Old Oldsmobile - Needs Help

[rdfisch]

Hello Everyone, I have recently purchased a 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Convertible (with 66k miles) from a friends dad that had been sitting in a barn for approximately 10 years. Obviously the paint has been neglected (a little surface rust, etching, stains, etc...) I am hoping to get it painted in the next year or 2, but would like to get it looking as good as I can until then. I have tried the following with pretty good success, but would like to know what (if anything) would give me better results.

1.) Wash
2.) Clay
3.) Deep Crystal Cleaner
4.) ScratchX-x
5.) Deep Crystal Polish
6.) NXT Gen Tech Wax
6a.) Bumpers/Chrome - NXT All Metal Polysh (works great!!!!)

All of the above steps have been done by hand.

I have a Craftsman 10" Buffer/Polisher and have access to a Milwaukee rotary which I am somewhat (It's been a while) skilled with (I detailed cars for a local dealership in a past life.)

Any Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ryan
Here is a pic of the car (Before any work has been done to it - sorry for the poor quality - used my camera phone.):

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Ryan,

Welcome to Meguair's Online!

Sounds like a really cool car!

Hang on a second...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Old Oldsmobile - Needs Help

Originally posted by rdfisch
Hello Everyone, I have recently purchased a 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Convertible (with 66k miles) from a friends dad that had been sitting in a barn for approximately 10 years. Obviously the paint has been neglected (a little surface rust, etching, stains, etc...) I am hoping to get it painted in the next year or 2, but would like to get it looking as good as I can until then. I have tried the following with pretty good success, but would like to know what (if anything) would give me better results.

1.) Wash
2.) Clay
3.) Deep Crystal Cleaner
4.) ScratchX
5.) Deep Crystal Polish
6.) NXT Gen Tech Wax
6a.) Bumpers/Chrome - NXT All Metal Polysh (works great!!!!)

All of the above steps have been done by hand.

The above is a pretty good system for restoring paint. The Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, followed by the ScratchX means the paint has been cleaned fairly well by now as long as you applied and worked both these products in really well. If you merely wiped them on and then wiped them off, then you could try repeating this step by hand and this time put a little passion behind your pad. If you applied these using a foam applicator, you could also try applying them using either a microfiber applicator like our Even Coat Applicator or even a peice of terry cloth as the nap of both these materials will give the paint cleaner a little more bite.

I have a Craftsman 10" Buffer/Polisher and have access to a Milwaukee rotary which I am somewhat (It's been a while) skilled with (I detailed cars for a local dealership in a past life.)

Any Help would be greatly appreciated.

The Craftsman Orbital Buffer won't produce any more gains in appearance than you've already produced by hand because your hand is more effective at removing defects than these tools in most cases. This assumes you worked the paint cleaner against and into the finish really well and not merely wiped it on and off.

The rotary could remove more below surface defects like swirls and scratches, but you will also have to be very careful of burning through the paint on thin points like body lines. If you do want to take a rotary to the paint, a good start would be to use our W-8006 foam polishing pads with a product like our M80 Speed Glaze which is a light cleaner/polish. Let us know if you want to pursue this as the first thing you'll want to do is make sure your rotary buffer has a 5/8 arbor to attach the backing plate to hold the foam pad.

Another option would be to invest in a dual action polisher like Meguiar's G100 and re-polish the finish using this tool.

[rdfisch]

Hey Mike, thanks for the quick reply. I will go back over it again - applying a little more vigor before breaking out the rotary (or spending any more money!!!)

I would also like to mention how great the Vinyl interior looks now. It had 10+ years of MILDEW, dirt, MILDEW, etc... on the seats and dash. We used MeGuiars heavy duty Vinyl cleaner (which I had on-hand for my boat.) and a tooth brush and finished them off with the MeGuiars Gold Class Vinyl Protectant. Now there is no sign that the seats/dash are over 30 years old and they have been neglected for over 10 years (except for a small tear in the drivers seat.) I just wish I had some before and after pics to show them off!!!!!!

Thanks Again
Ryan

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by rdfisch
Hey Mike, thanks for the quick reply. I will go back over it again - applying a little more vigor before breaking out the rotary (or spending any more money!!!)

Here's a how-to article to read first...

How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX

While the above article is about removing a scratch or etching, the same principals apply when restoring neglected paint.

Also read this...

How To Remove Swirls By Hand


And especially the section on using ScratchX. Although it talks about removing swirls, substitute the word neglected and oxidized paint and you'll get the idea.

I would also like to mention how great the Vinyl interior looks now. It had 10+ years of MILDEW, dirt, MILDEW, etc... on the seats and dash. We used Meguiar's heavy duty Vinyl cleaner (which I had on-hand for my boat.) and a tooth brush and finished them off with the Meguiar's Gold Class Vinyl Protectant. Now there is no sign that the seats/dash are over 30 years old and they have been neglected for over 10 years (except for a small tear in the drivers seat.)

I just wish I had some before and after pics to show them off!!!!!!

Thanks Again
Ryan

I wish you had the before and after pictures also as a picture paints a thousand words and you're right the M39 and the Gold Class Protectant are also time-proven excellent products for exactly how you used them.

When you get all done with your new project, put the top down and take a good profile picture and show everyone what a great this is! Nothing like driving a really cool convertible from the early 1970's!