Products to restore 30 yr old single stage red Mustang paint with PC 7424?

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In_the_Buff

New member
Hello, I just picked up a red 1986 Mustang GT with VERY dull but seemingly restorable single stage paint (looks much worse in person than in pics).

I have a PC 7424 and some Griots Complete compound in the garage but I think it may be too mild.

Looking for some recommendations on compound/polish for use with the PC.

Thanks!

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I will look for a link unless one the others finds it first to Mike Phillips article/posting on single stage classic paint. But first off get your self Meguiar's Mirrior Glaze #7 Show Car Glaze.
 
Theres a product called Wet Paint ive seen people rave about, with very impressive before and after photos, for instances just like this.
 
If you don't have a garage and live next to a baseball field or dusty area..the mg#7 isn't really an option
My single stage paint turned out awesome after using 3D adapt and an orange Griot Boss pad at Speed 4 Via Boss G21
 
IME with M07 (which dates back to forever), as long as you top it there shouldn't be any terrible dust-attraction issues. Of course, the topper might have such issues of its own.

Eh, it's hard to beat the M07/wax combo. I'd go with either Collinite 476S or Meguiar's M26 or M16 myself. Eh, I'm just a sucker for M16, but some might prefer how the others look on red...just don't use something that's so solvent/cleaner-rich that it messes with the M07, and remember that you simply gotta redo single stage kinda often no matter what.

In_The_Buff- Welcome to Autopia! I love those Fox body Mustangs. What do you have planned for the bleached-out black trim?
 
Thanks everyone for your input! I plan to follow the steps in Mike's article as closely as possible. I have the car in the garage for the next few months to get it ready for spring (body and mechanically). With a relatively low 89k and having rarely seen the light of day for the last 5-6 years, I am very optimistic here.

So far I got... clay, Meguiar's #7, and some 3D Adapt to start with (although may try some milder polish first).

Accumulator said:
In_The_Buff- Welcome to Autopia! I love those Fox body Mustangs. What do you have planned for the bleached-out black trim?
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Thanks! I haven't thought much about the trim at the moment. I was also thinking I could coat the trim with some Plastidip as a temporary measure since I can peel it off later. I have some surface rust around the door window trim as well which I thought of sanding and coating as well (but that's probably an entire thread of its own!)
 
In_the_Buff said:
Thanks! I haven't thought much about the trim at the moment. I was also thinking I could coat the trim with some Plastidip as a temporary measure since I can peel it off later. I
have some surface rust around the door window trim as well which I thought of sanding and coating as well (but that's probably an entire thread of its own!)
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IMO if you're gonna use a "paint" approach on the trim, you might as well do it right with the stuff that's approved by Ford (and other manufacturers). I don't have a link handy, but research "ValuGard ETRII", the ETR stands for Exterior Trim Restoration and it's the second version.

The surface rust (let's hope that's all it amounts to!) *is* a somewhat complicated topic...and the "rust treatments" and "paint over rust" products that DIYers usually turnn to can vary wildly with regard to how well they work/don't for different people.
 
nothingface5384 said:
I think single stage paint, weather enamel like my 75 or laquer like my 72..will benefit most from a ceramic coating
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I am pretty sure that if its the original paint, that is Acrylic Enamel from the factory...
And from what I can see in the pics, it looks pretty darn good - certainly keeping it out of the weather for years really helped..
Pretty car !!!
Dan F
 
I have to say, the paint is really starting to respond in a great way after some claying and just the first coat of Meguiars #7.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses with additional passes with #7 (next one I'll try with the PC), wax, polish, last step, etc...

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In_the_Buff said:
I have to say, the paint is really starting to respond in a great way after some claying and just the first coat of Meguiars #7.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses with additional passes with #7 (next one I'll try with the PC), wax, polish, last step, etc...
Click to expand...

Glad it's going well!

Once you finish with the M07, I'd be *very* careful about which "polish" you use. I put the polish in scare-quotes because some companies (that'd be you, Meguiar's ;) ) use the word in weird ways.

I probably wouldn't want to strip the M07 off/out of the paint, so I would use something that'll play nice with it. While it's ancient technology (like the M07..like the car's paint...see a trend here?) I'd probably use their M09 Swirlmark Remover. It doesn't really *remove* swirls as much as it fills them IME, but/and the stuff in it is related to what's in the M07 (or at least it was the last time Mike and I dicussed it).

So I'd keep doing the M907 until you don't see any additional benefit happening, then maybe go over it lightly with some M09, then either another application of M07 or else just straight to a M07-friendly wax.

Not that I have all the answers or the *only* ones worth following, but that's what I'd do.

EDIT: Be careful doing M07 via PC as I find it even less user-friendly than normal when done by machine. *I* would just do M07 by hand, but that's just me.
 
See, and I like #7 by machine at low speeds (2-3) with a low cut pad it pulls off the dead paint a little (no cut from#7 but a little cut from the pad) quicker and saves you arms. (Disclaimer the paint I mess with a lot is on Mack Rubbish trucks single stage red enamel paint not classics). but you do have to use a towel to do the clean the pad on the fly system Mike P uses as the pad gets gummed up quick with dead paint. Some times if the paints real bad i have to use a detail spray to wet the paint for wipe down after as #7 and dead paint tends to dry kinda hard on the surface (also disclaimer this paint is horrendous near dead and on fiber glass which I think from truck engine heat sucks the oils out of the paint from the under side through the fiber glass along with the sun beating on it all day from the top, at least thats my theory as the hoods are way worse then the metal cab shells).
 
trashmanssd- That "at low speeds" part is probably the diff here...I [messed] up once at a higher speed (overworked the M07 on black lacquer) and it lead to a lot of work.

And yeah, that "little cut from the pad, not the M07" thing does work OK on softer ss paints all right! Back in the days before both b/c paint and MF you could get some stuff done with M07 and a cotton towel.
 
Here's an update on the progress so far. I'm just astounded at how this paint is coming back to life. These pics don't do justice to what this car is looking like in person at this point and I haven't even applied any wax yet.

After claying and feeding the paint with Megs #7 for three overnights, I first hit the car with HD Adapt using the PC with an orange cutting pad and then HD Adapt with a blue polishing pad. Both pads were Harbor Freight since I could not wait for the pads I ordered to arrive. I thought the HF pads worked very well. After a few passes with Adapt I went over the polished areas by hand with more #7 which brought some additional depth and shine. The pics below are post polish and #7. I plan to add some CG Butter Wax which I already have on my shelf.

I've had several fox body mustangs over the years and I think this one is going to look better than factory when I'm done with the rest of the car ...

 
In_the_Buff It's looking good!! I, too, followed Mike Phillips thread on a '67 VW bug that had (what appears to be) worse paint than your Mustang. I applied the M07 by hand, and did 2-3 applications, (depending on the panel). Cotton towel only; no PC and no cutting pads. I followed mine up with some Blackfire Midnight Sun wax, but now wish I would have used either M26 or M16.

IME, the CG Butter Wax didn't last long at all. I haven't used it since and I'd be happy to give it away. You should see Mr. Accumulator for some M16. I love that stuff!
 
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