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Buy yourself a copy of the current Practical Classics. They tested various products for just this thing. I didn't buy a copy so can't give the results - sorry.
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"They tested various products for just this thing" Including Autoglym's own paint restorer which scored pretty well.
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Polishing a dull surface will still leave you with a dull surface. Red seems to be a really bad colour for fading and looking chalky and dull. T cut or something with a very mild cutting agent in it is the way forward but don't press to hard or you will go thru the paint towards the metal - it is quite strong stuff and certainly don't use a power tool unless you are very confident that you know what you are doing!
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I have done various red cars gone pink over the years, but it does require some effort and time for a long lasting result. You have to remove the top layer first to get to the good paintwork underneath.
Id use a low power circular polisher and find a medium compound that isnt too harsh - if you cant get it in Halfords, try www.autosmart.co.uk. I use their 'Grafter' product which in simple terms, is much like liquid sandpaper.
The only thing to remember when you are using a power polisher, is to keep the surface wet, which stops the paint heating up too much. I tend to have the garden hose out with me when I am doing this and just soak the area im doing.
Make sure you go over evenly but dont worry about the areas you cant do such as under door mirrors - you can do the little bits by hand later on.
Then you wash the car off, making sure you get all of the excess compund out of all the crevices, pref with a pressure washer which makes it that much easier.
The you will be left with paint that has been cut back, but will have swirl marks so next job is to get rid of them. I use a hand glaze by 3M which does the job perfectly. It also leaves a nice smooth finish for easy polish application. This stuff is also excellent for improving the look of cars with paintwork dulled by car washes btw.
I then finish off with a liberal coating of Carnuba wax.
This has always worked for me.
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The only thing to remember when you are using a power polisher, is to keep the surface wet,
>>I tend to have the garden hose out with me when I am doing this and just soak the area im doing.
Remember though, electricity and water don't mix. Sorry to state the obvious. Rather than a hose pipe, a garden spray bottle might be better as you would have more control of the amount of water dispersed.
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Good point although if you work as a valeter, you know that water and electricity can work side by side if you follow plain common sense and I was assuming boxer99 has the required amount!
A garden hose is fine if you have one of those nozzles on the end so you dont have it running while you use the polisher. As far as the amount of water goes, it doesnt matter how much water you put on as it dries quite quickly when combined with compound, but more is better. I soak the area im doing, then apply compound, then immediately buff it.
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I was told by a bodyshop owner never to use T-cut on red paint as it causes it to go dull because of the ammonia in it reacting with the red pigment,
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Red paint is affected by ultraviolet light much more than any other colour.
You need to remove the top layer of oxidisation with a good chemcal cleaner/polish, of which Autoglym SRP is one. You then need to seal the fresh surface with a UV bloking product, of as youv'e seen the oxidisation soon returns.
There are a couple of very good products from a company called Carlack, one is a cleaner, and the other a sealer. The UK supplier is a company called CarSparkle ( tinyurl.com/k6t42 ) the top and second from bottom on this page.
www.detailingworld.co.uk is also a very very good resorce in the UK for car care.
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