Is wetsanding an option?

J

jsteve340

New member
Hi all.I am new to the forum although I have been lurking quite a while.I have a question that I hope you can help me with.I am not allowed to post pics until my 10th post,so I will describe the issue the best I can.

1987 Porsche 944.It still has the factory applied yellow paint,which is in amazing condition.The car has 49000 miles and has always been garaged (except of course while driving).This is a non clear coat paint.My problem is on the side mouldings.I believe they are made of some sort of plastic and they are discoloring.It looks like almost a burnt look.It is not completely changed and is worse on one side.Is this discoloration on the top?Can they be wetsanded and polished to reveal good paint underneath?Or is type of damage from the bottom up?I was really trying to avoid any paintwork.
 
are they chromed plastic? or painted plastic? if chromed, just have re dipped. if they are painted, then repaint them. moldings are a PIA, especially white painted ones. they turn yellow over time an need to be replaced or repainted. happened to my wifes white silverado and its only an 05
 
jsteve340- Welcome to Autopia! Cool car, nice that it's so original.



The following is based on my experiences with single stage paint on 928s:

I absolutely would *NOT* wetsand those pieces. I'd use a more gentle approach that you would on the rest of the paint as the paint on the plastic usually fails first anyhow. That might even be what you're seeing...if polishing/paint cleaning doesn't work, I'd be inclined to move straight to refinishing.



Taking off as much paint as wetsanding would will almost certainly just precipitate prompt failure IMO. But if you want to try it, don't use anything harsher than Meguiar's/Nikken Unigrit paper in 3000 grit. But I'd *really* rather try a fairly aggressive polish instead (you'll have to use that anyway after any wetsanding); I'd bet anything that wetsanding would kill the paint..especially on the edges and crown of the molding.



BTW, I'm a *real* fanatic for original paint...so when *I* say stuff like the above, well, I think you get the idea ;)
 
Try some fairly aggressive product, especially something that also contains chemical cleaners..might do the trick. But I'd sure avoid sunlight as much as possible on those pieces (yeah, I know :o ).
 
And if you need something really aggressive, IIRC the new version of Meg's #2 still contains the old version's chemical cleaners (which were *mighty* potent IME).
 
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