Question for Those Lacking Clearcoat

RedVR6

New member
I am one of the many who owns a car that lacks clearcoat and I have been thinking about it lately being that my car is aging and sees no shelter 98% of the year. Not to mention it's a daily driver and is exposed to the sun than I can help.



I detail the car 2/3's of the year, weather permitting...and have to say I am extremely happy with the condition of the paint and car overall, which many have seen the pics I have posted and in my signature. And the compliments I receive from various people.



On every full blown detail (once every two months) I break out my clay, the PC, Griot's #3 Machine polish and my wax of flavor, which is Griot's BOS this year (for the record ;) )



In the spring and summer I use stricly wax (Griot's or Blitz) on the car after running thru the cleaning and polishing routine.



In the fall and winter, I will apply generous coats of Klasse SG and Blitz, which do a wonderful job maintaining the paint thru the months I can not get outside to clean the rig.



So, I am wondering when is polishing too much when fully detailing the car? Granted Griot's #3 is very fine and does a great job removing what scratches or swirls I may have, which are minimal...as well as the oxidation of the paint after about 1.5 months.



Now that the car is aging (7.5 years) and is an outdoors daily driver....I am getting concerned about the reliabilty of the paint and its thickness. What do you all with no CC do to maintain the shine and what not? Shoudl I be worries about the paint being that I polish it every few months? Or am I being a typical Autopian thinking too much about this stuff? :D



Thanks!
 
great post and questions... I look forward to the experts' responses, as I have question the same thing (non-clearcoated cars after 4-5 years).



p.s. I don't think you're thinking about this too much -- a very honest question that I'm sure others have asked in the past.
 
While I am certainly not one of the experts, I do have a non clearcoated car. It has what was referred to as acrylic lacquer and the paint is about 14 years old. The car is garaged, but driven several times a week, year round. It has developed some of the crazing or spider webs in some areas, but I haven't rubbed thru the paint yet. I have always used Meguiar's on it until recently, so I guess I would have to say their products don't do too much damage. A few weeks ago, I tried some Platinum Ultimate Paint Protection and would strongly recommend you give it a try. The Platinum improved the look of my two vehicles with clearcoat, but completely transformed the non-clearcoat paint.

From 4' away, the reflection and depth of shine are such that the crazing is not even noticeable. It's still there, but until you get at just the right angle, it isn't apparent.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think you will wear your paint out if you stay away from rubbing compound and rotary buffers.



Charles
 
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