So I`m doing my first ever P-C polishing on my 1990 Classic Red (SS) Miata.
The car is mainly original paint, with some 15 year old resprayed sections (hey, the guy took a right turn across three lanes, not my fault :chuckle: )
I maintained the car well by hand for a long time, but the last five years or so have been mostly parked outside, washed less frequently than needed and not well loved.
On a whim this weekend, I borrowed my neighbor`s PC and have been trying to bring the oxidized, water stained and swirled paint back to life. I started with some Adam`s swirl remover the P-C owner loaned me and a polishing (not cutting) pad. Went through that and since I was in the middle of the job I went out and got some Meguiar`s #9 (I`ve read that #83 was the best choice for this paint, but I was in mid-stride so I got the closest thing I could find OTC).
I`ve gone over the car three times now with the cleaner/polish and the polishing pad. No doubt what my poor abused baby needed was something stronger to begin with, but as a first-timer on 18 and 1/2 year old paint, I didn`t have the heart to go with a cutting pad and a stronger compound.
At this point, it`s looking MUCH better, but still far from perfect. The amount of red coming up in the pad (and on my MFs as I clean off the polish) is pretty extraordinary (to me at least -- all my other cars are newer and clear coated and just get clayed and AIO`d).
So I have a couple of questions that I didn`t see answered specifically in all of the other Classic Red miata posts I found:
1. How scared should I be of the amount of red I`m pulling up. Is Megs #9 and a polishing pad gentle enough that I can do another P-Cing or two (I`ve done 3) without worrying about going right on through?
2. I have some 3M Imperial Hand Glaze floating around in my collection of detailing crap. Would that be a good intermediate step whenever I decide ENOUGH on the polishing?
3. Related.. I`ve been an AIO guy, but I saw some threads that indicate maybe a final coat of wax would be better for this paint. I have some P21S floating around -- is that a better finish for this paint? If so, can that go on over the IHG?
Hopefully I`m asking questions that I shouldn`t have found answers for Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
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