Let's start with my RX-7

B

Blue Devil 7

New member
My '90 RX-7 is in need of some serious attention.



1530554e-med.jpg




1530543e-med.jpg




It sat in my garage for the last few months while the weather was crappy and it need some repairs. It was parked outside for a few years, but even after being kept in the garage that paint has continued to oxidize. The other major problem is my cats. They won't stay off of it, and even with a cover on it I think their claws still get to the paint.



With the condition of the paint, I know it will not look all that great until I get it repainted. That's in the works, but is probably a year away. In the mean time, I want to use this car as a learning platform to both make this car look better, and keep my new '04 Subaru Legacy looking sharp (but that's for another thread). I'll be washing the car using the two bucket method, a chenille sponge and GC soap. Then, I'll hit it with a clay magic bar. What I need are some good recommendations on what I can do to clean and polish the paint. Is there a good 3M product I should try? I don't have a PC, so this will all be by hand. How agressive can I be on the oxidized areas? That really bad spot on the roof was made much worse by putting carnuba on it. After I get it polished, I was thinking of trying a Megs glaze and then a paste carnuba wax. Any other suggestions?
 
well its not going to look any better than that. IMHO but honestly you can use it for practice on a rotory which is the good side. so get your self a dewalt/makita and get practicing so when it comes time to do the legacy you will have some experience.. to learn on polishing paint in bad condition go to the click and brag section and look back about 100 days or so and you will see some pics that will amaze you...





good luck
 
A PC would cost about $150 with backing plate and a few pads. Your RX-7 is a great candidate. I assume it is a single stage paint, although I think I see some clearcoat failure in your pics. I don't know, but my 90 Miata is certainly single stage.



I recently acquired the 90 Miata, and , altho the paint was bad, I'm guessing your's was abused even more.



Has it been buffed in the past? Chances are you do not know, so be careful as you remove the 'dead' paint. That primer shining through is not a good thing!



If you can justify painting it in the future, you can justify the PC now, you REALLY should not be without it!



Your Subie will love it.



Jim
 
Those pictures only show the very worst of the car. For the most part, the car still looks good as a whole (except for the roof). I think it is clearcoat finish. There are some areas where it looks like there are tiny crack at the surface of the finish. Is that what you mean by clearcoat failure? Sure, I'd love to have the PC, but it isn't going to happen before this weekend when I want to work on this. So, any recommendations on what a good polish might be that I can do by hand?
 
The roof is not going to get better.

Exposure to the elements (UV) has defeated the purpose, and structure, of the clearcoat. The underlying basecoat was never designed to shine.



For the rest of the car, Meg's DACP, by hand, is the logical 1st choice.



Find a small area/panel. See how good that area responds. Then calculate time and energy to complete the car. Sounds like a BIG job (by hand).



Jim
 
Geez.. I hate to say this, but maybe you wanna spend your weekend doing something else. The little improvement you would make probably wouldn't be worth the muscle. Almost none of that white hazing in your pictures would be affected even by machine polishing.



Knowing this, if you just want to play with different products, meguiar's #9 is the easiest swirl remover to work with by hand. Some use meguiar's DACP (dual action cleaner polish) by hand as well. While #9 will surely do nothing for the car, DACP might have some impact.
 
As the others are saying, to fix the roof you gotta paint it. But no reason NOT to practice on this car and improve the REST of it as best you can.



If you wanna use 3M stuff, I like thier PI-III RC and MG (pns 05933 and 05937). These work fine by hand and are pretty mild (maybe TOO mild for what you have there, but it'll be good practice).



You know, it wouldn't cost much to have that roof reshot...
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. Keep it coming!



Is there anything I might use on the roof and hood to keep them from getting any worse? I'm kind of disapointed that the damage has continued to progress that bad. The car get washed at least every other week in the summer when I drive it more, it get's waxed at least twice a year (I know...that's not enough), and it's kept in the garage with a cover on it most of the time.



I might have given the wrong impression by posting the two worst shots of the car. The car as a whole still looks pretty good and I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. It will be at least a year before I can have it repainted, but then I'm going to have it done right! I'll try to post a good whole car shot later if I can find time to pull it out of the garage after work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top