Karmann_20v
New member
Hi all, my name is Florin and I am as much of a newbie when it comes to detailing, as they come. I have signed up on the forum looking to improve my skills and hopefully receive some advise from the resident gurus around here. I do have an issue that does not seem to go away and I will try my best to describe it below:
I have an old (1979) red Mercedes and it does have an oxidized non original single stage red paint. I am trying to bring the paint "back to life" and I kinda done that, but it did not last - more on that below. When I got the car in 2012, it appeared that somebody tried to do the same thing (found a receipt in the car), but ended up inflicting alot of swirl marks and did nothing for the oxidation...
So I borrowed by friend's Shurhold DA polisher and bought Meguiars M105, M205 and M21 Synthetic sealant. Also got Meguiars DFC/DFP5 pads. I thought this will be a great start. Before getting started, I washed the car, then clay barred it. Then I was off to the 105, that removed some of the swirls but not all of them - it seemed it worked best with a polishing pad rather than the cutting one. Then went to the 205 which brought back shine and "depth" to the paint, then I was off to the sealing with M21, left it on for 15 minutes and removed. The result was very, very positive - I drove the car that weekend and received many "thumbs up" in traffic. But here comes the problem: 2-2.5 weeks after, the hood, top and trunk lid started to lose the shine, the finish looks almost like a satin flat finish and there is no reflection whatsoever - nothing! The red seems to maintain its depth compared to before. I admit that I kept the car in the sun, uncovered but I thought the shine should have lasted a bit more than it did... A quick test yesterday revealed that if I manually polished a small area, the shine and reflection comes back, but I want to know what exactly is it that I'm doing wrong, or did I miss a crucial step in the preservation process?
I apologize for the lack of pictures and please excuse my lack of experience, but we all start somewhere.
Thanks in advance and looking to your thoughts and suggestions.
Cheers!
Florin
I have an old (1979) red Mercedes and it does have an oxidized non original single stage red paint. I am trying to bring the paint "back to life" and I kinda done that, but it did not last - more on that below. When I got the car in 2012, it appeared that somebody tried to do the same thing (found a receipt in the car), but ended up inflicting alot of swirl marks and did nothing for the oxidation...
So I borrowed by friend's Shurhold DA polisher and bought Meguiars M105, M205 and M21 Synthetic sealant. Also got Meguiars DFC/DFP5 pads. I thought this will be a great start. Before getting started, I washed the car, then clay barred it. Then I was off to the 105, that removed some of the swirls but not all of them - it seemed it worked best with a polishing pad rather than the cutting one. Then went to the 205 which brought back shine and "depth" to the paint, then I was off to the sealing with M21, left it on for 15 minutes and removed. The result was very, very positive - I drove the car that weekend and received many "thumbs up" in traffic. But here comes the problem: 2-2.5 weeks after, the hood, top and trunk lid started to lose the shine, the finish looks almost like a satin flat finish and there is no reflection whatsoever - nothing! The red seems to maintain its depth compared to before. I admit that I kept the car in the sun, uncovered but I thought the shine should have lasted a bit more than it did... A quick test yesterday revealed that if I manually polished a small area, the shine and reflection comes back, but I want to know what exactly is it that I'm doing wrong, or did I miss a crucial step in the preservation process?
I apologize for the lack of pictures and please excuse my lack of experience, but we all start somewhere.
Thanks in advance and looking to your thoughts and suggestions.
Cheers!
Florin
