Newbie with a P-C, red pads are scaring me

[Billy785]

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.

 

[imported_themightytimmah]

Oh you'll keep pulling up red paint every time you polish it. Even a mild polishing with AIO will turn the pads red, and that removes a miniscule amount of paint. Consider coating the car in IHG, letting it sit overnight, then doing your next polishing step. It'll rehydrate the old paint and make things go a little easier.



M09 is very mild with a PC and polishing pad - don't quote me on this but I would put pretty good money on it taking 40+ times to hit basecoat on the factory panels, esp. if the car hasn't been polished before. I understand your fear though. I did a 70's Corvette with a 1974 era repaint with a rotary and orange pads and a cutting polish, and it didn't cut through, so you should be in great shape.



IHG->P21S is going to give a better finish on single stage than a sealant, those old paints just love the oils.

 

[the other pc]

Like themightytimmah said, seeing red and lots of it is totally normal and expected.



#9 is really, really mild. If you cut through with #9 and a polishing pad the paint was about to fall off on its own anyway. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.



Here’s a car with an original, mid-eighties ss finish. It was thin because it had already been buffed previously in its life. We did the whole thing with #80, mostly by PC with W8006 polishing pads.



We did do the edges and obviously very thin spots by hand. On a few areas we were able to rotary buff, not so much because we had too, but we were pressed for time and those areas were easy and safe to buff.

PC.

 

[WASHWAY]

Are you getting red from the entire car or ONLY the repainted panels?

 

[Billy785]

Thanks for the advice everyone... I ended up putting a coat of P21S on the car last night because we had rain on its way (rain in San Diego? In April? No way!) and I had to move it out of the garage.



Sounds like I was overly worrying -- though there are some spots on the plastic trim around the rear license plate and on the edges of the trunk lid where the paint is extremely thin and I'll have to tread lightly.



My paint was NOT as bad as the car in the other pc's pictures though not too far off it. Now it's red again, which is a nice start.



To answer washaway's question -- yes red and lots of it from everywhere.. even when I did some AIO by hand the applicator pad came away bright red.



I think I'm going to buy something a bit stronger than the #9 -- the guys on the miata forums all swear by #83 (dual action I believe) to start over and be a bit more aggressive now that I'm not quite so scared to death by the process



Thanks again for all the tips...



BTW, I haven't even gotten into the state of the plastic bumpers For them I'm pretty much at the point of dull but not chalky will be a good goal.