How to remove oxidation from orange candy apple red paint?

[KenNETx]

How to remove oxidation from orange candy apple red paint?

What's the best product to remove heavy oxidation from the entire vehicle by hand?

TIA

[Murr1525]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Eeck.

Well, on a whole car, either ScratchX or ColorX would be best. Here is a little on both...

What it Means to Remove a Scratch

1986 Ford Bronco II - Extreme Makeover

How To Remove Swirls By Hand

How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Best product to remove heavy oxidation from entire vehicle by hand? TIA

What are you working on?

Your description makes it sound like you're working on a single stage paint? Is this correct?

Or is it a clear coated finish? If it's clear coated, then it may not be oxidation. A picture would tell the entire story.

[KenNETx]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

It is a candy apple red enamel repaint on a 1983 Chevrolet Silverado. It was neglected/abused over many years. It was washed infrequently and on the rare occasion such was done, whatever oxidation on it was waxed over with nu-finish or black magic. Mighty poor choice as it had a THICK oxidation/wax/dirt coating over its entirety.

The finish is relatively smooth under the oxidation/dirt as for the past two months I have wiped it down with alcohol and laquer thinner once. YEA...harsh...been washing it with DC car wash, cleaning with DC #1, and waxing with A12 paste. I am not acheiving results at a rate I can tolerate however (will die of old age first). LOL

I am not seeking perfection, just "good as it gets".

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

I am not seeking perfection, just "good as it gets".

What you want to do is to see if you can make a small section look good and if you can then repeat the process that made the small section look good to the entire car. It's called, "Doing a Test Spot"

Test Spot on a Mosler to remove scratches and restore clarity to the clear coat.





After our choice of products were applied and wiped off to the test spot the Mosler was pulled out into the sun to inspect. The products and procedures selected worked in the test spot and then they were duplicated over the entire car.




Once you dial-in a successful procedure to one small area, all you have to do is repeat the procedure over the entire car. If you can make one small area look good, it's not a leap of faith to figure out you can make the entire car look good.


LSP applied (NXT in this case after machine cleaning and polishing)




LSP removed




Next question... do you want to do all your work by hand? Or by machine? It will be a lot easier to get professional results by machine but we can show you how to do it both ways.

Let us know and then we'll help you with product selection.

[KenNETx]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

By hand I am sad to say. No $$$ for machine. Thanks.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

By hand? no problem...

Besides washing and then claying the car, do you want to do one step? or multiple steps?

If one step, simply pick up a bottle of ColorX and read through this thread...


1986 Ford Bronco II - Extreme Makeover


If you want to do a multiple-step process, pick up two tubes of ScratchX, some Deep Crystal Polish and a wax of your choice and follow the steps in this thread...

How To Remove Swirls By Hand


Which ever option you choose, first pick a small area on the hood and do each step to this section ending up with wiping your final coat of wax off. Then inspect. It should look good, if it doesn't then don't continue with going over the entire vehicle.

Also, if after washing and claying the paint, a well worked-in application of either ScratchX, (a dedicated paint cleaner), or ColorX, (a strong cleaner/wax), is making the paint look good, as in clear and glossy, then chances are good the paint is either beyond repair by hand and must be machine cleaned and polished, or it can't be fixed at all.

I'm not sure we ever heard from you as to whether this is a single-stage paint or a clear coated paint?

When you rub any paint polishing product onto the paint, when you turn your applicator over are you seeing pigment, as in the color of the paint, on the applicator pad?

If yes, then you have a single stage paint, if no, then you have a clear coated finish. If it's a clear coated finish, it's going to be harder to fix.

[gorin002]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

By hand I am sad to say. No $$$ for machine. Thanks.

watch out for special price
mine was reduced in sprice

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Best product to remove heavy oxidation from entire vehicle by hand? TIA

Is this a clear coat finish? Or a single stage finish?

How can I tell if I have a clear coat finish?


To determine whether you have a clear coat or a single-stage finish perform this simple test.

• Find an inconspicuous area to test, such as the lower rear quarter panel of your car's fender or inside the door jamb.
• Clean this area first with car wash and water or Meguiar's Quik Detailer. You don't want any dirt or grime to interfere with your test.
• Using a small piece of white cotton, such as a piece of terry cloth towel, rub a little paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the paint of this inconspicuous area.
• After rubbing for a few moments, turn your cloth toward you and look to see if there is any color from your paint on the cloth.

If you have a red car and you now have red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a single stage finish. If you have a red car and you don't see any red paint residue on your cloth, this is a pretty good indicator that you have a clear coat.

To be 100% sure, you should test in a couple of different areas.

Note: If you have a white, or very light colored car you should use a dark piece of cotton cloth and look for the color of your car's finish on it after rubbing some paint cleaner or Cleaner/Wax into the finish for a few moments.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

It is a candy apple red enamel repaint on a 1983 Chevrolet Silverado.

It could still be a clear coat finish, do you see the color of the paint on your applicator pad after applying the Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner or the A12 Cleaner/Wax?

If it's a single stage paint you should be seeing a lot of pigment on the applicator and your wipe-off towels.

[KenNETx]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Single stage enamel

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Single stage enamel

Cool. Single stage paints are fun to work on. Either the ScratchX route or the ColorX route should work great, you usually get the best results from a multiple step process, especially with a single stage paint.

The most important step is the cleaning step, (either ScratchX or ColorX), put some passion behind the pad and only work a section at at time so that your are thoroughly cleaning the paint in each section, that is removing the dead paint in each section.

[KenNETx]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Which would be the most agressive, ScratchX or ColorX, and is there a next step up in agressiveness for the cleaning step recommended for hand application?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Which would be the most aggressive, ScratchX or ColorX, and is there a next step up in aggressiveness recommended for hand application?

ScratchX is a dedicated paint cleaner so all of the ingredients are focused on cleaning while ColorX is a cleaner/polish/wax, so not all the ingredients are focused on cleaning.


All things being equal, ScratchX is going to be a better more aggressive paint cleaner. If you want to get more aggressive then the only safe way to do this is to step up to machine cleaning. Like this,






Getting more aggressive may remove dead paint faster but it will remove more paint, (good paint), and likely leave scratches in the paint, then what are you going to do?


To get into machine polishing with a dual action polisher will cost you around $200.00 plus, that's around the price of a shoddy detail job in most cases. That's because most detail shops and detailers don't know what they're doing but charge like they do know what they're doing.

Follow the outline in the link we've included for removing swirls by hand and invest your time and passion in the ScratchX step and your truck should come out looking good. Please do the test spot first so to insure your going to get the results you want.

[KenNETx]

Re: Orange candy apple red paint.

Like what the ScratchX does, just need something more agressive by hand. Perchance the thing I would use BEFORE ScratchX if such exist for working by hand.