbow grease.

one · Nov 9, 2005

sumplug said:
G3 is to abrasive.use G6.much better and a nice finish. a tip is to use 1500 used wet and dry first,then polish off to seal the paintwork.saves a lot of elbow grease.

g6 is ok if the paint work is not tarnished or doesn't contain any light scratching. milky pintwork will come up with g6 but not as good as with g3.
once you have used the g3 then use g6 to give a higher gloss finish follwed by a good coat of wax ( i use one that i buy from a car valeter i know made by image chemicals).

alexGS · Nov 10, 2005

It makes a big difference using the right materials - the advice here could save a great deal of time, aggro, and paint damage!

I once polished right through the paint on my Uno 60 (many years ago), because I wanted to use what I had at hand. Needless to say, this was impossible to repair discreetly, and it's worth treading with care if you do choose to use something that hasn't been recommended by someone else.

Having said that, get those Unos gleaming!

-Alex

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