Salvage a 25 year old paint job?

[Stickman]

I have been reading a lot of the forum threads regarding car care and detailing, and as an extremely new 'vette owner, I am beginning to see how much you can enhance (or hurt) your finish. My '80 still has its original paint, and with it plenty of blemishes. I'd like to hold off a couple of years before re-painting, and am curious for some recommendations as to what I could use (I am not a professional detailer by any means) to help diminish some of the swirls, scratches, and what I refer to as "checking" or "webbing". I know there are no miracle products to restore paint, but just want my car to look the best it can until paint time. Picture(s) to follow showing the general appearance from 6-8 feet away (if I loaded it correctly) Any input is appreciated !!
Stick

 

[Stickman]

couple of pics

Still have a little trouble loading pics - hopefully they're in now. Hopefully you can see why I'm a little reluctant to paint just yet.

 

[Willis76]

Seems like everyone has a better mouse trap when it comes to cleaners, polish and waxes. Not sure who has more hype, the spark plug guys or the wax guys.

I would look at their web sites and go through what they recommend, compare and buy the one you are most comfortable with. Don't drive yourself crazy, if you're like most, you will try them all sooner or later. (Mother's, Maguier's, 3m, etc..)

Good luck - nice looking car by the way!

:cool

 

[Stickman]

Thanks for the thoughts. I didn't get back here as soon as I figured - been doing a little research. I have seen a little info regarding a product called Color Cure. Does anybody have any suggestions on that product? I might just try it out on my other black car first, unless someone can enlighten me.

Stick

 

[Guy]

I had an all original black 82 I took thorugh the NCRS process, all the way to 4 Star Bowtie. About 3 years ago I tried using a clay bar and the result was outstanding! The clay bar gets out wax/dirt build up in those mico scratches. I think most clay bars are the same (Meguirs, etc.). Just mix a several drops of car wash in a 16-20 oz spray bottle of water. Spray an area about the size of one t-top, rub the area with the clay bar, and wipe of with a 100% cotton towel. Keep the area lubricated while using the bar. Move on the the next area, keep the areas small and "knead" the bar as it gets dirty to access a clean prortion of the bar. If you drop the bar, throw it away. After about 1 1/2 hours, your black 80 should look great.

This won't help any cracking, but it's a good start for the rest of the car.


Guy

 

[IH2LOSE]

So from a person who belives in doing as much as I can myself. I would suggested asking around to see if there is a real old school car detailer in your area. We have many detailers in our area but few skilled ones. the fellow I use can bring a shine to a junk yard car. He works magic.

 

[oldyeller1969]

In my opinion, Zaino products will do an outstanding job with black. I use nothing but Zaino on all of "toys" ('69 Daytona Yellow vette, '95 Torch Red vette, '93 Black Allante) for quite some time and am extremely happy with the results.

www.zainostore.com

p.s. Where in NW Iowa are you from? I was born and raised in that area - Now living in So Cal

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Stickman,

I picked up some ADAM's products at Carlisle after spending some time with a guy at the hotel the night before who swore by them. So after being invited by the salesman at the ADAM's booth to demonstrate the products, I bought some.
WOW!!! I finished spot painting my 87 LeSabre this week and all of the finish looked really beat, except for the parts that I painted. Because of driving it all last winter in the salt, I never thought it would look anything close to good again.

And by the pictures, your Vette doesn't look nearly as bad as my LeSabre does.
I used the ADAM's revive polish http://www.adamspolishes.com/site/product.cfm?id=9C0BD5A2-6569-474F-82F3D5FD90375AAA
and a little blob of Scratch and swirl mark remover http://www.adamspolishes.com/site/product.cfm?id=D7175241-06AF-4B12-816C0A4E9DE221C8
on a soft cloth to do a test patch on the side of the body where I had some bad scratches from the snow brush(broom) taking off 8" of snow all winter long.
All I can say is WOW!!!! It looked like new paint again.
Then I used a blend of Formula 113 http://www.corvettecavalry.com/formula113.html and Colinite Liquid Insulator Wax http://www.collinite.com/auto.htm
to wax it to protect it for another winter.
So I took the rest of the afternoon to do the top surfaces and one side of the car by hand(about 5 Hrs.) and will finish it tomorrow.

Update***
I Took some pictures this morning. The left side of the first picture is without treatment, the center is polished and the right 1/3 is waxed.
The second picture is the same with untreated areas on both sides.

 

[Stickman]

Sure looks like I got lots of options! Pretty soon I'll have to make up my mind. It looks like you folks have worked far more with this than I, and appreciate the info.

Stick

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Stickman, check out the pictures!

 

[Stickman]

Pete:

Wowwie - I can see that the effort was worth it. I definitely have a few more products to look into. Thanks so much for taking the time to include those pictures

Stick

 

[Aurora40]

I have been reading a lot of the forum threads regarding car care and detailing, and as an extremely new 'vette owner, I am beginning to see how much you can enhance (or hurt) your finish. My '80 still has its original paint, and with it plenty of blemishes. I'd like to hold off a couple of years before re-painting, and am curious for some recommendations as to what I could use (I am not a professional detailer by any means) to help diminish some of the swirls, scratches, and what I refer to as "checking" or "webbing". I know there are no miracle products to restore paint, but just want my car to look the best it can until paint time. Picture(s) to follow showing the general appearance from 6-8 feet away (if I loaded it correctly) Any input is appreciated !!
Stick

I believe your 1982 would be single-stage paint. Do you know if that's right? Regardless, if I were you, I would see what you can do with a chemical cleaner first. They are great at removing staining, oxidation, and other crud. Plus they are generally safer to use than an abrasive polish.

See what kind of correction you can do with that, and go from there. It may be that a chemical product will not address your swirling much, or as much as you'd like.

If the paint has checking, it's probably clear-coated and the clear is failing. Nothing will fix that, but keeping the paint protected can prevent or slow its getting worse.

 

[agentf1]

If you want your paint to look awesome pick up a Porter Cable 7336sp from lowes for 99 bucks and a backing plate and some 6" Lake country pads from www.properautocare.com. Then get some Zaino Fusion (ZPC) and some Z2 Pro, ZFX etc etc from www.zainostore.com and polish your paint using the PC with a white polishing pad and your speed set at 4.5 to 5.5 using the Fusion. After you have it shining the way you want it put a few coats of Z2 Pro on it and I guarentee you it will look better than 99% of the black paint jobs on the road. I could not live without Zaino with owning 3 black cars. Menzerna and Poorboys also makes good polishes but since you will be using Zaino as your final coat I would go with Fusion. There is also alot you can read on this topic at www.roadfly.com or http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/detailing/ or www.detailersclub.com.