Help with oxidation on a clear coat

[J-Rad]

My car looks like it has some light oxidation (faint white haze to the paint) towards the rear of the car. It is a 92, red in color, definitely has a clear coat. Would attach some pics but it is raining today.



Will a light polishing compound such as Megs #80 work for removing this? Or do I need a specific oxidation agent? ColorX? Vanilla Moose Glaze? Any other recommendations?



I am not really sure how these agents are supposed to work on a car with a clear coat, can anyone enlighten me on this? Does the oxidation agent work itself through the micropores in the clear coat?



Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

[todd@bsaw]

Just using a polish will help with light oxidation. Most specific `oxidation removers` are just some sort of polish be it abrasive or chemical cleaner. Will you be applying by hand?



Also, a pic would help, but are you sure it`s oxidation or clear coat failure? On a 92, it is definitely possible, especially on the trunk. Oxidation looks more or less like a fade in color, not a white haze.

[howareb]

I had a similar situation with a customer just last week see "clean, clayed, used Optimum and..." (http://autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/98877-clean-clayed-used-optimum.html?highlight=clean+clayed), This should help you a bit to evaluate your situation.



Take care to evaluate the paint first, and realize that you may be dealing with a clear coat failure. My customer had a similar white cloudiness to his clear coat also. I buffed it out to make it look smooth again, but the pics in the thread above was the result waiting to happen; where the clear coat separated from the base color. The cloudy clearcoat was just covering it up so once it was removed it exposed this nice spot underneath.



Each situation is different, so pics would be nice.



Good Luck :waxing:

[J-Rad]

Thanks for your replies. It definitely looks like a gradual, subtle change in color. It doesn`t look anything like howareb`s customer`s car. Preferably, I will be applying by hand, but if I need to buy a PC or UDM to fix the problem, I`m open to it.



In your thread, there are several references to the fact that cars with clear coats can`t oxidize. Is this true? If it is, what causes color fading?



One last detail - I used Megs #80 on a test spot and it helped a little but didn`t eliminate the problem. Also, red color came off on my polishing pad. Wouldn`t think this was possible with a clear coat?

[RikBakke]

red on the pad - either you have a SS paint or a tinted clear.

The solid red acura NSX and TSX have a tinted clearcoat. I guess you`d call it a hardcoat then...

I PC`ed my sister-in-law`s 2006 red TSX and ended up with pink tinged LC white pads. Great color on the TSX. Great car too - it was the best 4-cyl vehicle out there, I think.

[howareb]

That would be true. You should not get paint on your pad if it is a clear coat, ecspecially if you did it by hand. So either one of four things that I can think of have happened (RikBakke has shown two of them), you have a SS or a tinted clear, the clearcoat has been comprimised in that area or it was a repaint (by you or a previous owner), and they did not add a clear coat back over the spot correctly or at all. Sounds like you have a little work to do in identfying if it really is a clearcoat or not.



If you can get Scottwax`s attention he is a very reliable dude who works alot with Meguiars Mirror products. I am sure with pics he would be glad to help you out. He did just have an accident with his car so give him some time to respond.



About the clearcoat not oxidizing, that came from some reliable sources, so I would say that it is true (although I have never seen clear coat fail in the way that it did with my customer). What would be called oxidation on an SS car is bad news for clear coats (failure).



Oh also the pics that I had in my thread are after I buffed the cloudiness away from the spot. In my customer`s case it was clear coat failure before I started, where I just brought the shine back. Now that I waxed the car it is not as noticable unless of course you are an Autopian.



Lastly, an investment in a PC or UDM will pay for iteslf in no time. There are just some things that you cannot do by hand. I would go ahead and make the investment now for this particular problem and future ones as well. You will be very glad you did. :heelclick

[J-Rad]

So I found the answer to my problem - I used Megs #80 but didn`t go a good enough job at wiping off the residue as it started to drizzle. When I went back later and reapplied it, sure enough the fading went away and my car looks new again.



I`m still puzzled as to whether clear coats can oxidize/fade. The Meguiars website says it can happen, it just happens very slowly. I guess chemical cleaners can still work on removing it if they penetrate the micropores in the clearcoat? Just guessing here.



Thanks for everyone`s helpful replies.