How do I go from White to Gleaming?

J

jared6180

New member
Just bought a well taken care of (mechanically speaking) 1994 Lincoln Town Car from a guy locally. The car has 227,000 miles and doesn't look it. Overall the car seems to have pretty good "Performance White" paint. My question is how to take it from a nice looking car to a car that is GLEAMING?!?!?! So far I have washed it and used some Meguires Quick Detail on it, but I can tell it will need a clay bar and polished in some way.

Another question is how do you guys know if the paint is soft or hard? What difference does it make?
 
Jared, is this going to be a full re-conditioning process? What products/equipment do you already own?
 
tom p. said:
Jared, is this going to be a full re-conditioning process? What products/equipment do you already own?
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I hope it becomes a full re-condition, just have very few tools so far. Not wanting to spend a ton, but wanting to make it look the best it can on a budget.
 
Typically to get the most shine from a white car you have to go above and beyond. White isn't black therefore it needs so much TLC to get it to pop. Again I'm assuming you have pads and a polisher. FG400,4000,4500 is the best combo to get a white car to pop. Seal it with whatever wax you want. If you don't have access to Menzerna grab a sample from your local detailing place of HD cut and polish.
 
I have no machine or pads, at this point. I used to own some but got lost in a move somehow. I am essentially starting at ZERO if that helps at all.
 
jared, you can do this by hand, but the results will be not near as good as when using a good d/a or rotary polisher and will take a lot more effort on your part. remember, "it's all in the prep" to get outstanding results. after a good washing, follow up with a good claying of the paint surface. you can pick up some meguiar's ultimate compound and ultimate polish locally, to correct any swirls and defects in the paint. they do make specific applicators that will help with the polishing, such as EZ Grip Hydro-Tech Hand Applicators Trio - Your Choice!. start with the least aggressive polish first and then move up if necessary, after a test spot.
your lsp can be whatever you like, wax, sealant, coating or a combination thereof. the more effort you put into the prep, the better your results will be.
 
Medicscott said:
Typically to get the most shine from a white car you have to go above and beyond. White isn't black therefore it needs so much TLC to get it to pop. Again I'm assuming you have pads and a polisher. FG400,4000,4500 is the best combo to get a white car to pop. Seal it with whatever wax you want. If you don't have access to Menzerna grab a sample from your local detailing place of HD cut and polish.
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I agree. White cars typically don't get very well detailed or maintained because people can't see the surface as well as they can the darker colors. Still, if you put a white car in dark place, then look at the paint with spot lights - I use LEDs, including a headlamp - you can see what you need too. Once you have that, polishing a white car is exactly the same as polishing a black car though, if you're dealing with single stage paint, the pigment will probably be titanium oxide which makes for a harder paint and one that takes more effort to cut but will come to a very high gloss. (Hard paint doesn't mar as easily which makes final finishing easier.) If the car is clear coated, the paint will be softer and probably more oxidized and a lot of the scratches will be in the oxidized paint and those are essentially a freebee. They come off with the oxidation.

Polishing a white car by hand is a real workout but using the Menzerna FG 400 by hand with webril wipes will work. In fact, using webril wipes for polishing makes getting into the tight spots where a regular machine won't go both easy and fast. If you have to polish door jams, behind mirrors, the backs of mirrors, around bumpers next to rubber parts like on a classic Porsche, etc. having webril wipes available will save you a lot of time and often works better than a small machine.

Robert
 
Jared6180- Ford's Performance White is notorious for failing on countless vehicles, hope you got one of the good ones that doesn't have major issues (one of my Crown Vics was that paint and it was mostly OK).

The paint will be in the "medium" range, takes a little doing to correct but it's not as hard as some paints. Signficant correction takes something in the M105 range of aggressiveness and even that will require numerous passes (don't go overboard and take off more than about half-a-mil, no matter what that's about the limit let alone on that particular problematic paint). Final polishing seems to go OK with most Finishing Polishes; this is not a "finicky paint" with regard to finishing out. I'd use HD Polish simply because it's so user-friendly, and it just happens to leave a great finish too.

It *is* hard enough that doing it by hand would be an exercise in frustration so I'd bite the bullet and get a polisher and some pads and some user-friendly products. Note that even with colors like white that "don't show marring", those little flaws still refract light instead of reflecting it and that makes the vehicle look less-than-swell.

I'd start with a decontamination using the ValuGard "ABC" system (approved/recommended by Ford) but if you won't do that at least do a proper (i.e., don't mar up the paint by doing it carelessly ;) ) claying.

After you get it cleaned up and polished, I'd wax it with FK1000P, which lasts for months, protects well against birds/bugs, cleans up readily, and just happens to look *GREAT* on that particular shade of white.
 
this is the kind of situation where it makes the most sense to pay a professional to do it. you would have more money in the products to get started than it would cost to get it done right.
 
Guess what I found hiding in my garage tonight…My OLD Porter Cable with I think a 5 inch backing plate, so I will DEFINITELY be using that! The key now is to find the right pads and chemical combo to make it GLEAM!!!

Accumulator said:
Jared6180- Ford's Performance White is notorious for failing on countless vehicles, hope you got one of the good ones that doesn't have major issues (one of my Crown Vics was that paint and it was mostly OK).

The paint will be in the "medium" range, takes a little doing to correct but it's not as hard as some paints. Signficant correction takes something in the M105 range of aggressiveness and even that will require numerous passes (don't go overboard and take off more than about half-a-mil, no matter what that's about the limit let alone on that particular problematic paint). Final polishing seems to go OK with most Finishing Polishes; this is not a "finicky paint" with regard to finishing out. I'd use HD Polish simply because it's so user-friendly, and it just happens to leave a great finish too.

It *is* hard enough that doing it by hand would be an exercise in frustration so I'd bite the bullet and get a polisher and some pads and some user-friendly products. Note that even with colors like white that "don't show marring", those little flaws still refract light instead of reflecting it and that makes the vehicle look less-than-swell.

I'd start with a decontamination using the ValuGard "ABC" system (approved/recommended by Ford) but if you won't do that at least do a proper (i.e., don't mar up the paint by doing it carelessly ;) ) claying.

After you get it cleaned up and polished, I'd wax it with FK1000P, which lasts for months, protects well against birds/bugs, cleans up readily, and just happens to look *GREAT* on that particular shade of white.
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This Sounds like a reasonable plan.

Medicscott said:
Jared where are you located?
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Kansas!
 
jared6180- Ah, a PC! OK...that unit (with 5" pads) might be a bit gentle for *serious* correction, but you could always outfit it with 4" pads (like MF Cutting Disks) and do it with that if you have any areas that are really marred up.

The more modern compounds *do* cut a lot better than what was available even just a few years ago.

Eh, unless you *really* think you need to do a lot of significant correction, I'd decontaminate it and go over it with the PC and a good Finishing Polish like HD Cut then use the FK1000P. Oughta turn out great.

With those miles on it I'd be thinking about some suspension/steering parts, including a steering gearbox from RedHead (I simply *love* their work). Avoid Moog suspension bits, the quality of their Panther parts has dropped off something awful (use Raybestos Pro Grade). Check the frame for rust and keep an ear tuned in for rearend noises. That car oughta last forever with it's good past history and your attentions!
 
I have a feeling you are right. I don't want to get very aggressive with it, but it does have a ton of swirl marks from being "hand washed" the last 21 years. The previous two owners left me a STACK of papers with every oil change and every service done on the car, this includes the switch to the Moog rear suspension back several years ago. I might save up and retro fit the rear suspension back to the original air suspension, just depends on if I keep the car as a long term hobby or if I decide to part with it in the next year or two. The reared was flushed and filled back around 20k miles ago so it should be good for a long while.

The biggest problems with the car are the power Windows in the back don't work and the power locks on the passenger side don't work, both get expensive to fix rather quickly!
 
jared6180- Ah, glad to hear the rear's been checked out. I kinda prefer the coil springs due to their trouble-free nature over time. Yeah, thie air suspension is great...right up until it fails at the worst possible moment ;)

I myself would leave the rear windows go (though it might be a *very* simple fix) but I'd sure want the passenger to be able to work the door locks so I'd spend whatever that takes (another one of those things that doesn't matter right up until that one moment when it really does).

Sounds like the paint does need a good buffing out...wonder if your PC, with 5" MF Cutting Disks and a good compound (M101 is my current fave) would do it. That's what I'd try and after some work with that I'd say "good enough!" and finish out with the HD Polish topped with the FK1000P. While it might never turn out "Autopian" it'll still look great.
 
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