help reviving a 98 mustang

T

terpfanatic

New member
Im going to be working on my girlfriends red 98 mustang this weekend. This will be the first car Ive done that is in pretty bad shape to begin with. The car has never been taken care of, and has some deep scuffs, scratches, paint transfers, speckles of silver paint on the side, and some discoloration on the hood.



Heres what I have and what I was planning on doing. But I need more suggestions for the faded portion of the hood and the speckled paint on the side.



wash

clay

wash

optimum compound with 4" PC (I have both yellow and orange pads in 4")

FPII with 6.5" white pad (if needed, Ive never used the OC before and dont know what to expect.

menzerna final touch glaze

FMJ x 2

DP max wax (there will be 24 hour cures between the 2 FMJ coats and the max wax)



Some other products I have are SSR2.5, SSR 1.



Any way, ive been reading a little bit about the megs colorX. What exactly is this product? I would think its just a mild abrasive. But does it have qualities that anything I mentioned using dont, maybe something that would help bring back the color on the faded section of the hood.



How should I apply the colorX, can I use the PC?



From the looks of this thread the colorX might be just what I need.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12392&highlight=red+colorx



Thanks
 
ColorX is a chemical cleaner...with light abrasives some people say. If the paint is faded...it's faded. But if it is oxidized ColorX may be able to help you. When you say there are silver speckles of paint, can you feel these speckles with your finger, do you know what they are from?



I've used ColorX before on a polishing pad...some people say it will gum up the pad. Personally I didn't have a problem, but I only did a panel just to try it out. I would try it out by hand first and see what it does for you.



Looks like you have a nice array of products to work with! With the OC, you might need to jump down to a less agressive product before using the FPII if the marring is really bad. Or maybe try the OC via Orange pad, then down to a white polishing pad, then to the FPII to burnish the paint to perfection. This all really depends on the paint and how the OC finishes down for you...some people have better luck than others with steering away from marring. Personally, I sucked using the PC to not instill marring even with OP and a polishing pad...so I switched to the Cyclo and have never looked back! Good luck!! (If you could snap some pictures of the silver specks and swirls for us to see that would be great!)
 
you can feel the specs, they came from paint actually being splattered on the car. I dont know the specifics like why paint was plattered on the car, and why no one wiped it off immediatley, I dont think I want to know. I would have snapped some pics but my battery is dead and I lost my charger. Ill def have some before and after pics though.



Im not sure what the faded color is cause by, Im not familiar with oxidation first hand so its hard to say. Ill give the colorX a try,



What would fall between the OC and the FPII? SSR2.5 or SSR1 maybe? If not could you reccomend an OTC product I could pick up.



Im gonna have to find that battery charger so I can post some pics of my 330i.
 
Im sure that it is probably just oxidation on the mustang which the ColorX will take car of along with buffing..



I would probably jump down to OC on an orange pad then to OC on a polishing pad then to FPII. (You might not have to do all these steps, give OC on orange then to FPII and see how it looks, its all a matter of the paint)



For the paint splatter..if you're willing to order stuff online you could use these wipes...http://www.topoftheline.com/sprayinwip.html
 
I think im going to use ScratchX for some of the deep scrathes, and colorX to remove the oxidation. I was still planning on going over the whole car with Optimum Compound.



But what order should I do this in? Ive never used the scratch/colorX or OC products before.



ScratchX first, by hand in only the neccessary areas

then OC with an LC orange pad over the whole car

then ColorX (either by hand with a terry towel or maybe using a 6.5" orange pad or should I use a white pad)
 
I think your assuming ScratchX is really agressive, it really isnt. I would advise you pick up some Optimum Polish or Final Polish II from Menzerna before doing anything. Otherwise your probably just going to end up with a lot of micromarring, which may leave you even more frustrated. My favorite part of detailing is the final polishing...it really gives it that "perfect" look. I feel your going to be upset if you dont do that step in your process :( Try a test panel first and see how you can get the OC to finish down, some people have better luck than others, personally I stink at it so I always make sure to do a good job with my final polishing...Good luck!
 
I was assuming that scratchX was pretty aggressive since it looked like it was sopposed to be a spot treatment product. I have some FPII, which I was still planning on using with a white pad. You think I should make that my first attempt? Could that remove the oxidation?



The car has ALOT of swirls that are easily visible. So Im thinking im going to need to use something more aggressive than FPII. I know its hard to say with out seeing pics, but with the polishing products I have available (OC, FPII, SSR2.5, SSR1, ColorX, ScratchX, 4" orange and yellow LC pads, and 6.5" LC orange, white, black pads) and assuming an 8 year old car that has never been properly taken care of what order of products would you use.



thanks
 
If oxidation is present I would do this process:



LC White with ColorX



LC Orange Pad with OC if that doesnt work step it up to yellow..if that doesnt work back down to 4" orange



If needed down to LC White with SSR1



FPII with LC Black pad if you skip the SSR1 I would for sure use the white pad with this step



** Be sure to do a test panel, better finding out right away what process your going to be doing rather than figuring it out as you go**
 
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