OK I'm jumping in!

[Wayfarerwalk]

I've been reading these posts till I'm burr-r-r-ry eyed, so I think I may have the 5-step process down. wash, clay, polish, wax, maintain. I'm going to order the NTX collection plus some extras that I need to complete the steps. Now here is what I don't really understand. The first car I'm going to detail is my 50 convertible. It was repainted about eight years ago. The paint still looks good but has a bunch of scratches of various sizes and depths put on from a cheap car cover and other things. There is also a patch of white paint from I don't know what on the passenger door.
So here are my questions:
1. Do I use Scratch-X or something else?
2. What would remove the white paint?
3. What cleans a white convertible top?
4. What do I clean and dress wide white walls with.
Thanks in advance, I'm sure I'll have more questions. Here's a picture of the car.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow!

What a beauty... I saw that you had uploaded this picture into your gallery and I've been waiting for you to post it to a thread...

This car has to be fairly rare? It has classic lines with a robust look, it has to be an absolute blast to cruise around in.



In my high school there were only two of us that had older cars while everyone else drove the first generation of hand-me-down Toyota's, Datsun's, Honda's or Nova's, Mustang's, and Dart's etc.

I don't have a lot of good pictures of it but it's a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe Coupe with somewhat the same type of body lines as your Dodge.

[Murr1525]

I think Meguiars kind of lumps claying and paint cleaning into one step... just remember that paint cleaning is also an important step.

1. Working by hand, ScratchX is the best thing possible for remving swirls and scratches. Some may be too deep to remove completly, but it shoulddeal with most of them. THough you arm will be ready to fall off afterwards. I would recomend clay/ScratchX/polish/wax like half the car one day, then other half the next day, or something, espeacialy a big car like that.

2. White paint that has been on the surface a long time could be tough. Perhaps hitting it with a bug and tar remove may soften it, then claying and scratch hopefully will take care of it. Might be tough if it has been a while.

3. What is your top made of? I think there are a couple options others may be able to chime in with, dependign if it is vinyl, or cloth.

4. Well, I have used regular tire dressings on cars with narrow white walls, and it has worked fine. I would probably recomend using the Nxt tire cleaner first, to make sure they are clean, then any dressing should do. Hot shine might be a good one. I am not sure how the Nxt Insane shine would look on white.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: OK I'm jumping in!

Originally posted by Wayfarerwalk
1. Do I use Scratch-X or something else?

Yes. Use ScratchX over the entire car. Get up early on a Saturday morning, turn on the radio, fill a cooler with some cold soda pops and take your time and do a good job. work a small section at a time, working the product in really well. When you move onto a new section, overlap into the previous section. Don't judge the results until you're all the way done and have wiped off the last coat of wax. Spend you time and energy up-front during the cleaning step and the results will appear at the last wipe off when you stand back and admire the results.

2. What would remove the white paint?

Check out this thread...

Removing another cars paint from bumper?

3. What cleans a white convertible top?

Depends on what it's made out of? If it's vinyl, then get some #39 Heavy Duty Vinyl Cleaner

4. What do I clean and dress wide white walls with.

M39 Vinyl cleaner works really well for cleaning white walls as does our new NXT Tire Cleaner, either product applied and agitated with a nylon brush like our new Interior Brush will work great. As for a dressing, first decide the look you want, high shine or deep matte and then choose accordingly, hardest thing to do is to keep from smearing dressing onto white rubber but if you're careful you can do it, just keep a clean towel for wiping any accidental excess off.

If you have a digital camera, take a couple of good before and after pictures in good lighting if you can.

[Wayfarerwalk]

Thanks for all the replies. I hope to start this soon, and I'll post some befores and afters.

Mike, I found the thread on how the use Scratch-X and read the one on removing the white paint. I guess Scratch-X is a miracle product, I may have to order a case! That is a good looking Deluxe, I guess Mopar liked that color of paint in that era. Do you still have it or did it get away from you? Mine has 25,000 original miles and is all original except for the paint, interior and top. I hope to do a frame-off restoration in a couple of years if I can save up the dollars.

Thanks again for the helpful replies.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Wayfarerwalk
Do you still have it or did it get away from you?

I sold after I graduated from High School but my dad ran into the current owner over the summer and sent me his contact information. My Dad says it's gone down hill appearance-wise but someone added a dual carburetor system and headers to the flathead 6 engine.

I would like to buy it back but I would also like to buy back my Drag Boat, my 1966 Chevy Milk Truck and my White Boxer Kayos

Here's a picture Kayos laying underneath a 1960 Cadillac 2-Door Coupe De Ville I was restoring until I took this job and had to move from Oregon to California.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Wayfarerwalk
Thanks for all the replies. I hope to start this soon, and I'll post some befores and afters.

Too bad you don't live close to me.

I'd like to work on a car like that myself one day!

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
I would like to buy it back but I would also like to buy back my Drag Boat, my 1966 Chevy Milk Truck and my White Boxer Kayos

Here's a picture Kayos laying underneath a 1960 Cadillac 2-Door Coupe De Ville I was restoring until I took this job and had to move from Oregon to California.

Mike, you sold your dog?!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Mike, you sold your dog?!

No, but I would buy her back, (I very carefully gave her away to a very loving and caring home).

I took on the Meguiar's Detailer Line back in Oregon and found myself working 7 days a week, not good for anyone including Kayos. Because I was no longer home, I ran an ad in the local paper and found a family with one young Boxer; their second Boxer was older and had recently died. They lived on 5 fenced acres, so out of the 50 or so people that replied to the ad we chose this family to take guardianship of Kayos. It was hard to give her up and sad also, but it was the best for both of us at the time.

This is why I bought the Milk Truck by the way, to carry the Detailer Line as I called on shops. The picture below was taken at a Goodguys Show in Puyallup, Washington that Lynn and I worked at. I'll post the story behind the show one of these days as it was interesting to say the least... (In a fun way!)

[rusty bumper]

Oh, ok, I guess I should have thought of that, but sometimes it's hard to read between lines, as they say.

At least Kayos has a nice place to roam.

Looking forward to the write up about some of your earlier days too.

[Wayfarerwalk]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Too bad you don't live close to me.

I'd like to work on a car like that myself one day!

I'll be more than happy to give you directions...I'll even throw a steak or two on the grill.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Wayfarerwalk
I'll be more than happy to give you directions...I'll even throw a steak or two on the grill.

Hey! It's only 1,150 miles!

I'll be right over.

And I like New York Strip.......Medium well.