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What is the best product for trying to restore faded paintwork on bonnet to match the rest of the car
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Bird poop on the rest of the car.
If you would like ur mota 2 spend a summer on the Somerset/Devon coastline with my prixe-winning (past-tense) mota then u can guarantee the paint will be "mottled" at best.........
I say shoot all seagulls regardless of their protection under EU Law - nowhere near as protected as criminals!!
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Glad to hear the gulls are carefully picking their targets Guy.
Actually the "characters" on this forum are perhps getting a bit too familiar. Pulled up at the Chinese take-away earlier tonight in our Car of the Year Xantia (well it's the car we have this year) beside a 1994 red Golf GTI 3dr. Just allowed a few moments for the excellent CCS CD track to finish while casting a glance over the Golf to see how it looked at the same age (ish) as my Citroen thinking bl--dy Guy Lacey and his GTI fixation.
Thought again...what the h-ll am I doing on a Saturday night considering the opinion of a virtual car owner on the HJ forum. Very worrying!
David
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You joke about bird poop. Last weekend I was crossing the Runcorn bridge with the roof down when I heard a loud impact on the car (but not so hard as to sound worrying). When we got home I found a large splatter about 18 inches behind my headrest, which could only have been a bird's egg, probably a starling's as hundreds of them roost on the bridge. Would you prefer a poop or an egg?
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Don't worry - the Halfords gadget I was refering too has less power than my electric toothbrush! You'd break your arm trying to go through the paintwork.
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Red pigments are by far the most expensive to buy - especially the good bright ones.
By expensive I mean in the region of £100/kg.
The lightfastness of the cheaper pigments is in the region of 5-6 whereas a decent pigment will be in the region of lightfastness 8.
To put it into perspective - newprint is zero, cardboard is a 2 and fine papers probably 4. 8 is *very* lightfast!
I suspect the lacquer plays just as important a part as the pigment itself by filtering the UV that causes the degredation.
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My red Cavalier had the same problem. T Cut is by far the best product, plus an electric polisher from Halfords for £14.95 that plugs into the lighter socket.
Once you've cut back to non oxidised paint make sure you keep the paintwork waxed to prevent further UV damage and muck build up. Best polish system is Autoglym (see recent thread for lots of details on this). Good luck!
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If you use any mildly abrasive product (T Cut) AND any sort of power tool don't press too hard or you might get down to the basic steel, through all the paint. Don't press too hard!
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As this topic is of personal interest to me being an owner of a red car, can anyone tell me why oxidisation only seems to affect red paint, and also why is it usually the bonnet which goes first?
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Richard,
I understand there is a problem with the stability of the red pigment in all paints, and that it can be expensive to get a lasting result.
Our red BX (soon to be retired and mentioned elsewhere here) has the most wicked case of fading paint. It happens yearly and the resulting amount of T-Cut/polish has worn the finish to primer in places. The bonnet is far worse and I think David L is right in saying heat may be a factor.
We owned an otherwise clean Audi 80 years ago that was just the same, but that at least lasted two years between T-Cut. Also a maroon Volvo 240 had serious bonnet fade.
Compared with red many metallics are maintenance free so I tend to go for then now.
And I know it isn't just car paint because all our old farm equipment re-painted Massey red fades in a couple of years to a matt pink.
David
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David
I had a red Vectra for 4 years, and for most of that it stood out. Only kept it loking good by frequent washing and regular (3 - 4 times a year) use of Autoglym. Didn't have bonnet fade, and I must say that really bad fade seems to be more dignificant on repainted cars. I wonder how many new cars have had paint rectification at the factory or showroom? My car was showing slight fade on the horizontal panels , roof, bonnet wing tops, but still looked OK. There's no doubt that red is particularly prone to fade.
Regards
john
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My Toyota is red and it hasn't faded in 9 years. But it is seldom polished, only washed. And that not very frequently.
My godfather always used to say: Leave the dirt on -- it protects the paintwork. Now I see his point.
pip pip!
MWH
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David - what kind of Audi was it you owned 80 years ago ?
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Andrew,
You're very particular.
...........We owned an otherwise clean Audi 80, years ago, that was.......
Better?
David
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My sister's old fiesta (mk1) ended up orange before she sent it to the scrap dealer in the sky.
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The bonnet always seems to fade first because (a) Its been repaired & painted following collision with a drunk pedestrian (See earlier thread) (b) it could be affected by engine heat, perhaps??
It seems to afflict Vauxhalls and VW's more than others
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I think VAG have changed their policy on red paint now after bad experiences with both Mars and Tornado red oxidisation. Their new red paint is a special order item which has a sealant applied at the factory (similar to metallics) to stop this. I've never had a problem with my Signal red Mercedes 190E but I use wash and wax once a week and Autoglym it once a quarter.
Another interesting VAG paint problem is Helios Blue. Why do Sciroccos painted this colour always look like they've been in a fire at some point -severe bonnet and roof blistering?
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Probably following Ford's lead of many years ago. Anyone remember the famous 'Blue Mink (?)' metallic, which steadily peeled off the car after a couple of years?
Regards
John
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Or "Silver Fox" which literally washed off Capri Mk Is and Cortina Mk IIs
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Have any of you guys tried oxalic acid to get rid of the traffic grime and help with "faded" paintwork esp if there is some industrial fallout involved
Get it from the local pharmacist, it is not expensive, 1 teaspoon in a milk bottle of water, and once you have washed the car normally, sponge the acid mixture over the paintwork, and by the time you have finished, rinse it off and then start the Autoglym procedure.
BTW I do NOT know what everyone is moaning about seagull poop for. Thank your lucky stars you do not have a boat. Cormorant sh*t is like Araldite and 50 times more corrosive than HF acid, oh all right I exaggerate about the acid bit.
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