this the correct process to restore my car's finish?

C

cabe

New member
i have a white 1991 toyota that had seriously neglegted paint when i got it. as i am on the college budget, i need to stick with hand applied products, and bought some einzett compound. i applied this with a foam applicator and turned the dull white into something that shined again. the compound obviously left swirling, however, and i have tried using meg's scratchX on a MF to remove this, to no avail..



do i need an intermediate product between the compound and the scratchX? or do i just need to keep rubbing away..



thanks! :xyxthumbs
 
You cannot break down compounds by hand. You'll definitely need a machine if you induced swirls, and your Toyota has seriously neglected paint.



ScratchX may help, but prepare! It will be a very exhausting work! Look for a helpful Autopian near you!
 
Yeah, don't hope for any truly effective swirl removal by hand. You can apply some products by hand that will increase gloss, but to really improve your paint you will need something like a Porter Cable or Cyclo.



If you want to help your paint in the meantime though I would use a clay bar on it, and then perhaps something like the Meguiar's or Mother's 3 step systems. They can all be done by hand and will offer decent benefits. All of those things can be purchased at your local auto supply store.
 
the harbor Frieght rotary( i have model #92623)will certainly do the job for you. As a beginner it might be the best one to start with if you haven't any previous experience with the rotary or the PC. Mostly becasue i found mine to be terribly underpowered. It will do the job, though.



Just take your time. Use your product sparringly. Use the lower RPM's. Check your work often and use the least abrassive polish first to see if the work can be doneto your satisfaction. You can always upgrade product, pad and speed as you go.



Do some searches on the rotary and read all you can. You can get outstanding results if you use your head by being careful and slow.
 
I'm not sure if starting with a rotary is the best thing to do as you MAY end up causing more damage than you do removing swirls. A PC can do some amazing things and is VERY forgiving in the learning curve.
 
Cabe- I'd just work with some other, milder 1z products. After their aggressive compound I'd use their Paint Polish. I like to then drop down to their Metallic PolishWax, but many don't find that necessary, especially on light colors.



Not sure which 1z "compound" you used, but I've used their Extra/Ultra by hand and then followed up with the PP, worked fine.
 
i took another look at the bottle, and it says "einszett ultra paint polish." it's in a metal container colored yellow. because of its warnings "use only on heavily oxidized paint" i had assumed (maybe incorrectly) that it was a compound rather than a finer grade polish.
 
cabe said:
i took another look at the bottle, and it says "einszett ultra paint polish." it's in a metal container colored yellow. because of its warnings "use only on heavily oxidized paint" i had assumed (maybe incorrectly) that it was a compound rather than a finer grade polish.
Click to expand...



OK, gotcha. Ultra is a rather aggressive polish, one of those products that can be called a "compound" or a "polish" depending on how they want to market it ;)



I've used this stuff many times and I always keep a can handy. It's good but rather aggressive. It *always* leaves micromarring for me. You can minimize (but not completely avoid) this by working it gently, especially at first, and also working it until it breaks down fully (not until it's dry, but close). The micromarring is no biggie, just do as I suggested previously- go over it again with 1z Paint Polish. This is how you use their stuff for major correction- first the Ultra then the Paint Polish, and then maybe the Metallic PolishWax. It's just like using progressively finer grades of sandpaper. FWIW, I get better results using those 1Z products after the Ultra than I do using other brands of stuff (though the old 3M PI-III line also worked well). In other words ;) I would use 1z products for this job rather than anything Megiuar's makes.
 
dacp seems like such versatile stuff that maybe it would remove all swirls after machine applied 1z ultra? i don't mean to doubt the ability of the suggested 1z products, but i have to ask about dacp as it's recommended so often.
 
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