How do I clean Toyota white 20 years old

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PDoyle

New member
I have a white Toyota Land Cruiser in the garage which is in very good condition.
I want to use clay to pull the junk out of the paint but how can I get the bright white color back?
I`ll be using a Grots 6"orbital to polish.

Also would like to remove the painted pinstripe. I`m considering the 3m wheel to remove. Good idea?
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Have you performed a chemical decon on the paint? Then clay. I imagine this is a single stage paint. Any oxidation? As for the pinstripe removal, I would try to practice at a junkyard if you could


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That 3M wheel is not designed for removing painted-on pinstripes, it is for vinyl decals that sit on the paint. I would leave the pinstripes alone if they are in decent shape.

Beyond that, do a decontamination with a product like Iron-X, then clay, then polish and seal.
 
It`s quite likely you are working with single stage paint. Being white, it may be quite hard, and thus difficult to correct.
As such, recommend using either Meguiars Microfiber pads and D300 compound....or Lake Country Low-Pro Orange pads with Menzerna FG400 compound.
For oxidized, white paint on a vehicle that large - figure you`ll burn through no less than 8 pads, if not more.
Either combo will finish out well on white...but consider the entire job will be a large undertaking. That`s a big vehicle, with likely a lot of oxidized paint.

If the paint is heavily oxidized, using a clay bar might take an entire afternoon. Investing in a Nanoskin disc to use on your orbital would be the way to go. It would blow through a bit of the oxidation and embedded junk, considerably faster than if using clay by hand.

Personally, wouldn`t touch trying to remove a painted pinstripe. Too much trouble.
Would require wet sanding, and tedious polishing...not worth it, in my book.

Best of luck. Hope you`ll be working in cool weather. Excellent truck - your hard work will pay off.
 
Buster906 said:
Have you performed a chemical decon on the paint?
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THAT. On kinda-nasty white (possibly single stage) I`d probably use FK1119 instead of the considerably milder (and much more foolproof) ValuGard "A", followed by somebody`s Ferrous Contamination Removal product. Sincerely doubt you`d need to clay after all that, but *if necessary* I`d consider some claying while those chemicals are dwelling.

Then the usual: Compound; Polish; LSP (namely FK1000P, perfect on white). Then just wash it for ages.

And I too would leave the pinstripes alone. IMO it`d absolutely be opening a nasty can-o`-worms and I would *NOT* go there (and note that I don`t hesitate to do all sorts of stuff that ya shouldn`t try at home ;) ). Remove a painted pinstripe from older white paint? White paint that might be single stage? Not me!
 
grungy said:
Accumulator - where do you get FK1119? Not avaiable on AG or the FK store site.
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It`s been *SO* long that I can`t say! IIRC I did get mine from AG...but yeah, on "backorder"...hmmm...maybe that (oh-so-nasty) stuff just isn`t available any more. Wouldn`t surprise me..

Let`s see...my last phone number for FK is as follows:

(626) 443-8983

I`ve called there for products I didn`t see elsewhere or when I had some (now forgotten) reason why I wanted to order directly from them. I always spoke with a (very nice/friendly/helpful) woman named Leda, but I dunno if she`s still there.

My next choice would be the considerably milder ValuGard "A", which does OK too. but might require scrubbing (hate to use that word! Do it with a ValuGard Bug Pad or with clay, which "A" will dissolve *fast*) and/or multiple tries for really severe oxidation. Probably a better choice for most people anyhow.

I mean..oxidation just isn`t a huge challenge for me using stuff like the above, and the dark blue `93 Audi was so oxidized that its service records had described it as "gray" for years and much of the Tahoe was simply white when I got it. Both cleaned up fine and stayed that way.
 
An oldie but a goodie is Klasse AIO. It`ll chemically remove old oxidation from single stage paint. Seal afterwards and the other half of the Klasse twins is their HG sealant but most any sealant will work too.
 
I did an 04 4-runner white about 4 years ago. Ended up using Meguiar`s M66 AIO, turned out AWESOME. You didnt say what year the vehicle is. The paint I did wasnt in terrible condition just slightly chalky and faded.
 
JohnZ3MC said:
An oldie but a goodie is Klasse AIO. It`ll chemically remove old oxidation from...
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For some reason it`s never worked as well as I`d hoped for that...maybe I`m just spoiled by other stuff. Not hating on it at all, IMO everybody oughta have KAIO on the shelf.

dcjredline0[I did an 04 4-runner white about 4 years ago. Ended up using Meguiar`s M66 AIO said:
Some Meguiar`s products have *VERY* effective chemical cleaners in `em...or at least they sure did back in the day.
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I have a 94 Land Cruiser in Light Beige. It`s got an original clearcoat over the color. Have you checked to see whether or not your paint is single stage or clearcoated?

Maybe an AIO like Poorboys or your favorite to test. Used the Flex 3401 with the White LC Hybrid Pad and Menzerna FG 400

Followed up with the Green LC Flat pad and 3D HD plus homemade CarPro eraser.

Finished up with CQuartz UK on a couple of panels of the Landcruiser.
 
Marine Clerk said:
I have a 94 Land Cruiser in Light Beige. It`s got an original clearcoat over the color. Have you checked to see whether or not your paint is single stage or clearcoated?

Maybe an AIO like Poorboys or your favorite to test. Used the Flex 3401 with the White LC Hybrid Pad and Menzerna FG 400

Followed up with the Green LC Flat pad and 3D HD plus homemade CarPro eraser.

Finished up with CQuartz UK on a couple of panels of the Landcruiser.
Click to expand...

White for Toyota wasnt BC/CC on the 2004 I did and I think they have gone to that since but not sure when. But the OP hasnt gotten back to us on what year vehicle they are working on.
 
Crap, sorry guys some how I had my email notifications turned off. The truck is a 96. I think the paint is single stage.
So can I go over the painted pinstripe? It is showing its age.
You guys gave me so many ideas not sure where to go first LOL.:wacko:
 
I would try to preserve as much of the pinstripes as possible unless they are in really bad shape -- anything else detracts from the original condition and hurts the vehicle`s value.

To do that, I would mask off the pinstripe with masking tape when polishing. A little bit of pressure and contact with the polishing pad shouldn`t hurt the pinstripes, but if you cover them, you`ll have one less thing to worry about.
 
99.9999% sure it`s single stage, even more modern toyotas use SS for their "Super White" . You can go different routes with it, if you want to just make it shiny you can hit it with a "cleaner wax" product or "All in One" OR you can go the compound/polish route if you want to chase defects and get best results. Depends on how much patience you got. If you use a nanoskin/synthetic clay pad/towel/sponge, be ready for it to be completely abused and degraded after you`re done. Every single time I have done toyota white it has changed the color on my synthetic clay permanently and I`ve noticed decreased performance. Eventually I`m probably going to charge and extra ~$20 for SS paint just so that I can buy new synthetic clay after each job.

As others have said, leave the painted pinstripe alone unless you want to shave it away with lots of compounding, or wet sand it, but do it at your own risk of eating through the paint.

Edit: forgot to add, when it comes to cleaning the paint, I`ve had success with doing a pre soak with diluted APC to remove the grey blotchy road film that accumulates noticeably on that paint, then followed by a regular wash.
 
As are our recommendations for everyone who asks. DO A TEST SPOT. If you have a couple different products similar to everything mentioned here TRY the least aggressive method first and go from there.
 
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