Older Ford paint... issues

G

Guitarist302008

New member
I'm doing a truck right now for a family member, it's a 97 Ford ranger... the paint seems to be quite hard on the truck. I'm using megs 105 on a megs red pad which is the heaviest cutting combo that I have. The oxidation is cleaning up ok, but there are still some pretty deep scratches in the paint ... they are still the color of the truck so it's not to the primer, but it just doesn't look good and at this rate it will take me forever.


 


Would wetsanding be an option perhaps? or would I just be better to leave well enough alone?
 
Guitarist302008- I would absolutely leave well enough alone and *not* wetsand it.  Family member, right?  Non-autopian, right?  They won't care about some residual marring but, down the road, they might care very much about very thin paint.  Remember that normal people don't really care much about marring as long as a vehicle looks clean and shiny, but they will care about "what do you mean I gotta get it repainted?!?"
 
Yeah, there is some pretty deep scratches on the hood, and what is the start of clearcoat failure (the paint starting to rise up and is very rough) on the roof. I guess all I can do is smooth it out as much as I can and put a good topper on it. I was thinking of collinite fleet wax on top of Powerlock.
 
Guitarist302008- I've never used it, but isn't Powerlock supposed to be *very* durable?  Or am I thinking of something else?  But yeah, a topper of the Collinite oughta work fine if that's what you want to do.  I'd just give some thought to leaving it untopped if you like how it is with the Powerlock alone.
 
Powerlock is excellent for durability yes. I have also had the fleet wax on my Wife's Honda for about 4-5 months. It stays outside all the time, driven daily and it showed me excellent durability as well. This is why I feel it would be a good, durable combo.


 


On another note... the paint on the truck is free from oxidation, it has marring, but I've tried Meg's 105 with the Meg's red pad, I've tried it with the yellow pad, I've even wetsanded it with 1500 grit... the marring just isn't coming out. It's one of the hardest paints I've worked with. I'm afraid to cut it down anymore though. All I can figure is that the paint is old and sat in the sun for so many years that it's gotten harder and harder. Is this common with older paint? I'm not doing anymore than that though.. it's just not worth it and has taken me all day to do one side of the thing and even then there are small sections I need to do. Pretty disappointed in the results though.
 
Guitarist302008- I've never worked on older/"aged" Ford paint..the clear on my mid-'80s LSC wasn't all that hard though.


 


Eh, I wouldn't be too Autopian-fanatical about the marring.  Wetsanding?  I wouldn't do that on a daily-use vehicle anyhow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top