Paint dull?


mike

New Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
234
Tim (djdosile) posted some pics of mine and his car, look for devon meet to see the pics.

The problem is that when I put my car next to his, mine looked cream rather than white and his is older than mine! I heard that this is quite a common problem with CW paint and that with a really good polish it should come back to white again.

Anyone else on here had a simila problem? And what results did you get?

Thanks
 
I thought I had seen a thread before about paint problems lol there it is!! :nice: Thanks rvm!

So I guess all I gota do is put in some elbow grease and polish it!!

Yep! I used 3m grease to polish it.

Just to let you know, my car was 6 month receiving direct sun light + rain, in a port in japan, then in a port in miami :angry:, the paint was in VERY bad shape, but 1 good polish was the solution :)
 
Yep! I used 3m grease to polish it.

Just to let you know, my car was 6 month receiving direct sun light + rain, in a port in japan, then in a port in miami :angry:, the paint was in VERY bad shape, but 1 good polish was the solution :)

Brilliant rvm, thanks mate! I will let you know how it goes, going to give it a go tomorrow!!

I love this site, somebody always knows all the answers to all my questions!! :nice:
 
Brilliant rvm, thanks mate! I will let you know how it goes, going to give it a go tomorrow!!

I love this site, somebody always knows all the answers to all my questions!! :nice:

Cool man, I'm glad we can help you :)
 
One type of polish isn't enough to make it look as new as you would like.

If it's quite bad, I suggest using a stage 1 cut n polish to remove dirt and grub on the surface. After that you use a wax polish to further cut down the grub to nothing.

You will know if your paint is good when you run your whole hand across the surface. If you feel tiny tiny little sand pieces, it means its still got crap on the surface.

Mind you, I spent 20+ full on hours polishing my DC5R and now, the surface is like silk when you run your hand across. Also every fine scratch there ever was, isnt there anymore. I'm lucky because there wasn't even 1 small dent on the car, so now its better than showroom grade.

By doing a good 20hrs, you also have the benefit of maximum protection against dust, dirt and EXTREME water beading on your paint! Makes your car water proof. Oh, also you'll get sore arms and fingers for a while.

I haven't washed my DC5R for about 3-4 months now. Simply because its still so damn clean. Dirt, rain, crap all just flys off the surface.

I used KITTEN products.

-Liquid cut n polish 1
-Liquid wax n polish

These products are very mild and the Liquid wax n polish is SUPER mild yet works so well in removing tiny sand like crap WITHOUT SCRATCHING the paint no matter how hard you push. I pushed and rubbed the crap out of it and not even 1 scratch appeared.

I've tried others but nothing creates shine and removes fine scratches like this.

And also tried full range of Meguires, Auto Glym, etc. But nothing comes close. Technique is the key element in polishing.
 
im a proffesional vehicle valeter and have been for the last 6 years.

i have tried pretty much every product on the market and for paint restoration i would recommend the following procedure using the following products:

-wash the car completely using AutoGlym or AutoSmart wash and wax shampoo

the next stage's succes is greatly determined on if you have use of a machine polisher!

-if you have a machine polisher, apply AutoGlym bodyshop cutting compound (fine abrasive, no harsher!) to the orbital head. start on the bonnet and with the machine off spread the product over the panel. turn the polisher on and keep it moving! where people go wrong with this, is thinking 'oh that bit looks bad i'll keep the polisher there for a bit longer' problem with that is a few seconds in the same place will build up the heat and you will burn through the paint. not good! so keep it moving and work up and down the bonnet.

-then do the same with the roof.

- once the roof and the bonnet are done, move on the the sides of the car. stay away from any plastics and dont over apply the product.

- once the whole car has had the cutting compound applied. go over it with a polish using the machine polisher (i recommend AutoGlym super resin polish) this will make buffing it off alot easier.

- once the whole car has had a layer of polish applied over the cutting compound. buff it all off with a clean cloth.

- then eigther by hand or with the machine polisher go over the car with another coat of polish. buff off.

- then ... (i realise this is a long procces, but its well worth it!) go round the car with a coatt of pure wax i.e a polish that has no cleaning agent/cut to it. (AutoGlym ultra deep, Zymol concours or Auto smart platinum) buff off.

by this point your cars paint will be like a babies bum :D keep running your hand over the paint to check how smooth it is. if its at all rough then go over it with the cutting compound again (play it by feel!)

- when your happy with the shine and smoothness of your cars paint. lock the shine in with one of the following products:
- AutoGlym Lifeshine (lasts 10 years!)
- AutoGlym Extra Gloss Protection (lasts 8 months)
- AutoSmart Silver Seal (lasts 3 Years)
- Superguard (lasts 4 years)

these are all hard wax protectors that when applied will bond to your paint and seal in the shine you have achieved (note. this will only lock in the shine of the car, it will not improve the shine) they all need to be left for as long as possible to bond to the paint. minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of about a day.
the longer the better. but make sure if you do leave the product on this long that you leave it out of direct sunlight like a garage. then buff it off as you did the polish.

you should now be left with showroom condition paint. washing will be 20x easier and the crap from the roads wont stick to your car!

enjoy ;)
 
im a proffesional vehicle valeter and have been for the last 6 years.

i have tried pretty much every product on the market and for paint restoration i would recommend the following procedure using the following products:

-wash the car completely using AutoGlym or AutoSmart wash and wax shampoo

the next stage's succes is greatly determined on if you have use of a machine polisher!

-if you have a machine polisher, apply AutoGlym bodyshop cutting compound (fine abrasive, no harsher!) to the orbital head. start on the bonnet and with the machine off spread the product over the panel. turn the polisher on and keep it moving! where people go wrong with this, is thinking 'oh that bit looks bad i'll keep the polisher there for a bit longer' problem with that is a few seconds in the same place will build up the heat and you will burn through the paint. not good! so keep it moving and work up and down the bonnet.

-then do the same with the roof.

- once the roof and the bonnet are done, move on the the sides of the car. stay away from any plastics and dont over apply the product.

- once the whole car has had the cutting compound applied. go over it with a polish using the machine polisher (i recommend AutoGlym super resin polish) this will make buffing it off alot easier.

- once the whole car has had a layer of polish applied over the cutting compound. buff it all off with a clean cloth.

- then eigther by hand or with the machine polisher go over the car with another coat of polish. buff off.

- then ... (i realise this is a long procces, but its well worth it!) go round the car with a coatt of pure wax i.e a polish that has no cleaning agent/cut to it. (AutoGlym ultra deep, Zymol concours or Auto smart platinum) buff off.

by this point your cars paint will be like a babies bum :D keep running your hand over the paint to check how smooth it is. if its at all rough then go over it with the cutting compound again (play it by feel!)

- when your happy with the shine and smoothness of your cars paint. lock the shine in with one of the following products:
- AutoGlym Lifeshine (lasts 10 years!)
- AutoGlym Extra Gloss Protection (lasts 8 months)
- AutoSmart Silver Seal (lasts 3 Years)
- Superguard (lasts 4 years)

these are all hard wax protectors that when applied will bond to your paint and seal in the shine you have achieved (note. this will only lock in the shine of the car, it will not improve the shine) they all need to be left for as long as possible to bond to the paint. minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of about a day.
the longer the better. but make sure if you do leave the product on this long that you leave it out of direct sunlight like a garage. then buff it off as you did the polish.

you should now be left with showroom condition paint. washing will be 20x easier and the crap from the roads wont stick to your car!

enjoy ;)

good info mate !! cheers
 
Beautiful write up mate, cheers for that!! Got a whole day set aside for a clean, your info will really help:nice:
 
no worries.

anythin else you need/want to know on the cosmetic side of thigs PM me :)

Was gonna PM you mate, but thought the info might be useful to other members of the site.

Went down Halfords today to get some supplies & was gonna buy a machine polisher but got to thinkin 'how neccesary is it?' looked a bit cumbersome to my eyes, so wanted to ask what the benefit is, other than being a time saver...

Do you think its really important? Is it possible to get as good as or a better finish than hand polishing? Not concerned about how hard a job it is, just wanna get the best possible finish..

Cheers for the help man!! :nice:
 
you can get machine polishers form toolstation for about £50,,
but if you havent used one before i woudlnt try it out on the EK9,,
we did an old toyota hilux first before we started using ours on anything else,,
and that was with my bro showing us what to do as he`s an ex bodyshop man,
honda paint is THIN!! maybe do by hand for now and if your not happy you have the option of machine polishing next time,,
 
Was gonna PM you mate, but thought the info might be useful to other members of the site.

Went down Halfords today to get some supplies & was gonna buy a machine polisher but got to thinkin 'how neccesary is it?' looked a bit cumbersome to my eyes, so wanted to ask what the benefit is, other than being a time saver...

Do you think its really important? Is it possible to get as good as or a better finish than hand polishing? Not concerned about how hard a job it is, just wanna get the best possible finish..

Cheers for the help man!! :nice:

1st of all YES using a machine polisher makes the finish alot better.
i mean you could get the same finish by hand but think about it. you hand polish in small tight circles ... and so does the machine polisher. but the machine polisher can rotate 1000x faster than you ever could. with the pressure being applied through both of your arms. (note. you can push as hard as you want just keep it moving) meaning in theory that you would have to spend 1000x longer on the job before you'd get close to the finish that a machine polisher could achieve. plus if you take your time with the machine polisher and keep the head flat you will get a perfect even finish which is hard to get when paint renovating by hand. you'll end up with an almost patchy finish.

dont get me wrong its do-able by hand and you will get good results. but the perfectionist ( myslef:) )woud be able to notice straight away.

so the advantages of a machine polisher are:
- saves time
- makes job easier
- gives an even finish
- can take away blemishes in the paint you could never remove by hand
- generates heat which makes the product alot more effective.

if your gunna get a machine polisher... i reccomend the 'Autosmart twin orbital polisher' as it has two heads so it reduces the risk of you burning through your paint and gives an awsome even finish.

hope this helps! :)
feel free to ask any more questions you have
ill keep checkin this space
 
forget orbital polishers this is what you need:D CP8210P UK Plug Elect. & Air Polishers by Chicago Pneumatic (CP) , thats what we use at work and what all other bodyshops use for paint rectification, we use these products- 3M UK & Ireland - Bodyshop Solutions
practice using the polisher first, be carefull on panel edges etc, a much better result will be achieved using this system than you would get with a crappy orbital polisher from halfords or somewhere:nice:

@ mike,regarding your car looking a different colour,
a lot of colours have variants in shades, altho the colour code and name is the same, a lot of colours have a few shades for example... standard shade, light shade dark shade GE (green) shade, and so on, some times one shade looks completely different to another, not sure if there are variants on champ white, but if after a good polish up it still looks different that may be why:)
 
forget orbital polishers this is what you need:D CP8210P UK Plug Elect. & Air Polishers by Chicago Pneumatic (CP) , thats what we use at work and what all other bodyshops use for paint rectification, we use these products- 3M UK & Ireland - Bodyshop Solutions
practice using the polisher first, be carefull on panel edges etc, a much better result will be achieved using this system than you would get with a crappy orbital polisher from halfords or somewhere:nice:

@ mike,regarding your car looking a different colour,
a lot of colours have variants in shades, altho the colour code and name is the same, a lot of colours have a few shades for example... standard shade, light shade dark shade GE (green) shade, and so on, some times one shade looks completely different to another, not sure if there are variants on champ white, but if after a good polish up it still looks different that may be why:)

thats just a single head machine polisher :S
 
thats just a single head machine polisher :S

yeah i know, its what nearly all body shops use, and for a good reason......... cos they work well!

its the best machine i've ever used, it spins doesnt orbit and has variable speeds, its light, easy to use fast and effective, we've used it with the 3m products to produce concourse winning paint finishes....
 
I had no machine, thats why it took 20hrs+ full on. lol

but, I always thought you'd have better control with hand in terms of applying pressure and spots. Sometimes you get them in tight spots that will require to do by hand.

but its true, once youve completely polished all the crap off, its silky as silk. And water, dirt, dust everything just flies off the surface.

Lilocollinsy: I havent used those products yet, wish they were available here. :)
 
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