Oxidizied / flaking clear coat solution,

[ino uno soweno]

Pic 3, Shows reflection of the building along the front of the car roof and windscreen, , please focus on the 3 windows along the building, all are fairly clear reflection and about % 85 clarity,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Pic 4, Shows reflection of the sun on this end of building in the centre bonnet, please note the first window is reflected just below the black washer jet, second window is about half way between the two black water jets, and the third window can just be seen on the far side of the bonnet, please also note the second and third windows are reflected off the unwashed / buffed side of the bonnet,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Microscopic examination shows very slight oxidization of the polymer coating “surface only “after 4 years of not being washed at all, due to the cross linked zinc tec UV radiation “ extreme protection” over the last 8 years, 2007 to 2013. It is still shining, and is the original paint coating applied new, 1998 Toyota, 25 years old base colour white, new guys please note, there was or is no clear top coat factory or aftermarket,
Tomorrow will be the first time this car has been even slightly buffed, and I will only be using the finest buffing compound, ( black bottle ), and I will only be buffing the surface of the polymer coating, not anywhere near the surface of the colour ( white )base coat, known as “ scratch resistant solid colour “, according to Toyota, and Google search,

 

[ino uno soweno]

 

[ino uno soweno]

Pic, 5.
Sorry about the angle, photobucket,??, I do not seem to be able to fix it, ??

Ok please tilt your head and note, I have buffed a small section of roof in front of sun roof, left side only, about 12” across inside the plastic roof strip and rack.

Interesting point here is the reflection of the brown factory on the back of the car roof, please note air vent on factory roof is clearly visible or along with roof and walls, all pretty clear reflection, not forgetting the roof has not been washed for 3-4 years, last polish application 4 years before,
Pic .5, clearly shows once a year car polish maintains an excellent reflective shine “under the dirt “for over 4-6 years on this wagon, ( more if I wash the car ) and is clearly a “ high tech “ long term “sealant to protect the paint ”, I should know, I have on many occasions applied this sealant over the last about 17 years to many cars,
I did hope to just buff with the lightest buff compound ( black bottle, ) but air born metal grinding particles were rusted into and onto the surface, x7 ( too small to get a picture ) or really able to be seen with the eye, so I lightly hand wet sanded #2000, about half the depth original 2007 and 2009 layers of polymer , then only had time to buff with medium compound,
Pic 6.

 

[ino uno soweno]

Pic 7 shows plastic head light has been polished with med buff compound removing slight UV damage, ( I will buff it again with fine compound, black bottle, ) after, or when I do a complete clean up of the car,





I did also find 1 stone chip about 1/25th “ that has a slight rust stain, perhaps a chip that happened after last polish, please note, I usually only just apply the polymer over chips, which stops them from rusting further, I think they are sealed and do not usually continue to rust, from memory,
It was or is hard for me to get sunlight and my camera to work together, but please also note nice shine on the bonnet,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Pic 8 shows a nice shine, I think not a bad shine for med compound.

 

[ino uno soweno]

Left hand side rear view mirror is colour coded plastic, not painted, both black and white coloured plastic buffed up well, as well as black side window glass scraper, ( behind mirror ), all should get better with final fine compound buff, and not bad looking for a 25 year old revision mirror,
Warning, please note, that this polymer polish must not be applied to plastic anything, that is what is written on the bottle, please note,????.
I have and do apply this polymer to plastic while applying to paint, I like to get right into the painted and plastic cracks, I know of no problem or had any problem with polymer on plastic over the last 17 years, it all just wipes off, I have often not remembered and applied the polish on mirrors, but I have never observed peeling or cracking, colour change or any affect except it on oxidized plastic surface where it is just sucked into plastic or plastic polish oxidization,

I will apply another coat of polymer today, just to get it a little thicker, I like the way I can buff off this protective, coating, and apply a few layers at will,
In my opinion and experience is this polymer polish is the max concerning UV “protection”, and cures to be very hard, stops UV oxidizing radiation passing through the coating to get to the paint, buffing with med and fine compound is easy, because these buffing compounds are so fine, and do not rip paint off like the more old courser paint cutting compounds, some do really rip some paint off quick,
Another point of fact that might help someone who has never buffed a car, is we all know about the myth that if you want buff your paint, you use paint buff compound, and if you want to buff head light or tail light plastic you buy the special kit, containing sanding pads #600 through to #2000, and the finest buffing compound, and a tinny little foam buffer for a drill, so small I lose it all the time, and this takes a lot of time,
My point is these are all very fine compounds, and easy for the new guy to learn on, combined with a variable speed buffing machine, a new guy can learn to buff slow and easy, safe as long as buff is just running slow, again only using the weight of the machine, and guiding it around, easy.

 

[ino uno soweno]

Sorry, I did put a coat of polish on the bonnet, and guard, pillar, and front roof area, but not head light or mirror, will do asap,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Just an update on the red car, plenty of white compound in the cracks, just needs a wash,one rear vision mirror not buffed,

 

[sontakke]

I like how you are documenting your progress. Yesterday I tried to clean up a thoroughly abused and neglected 1999 White Accord (never washed and never waxed, spent all its life in Texas) using wool rotary and Ultimate Compound. I had very high hopes but that white just would not pop out. I had DuraGloss 501 around and I resigned and did one step with the wool rotary on the hood. It looked better than the rest of the car but it did not meet my expectation. I am almost certain that it is a single stage paint and is probably not revive able. Until yesterday, I used to think M105/UC can do miracles on any paint but sadly I was mistaken.

 

[ino uno soweno]

I like how you are documenting your progress. Yesterday I tried to clean up a thoroughly abused and neglected 1999 White Accord (never washed and never waxed, spent all its life in Texas) using wool rotary and Ultimate Compound. I had very high hopes but that white just would not pop out. I had DuraGloss 501 around and I resigned and did one step with the wool rotary on the hood. It looked better than the rest of the car but it did not meet my expectation. I am almost certain that it is a single stage paint and is probably not revive able. Until yesterday, I used to think M105/UC can do miracles on any paint but sadly I was mistaken.

, Quote, I like how you are documenting your progress.
That made me laugh, I had just remembered I have forgot to show the first step, in my mad methods, haha,
Try this,

2 base paint cars, 1984, ?? Mazda and 1989, ? Suzuki, both have been stored out in the weather 18 months, and above pictures of my wagon, all base coats, sorry I could not find a Honda, but I am sure this will work 4u, and is the first step in removing oxidization,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Using #2000 wet and dry paper , with water to just lightly sand off anything that stops the solid colour popping out at you, this is really only sanding the top layer of the surface, and wet 2000 paper is so fine it only removes a very thin layer of the solid base white, or yellow, like this,

 

[ino uno soweno]

And this,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Please note, the white really does pop out to my eyes when I sanded it, so pop out of colour is what you have to look for, and correct terminology, it is clean as white can be, no discolouration, and very shinny at the right angle, sort of a scratchy shinny, please note the yellow is not really a pop out colour , and there is paint over spray on the rubber, so I would say the yellow Mazda is a “ after market respray”, and the colour should be described as a dirty yellow, not really pop out, too dull,
I only lightly rubbed for about 10 seconds, then wiped the surface dry and clean, leaving scratchy “ nearly shinny “ surface, using the sun reflection I can lean back and forth and check for deeper scratches, or orange peel, general lumps and bumps in the surface, oxidization, when I see a change in surface shine, I just sand as required, another ten seconds, I bearly reduced the thickness of the paint, only just skimmed the surface,
Also, another way of finding minor imperfections is not to use the sun, just look into and on to the opaque or dull sanded surface, looking for uneven colour, and thinking oxidization discolours the true colour of the paint under the polish, , so the sanded dull colour surface should be“ unmarked “ and same shade dull,across the work surface, area, or whole car,
( No deep scratches, deep scratches have a different solution, different approach,



I am expecting a late 2012 Toyota Yaris ??, soon, it has been deep keyed in circles on the bonnet, a nice black colour too, I am expecting to do the key scratch repair, or repair the bonnet cause this guys brother has tried and failed, will show pics when it arrives, a few days I hope, )


I also have a repair on a 2012 Susuki Swift, it is a repair someone else’s repair, so my repair will be 6 or maybe 8 times bigger than the original damage, Pearl white too, that will be a learning curve for me,,)
Back to sanding the above, only took a few mins each, and sanding with 2000 is last preparation before buffing with a medium buffing compound , which I think work better with a foam synthetic pad, and do not tear off rear vision mirrors, or badges off, and there is 3 types of spongy pad, soft med and firm , all quick change Velcro, 1” of foam bumper ring around each buffer pad, PICS coming, I really like the sponge backing because it takes the shape, and applies equal pressure over the surface, great for buffing plastic head lights, buffing chrome or plastic grills, and even buffing plastic stick on, stickers from the factory, actually I do not know, but I would guess buffing plastic with a wool buff just would not work as well, I can honestly say I have never tried, and if you buy a special plastic headlight polishing kit, you get a very small sponge buff for a drill, not wool ,
So please guys, go with the sponge foam Velcro buffing pads, variable speed machine, I get really good wear time out of sponge foam, compared to wool tie on with a string pads, I usually rip them pretty quick and throw them away, I cannot remember ever ripping chunks out of sponge foam, they seem to wear down with age, and I have not had a wool buff for a long time,
And I have checked your compounds and with all respect to everyone still have these thoughts,
1, a compound with cutting and polishes must in my mind and experience in microscopic observation leads me to think they grind all the crap off, thougher-ly mix the crap with polish, and wipe off excess, leaving a clear coat polish full of crap, I cannot understand that, light refraction of and in clear coat full of oxidized paint particles, and oxidizing road grime, bird shit, no wonder they only last a few months, and go dull,
2, My conviction is you cannot have both cutting and polishing compounds mixed and expect long term 6+ years shine and brillante reflection under a dirty unwashed layer,
3, indicate to me that they are not quite abrasive enough, but the 2000 paper will lead you to next step,,
3, I am feeling if you have owned the car from new or soon after, and it is a base white original factory, never had polish, or not much polish, I would suggest you are lucky in that no one else has buffed the car before you, and buffed it out,
4, You have plenty of paint, ( smiley face,).
Back asap,

 

[ino uno soweno]

I like how you are documenting your progress. Yesterday I tried to clean up a thoroughly abused and neglected 1999 White Accord (never washed and never waxed, spent all its life in Texas) using wool rotary and Ultimate Compound. I had very high hopes but that white just would not pop out. I had DuraGloss 501 around and I resigned and did one step with the wool rotary on the hood. It looked better than the rest of the car but it did not meet my expectation. I am almost certain that it is a single stage paint and is probably not revive able. Until yesterday, I used to think M105/UC can do miracles on any paint but sadly I was mistaken.

Any chance of some pictures, please,

 

[ino uno soweno]

This car went to scrapers, I started pics on flaky top coat, and there is a few pics of a moroon toyota,with a oxidized roof and peeling rear bar, which i thought I was going to fix, but maybe not,

I showed pics of white wagon, with polymer polish, and White base coat no or not much old polish, sanded with 2000 wet paper, and the yellow Mazda,

The picture of the green ?? car above is to show the last, or another type of oxidization,

 

[ino uno soweno]

This roof picture shows extensive oxidization on a factory painted clear coat, please note it not reallyflaky like the red Celica, mainly due to UV radiation breaks down the molecular crystal structure, one molecule at a time, so the surface breaks down, where road grim and chemicals in the air build up in the rough surface, and the process accelerates,
Especially in some make and colours, particularly the Holden Barina,

Most would say just respray.
But this is the easiest oxidation to remove, as can be seen most of it has fallen off, except for a few patches, trick here is wet your finger and rub your finger hard on one base coat spot, then wipe it dry,
Back,asap.

 

[ino uno soweno]

This car has gone but I will look for similar, as I said it is the easiest oxidization removal, and buff, I would really like to show you how sweet this type of oxidation turns out, a lot less work then Flaking clear coat, also,
Confirmed black 2012 Toyota Yaris, key, ? more like a nail I think,few days after I finish Celica,



Next,
Oxidization on plastic head lights and tail lights is part of similar oxidation on paint, especially when using the same sand paper by hand or machine, same buffing compound, and buffing foam, no clear coat,
My experience is that I am lucky if I get half of it right the first time, ¾ right of it right on the second time, and 2-3 more applications to particular areas,
My observation is head lights are always more oxidized on the driver’s side head light as a rule, ( provided they are original, ), because that is the side or corner that is impacted by oncoming cars, the road grime and gravels thrown up by passing traffic, ,
Another observation is the depth of the oxidation in relation to be on the driver’s side, and depth of oxidation on vertical to horizontal flatter surfaces, and secondly by the passenger’s side head light,
I would suggest it is very hard to visually determine the depth of oxidation,
So basically restoring headlights is a case of “keep repeating the method until the headlight is close to perfect”,
Very important factor in my mind is to remember is not to over sand and then under sand, pics coming on over / under sanding,
Please also note, that a cured paint surface is able to withstand much higher buffing temps then any plastic surface, so slow RPM is good,
Point of interest here is how long plastic head lights last from new , ??>
I would suggest generally speaking with consideration to environmental factors, I suggest original headlight plastic covers last about roughly 3-4 years, ( before oxidation is really visible ), I think and suggest to you as a rule of thumb is most plastics are UV resistant for about 3-4 years,
And how long does or do UV protection covers last from application, with no experience, I would suspect much less than 3-4 years, so please note, I prefer to either sand and buff, or just buff, depending on the depth of oxidization, then buff again every 3 years, or maybe 2 years, at which time in my experience only has very slight oxidization, which only requires the same buffing as paint,



I am currently restoring,

 

[ino uno soweno]

 

[ino uno soweno]

 

[ino uno soweno]

Both head lights are badly oxidized, left side h/l shows more oxidization, top and bottom of the light, and what appears to be shattered pattern,
Please note first picture shows bottom of headlight in right of pic, is the clearer or less oxidized,

 

[ino uno soweno]

last pic show lower half of head light cover,

Next pic shows upper half of head light,

 

[ino uno soweno]

Got some sanding and buffing done today, observation was oxidization was deep,

back asap,

 

[ino uno soweno]

First buff,