86 Paint Restoration

[johnsquared1978]

I’m looking to buff & polish my 86 two-tone brown/cream to get it back somewhere close to factory shine without burning through the paint. I can already see lighter spots in the darker color where it’s pretty thin.

I’ve read/seen lots of different techniques but would like to know if there’s any kind of consensus on what the safest, most effective process is.

(Apologies if this topic has been beat to death already… if there are existing threads you can point me to that would be really helpful!)

Thanks!

 

[TotalyHucked]

The biggest thing is to buy an orbital buffer, you'd have to really intentionally try to burn through the paint and even then it would take a million years to do it. I just did a quicky buff job on our shop truck, just used basic Maguiers compound, a medium cut pad from Harbor Freight and a cheapy orbital buffer. Certainly not perfect but she shines like a million bucks compared to before

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Grit dog]

Assume it’s original paint. So single stage.
It will be fairly “soft.”
Rubbing compound is likely too harsh.
I’d start with a polishing compound.
Test by hand to see how well it cleans up.
Foam pad on a rotary or orbital. Polish won’t take off much material.

 

[Grit dog]

IMO if you don’t have a polisher, you can always use a drill.
If you’re gonna buy a polisher and plan on doing any real work with it down the road, I’d skip the orbital and get a rotary.
Use some discretion on soft materials like your old paint But an orbital takes a lot longer when cutting or polishing harder paint materials.

 

[TotalyHucked]

^^All good advice as well. Todd brings up a good point, I would test a couple spots either by hand or real slow on the buffer first to make sure you like what it's gonna do. Polish is alot less aggressive and would be a good start if you're new to this.

For compound, there are many different versions in all the different brands. From not aggressive at all up to feeling like it has very course sand in it. I would definitely stay down toward the fine end of compound to be safe. That Maguiers I posted above is very mild, I couldn't feel any grit at all and it didn't cut as much as I was hoping it would. They also have a "pro" line of stuff I plan to pick up soon, my detailer buddy swears by it and they have much more aggressive compounds to choose from.

In the past I've used alot of Chemical Guys stuff and really liked it. The last few years though, they must be watering down their compounds or have softened the formulas because they're not near as effective as they used to be and you use alot more product. Their product lines can get confusing because there's so many options but that variety also can work to your advantage once you start to learn what to do and know what you're looking to achieve. I still use certain products from them.