What Polish for Hand Use on Heavily Oxidized Volvo?

Milestones · 07-20-06, 06:17

NOOB here who needs advice for a detail I will be doing on my parent's silver Volvo sedan.

The car's paint is heavily oxidized and has some imbedded crap on the hood and front bumper. I'm not as worried about swirls or scratches because of the light color of the paint. I need something that I can use to polish the paint by hand to restore the gloss/reflectivity of the paint.

Here was my tentative plan:

1) Washing w/ Meg's GC
2)Claying with Clay Magic set;
3) Polishing by hand with PB SSR2.5
4) Waxing with Collinite 845 IW

Will I be able to do an adequate job of restoring the paint (it's especially flat on the hood and trunk) with SSR2.5 by hand? Is there another polish that would work better for use by hand in this situation? What applicator should I use in this situation for polishing by hand?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Milestones · 07-20-06, 09:11

Anyone?

Will I be wasting my time trying to restore the finish by hand or is there a polish that can do the job?

Accumulator · 07-20-06, 09:13

Though I haven't tried it myself, the new, *reformulated* version of Meg's #2 might be just the ticket. The older rotary-only version had some *strong* chemical cleaners in it, and if they only changed the abrasives when they reforumulated (to make it hand/PC friendly) then #2 could be a good choice.

I myself often use 1z Ultra/Extra for jobs like this (most recently my mechanic's beater).

That 845 is a good choice for the LSP.

audicoupej · 07-20-06, 09:14

If it is really bad it will take a long time to do by hand. Megs Scratch-X is a good OTC polish to use by hand as well. It is only $8 or less so it might help to pick that up too.

Just plan on having lots of time. No matter what it will look better than before you polished!

Milestones · 07-20-06, 09:24

Thanks for the responses.

I'll have to take a look at Meg's ScratchX - I hadn't considered it.

audicoupej · 07-20-06, 09:38

No problem. I used some Scratch-X by hand on VW paint which is really hard. It took a while but it came out nice (just swirl/scratch removal). I protected with 845. This was only my grill though and I wouldn't want to do a whole car by hand.

I also did a SS red '93 Corolla which I buffed with the PC and Men IP with a LC Orange pad and did around trim by hand with Men IP and it takes a loooooooooooooooooooooong time by hand. The car was horribly oxidized though.

Goodluck! Post pics of the results.

metal · 07-20-06, 12:15

Give Klasse All In One a try, works wonders against oxidation. Scratch-X should do some work for ya on the stuff on your hood as well hopefully.

rd_volvo · 07-20-06, 12:27

One Grand -

1 - Special Touch

2 - Omega Glaze

3 - Blitz Wax

Milestones · 07-20-06, 12:28

I've already got some Klasse AIO on hand that I use on my own vehicles - but I wasn't sure that it had enough cutting power in it's polish to restore the gloss to the hood/trunk/front bumper.

I think I will probably use AIO and a good MF scrubber/applicator pad for the rest of the car though - because it's not in as bad shape as the horizontal surfaces and front bumper.

I think my arm would fall off if I tried to polish out the whole car by hand with something like SSR2.5 or ScratchX.