1967 vette and your opinions

[poormanisme]

I will be detailing a buddys 67 vette next weekend and i am a little nervous so im gonna need some DC opinions. First off, its not original paint but still about 20 year old paint. Its single stage, which i have never worked on. And did i add its not in very good condition by my standards, however, for 20 year old paint its not bad. It has some oxidation and swirls and scratches and well you get the point. My plan of attack consists of SSR 2.5 with a yellow cutting pad on a PC. I will probably need more than one pass. Then, 2.5 with a polishing pad and again i`m thinking multiple passes. Followed by VM or SSR1 and P21S. My concerns are with the amount of paint that i can take off without problems. Is there something i should look out for besides primer to tell if i have gone too far? Should i even worry about it since im using a PC? Lets just say its not a car that i want to mess up. Thanks in advance for any advice, anecdotes, or anything i should look out for.

[NEW AGAIN]

You have the products but I would go this route 2.5 with poly/wool blend pad[better cutting action] and won`t create that much heat, with a high speed @1500. Then come back with 2.5 with a PC @ 5 setting yellow pad, Followed with SSR1 with a yellow pad a nice glaze and protect with a sealant IMO thats what I would do. Don`t forget mask off all molding and chrome trims

[Boss_429]

poormainisme,

Normally, I don`t like to give advise on these types things.................. unless I`m there. However, in this guess I will give some.

First, I would "NOT" start the polishing process with SSR2.5 and a cutting pad on single stage paint. Some single stage paints can be very soft, or as we called them "mushy". On the other hand, some single stage paints were pretty hard. This is a case where you should abide by the well used theory.......... "start with the least abrasive product first"!

You should be able to tell very quickly if the paint is hard, or soft, by the way the product is cleaning/polishing the surface.

Just my 2 cents

[poormanisme]

Perhaps I should use some sort of chemical cleaner first. PP or AIO to take care of the oxidation and get a better idea of what i`m in for. Thanks for the head up Boss, I had no idea SS paint can be "mushy". I should have taken some pics as the guy was at my house today:beat

[dr_detail]

:wait :wait :wait
One other thing to be cautious of when dealing with older paint jobs -- and this is very important -- lacquer check. This is very common on older paints (especially re-paints), and many times is not noticeable until it`s too late. For those who are not familiar with this type of paint defect, look closely at the back of your hand between your thumb & index finger; see the little cracks? Checking looks very much like this. In the case of a paint that has begun to check, all those cracks will get filled with whatever product you use and 98% of all products will turn white. It will be nearly impossible to reverse the damage done if a checked vehicle is waxed or polished and the only cure for a vehicle that has begun to check is a complete strip and re-paint. As I said above, many times this is not noticeable until it`s too late so inspect carefully before any attempt to revitalize are made.

[Boss_429]

Originally posted by poormanisme
Perhaps I should use some sort of chemical cleaner first. PP or AIO to take care of the oxidation and get a better idea of what i`m in for. Thanks for the head up Boss, I had no idea SS paint can be "mushy". I should have taken some pics as the guy was at my house today:beat

No problem on the heads up!

Yep, that`s the approach I would take........... get some good terry applicators, or terry cloth towels, and use a paint cleaner first. If the paint is soft, you`ll be surprised how many of the imperfections you can clean up with the paint cleaner. If the paint is hard, you will have at least cleaned up most of the oxidation, and will have a better idea of what your next step should be.

dr_detail also pointed out another important thing to look out for......... weather checked lacquer.

With re-paints, you just never know what you are going to come up against, so take your time, be observant, and patient.

[TruckTechniques]

We need pics of this ride - that is my favorite body style

:showpics

[freedre]

Would no one use clay? If so, why not?

[poormanisme]

thanks for all the responses, keep them coming.

I am pretty curious about this "lacquer check", what are my options if i see this. If polishing and waxing makes it worse what are my options to deal with it. And don`t worry, i will take lots of before and after pics

[dr_detail]

When it comes to lacquer checking, there really is no fixing it other than stripping the vehicle down to bare metal (or fiberglass) and re-painting. There are some filler primers out there that will allow one to re-paint the vehicle without stripping it, but the problem will come back (one-five years). I`ve yet to find a good solution for polishing out a vehicle with checking -- only time I ever buffed one out with "decent results*" -- (I have buffed a few but only after showing the owners exactly what the final results will look like) was on a black XK-E -- I used Liquid Ebony and a lambs wool finishing pad then followed up using black shoe polish as the wax.

* "decent results" equates to "20` nice" -- meaning it looked good from 20`

[poormanisme]

thank you very much for the info Dr_Detail. I`m gonna hope i don`t run into it. It does not sound like something that would be fun to deal with. At least if i see this i will know to give the owner a heads up.