Machine polishing and Carnuaba Gold wax Updated (before pic)

[JOHNM400]

Just got my new MR2 on the road after lots of niggling jobs. I only paid 200 quid for the car as the previous owner had a rev 3 engine fitted and couldnt get it running right. After sorting that (thanks to Paul Woods ) i turned my attention to the paintwork that was pink! Heres a quick shot of what ive done so far.

Before: As you can see very pink and faded and full of micro swirls caused by poor wash technique by the past owner.


After-




Cant believe how well the paint has come back. It was really badly faded pink.

50/50 shot


Ill put some more up as i do more of the car.

John

[Martin F]

Just got my new MR2 on the road after lots of niggling jobs. I only paid 200 quid for the car as the previous owner had a rev 3 engine fitted and couldnt get it running right. After sorting that (thanks to Paul Woods ) i turned my attention to the paintwork that was pink! Heres a quick shot of what ive done so far.



Cant believe how well the paint has come back. It was really badly faded pink. Wish id took some before pics now.

Ill put some more up as i do more of the car.

John

looks like you've put a lot off work into her, well done


with past experiences though it may start discolouring again very quickly , would you be interested in updating this thread off your experiences over the next year or so with updates on how well the paint is holding its colour or not....


may be a benifit of someone wanting to buy a car in a similar condition...


good luck and enjoy anyway mate

[JOHNM400]

I probrably have an advantage on keeping it from fading again because i work for Autosmart so have access to all the trade polishes/waxes. Once ive polished the whole car im going to Silver Seal it. Silver Seal is a very hard wearing sealant with technologys that where developed originally to protect the exterior of the space shuttle. I used it on my last red MR2 and as long as you wash with a neutral Ph shampoo and apply a coat of wax every few months it will not fade. When i sold the car the people who bought it couldnt believe how shiny it was compared to others they had looked at. I ended up giving them a load of stuff to keep it that way!

There are a couple of reasons that red MR2's fade.

Using car washes. They use TFR which degrades any wax you have on the car and drys the paintwork out leaving it looking flat and pink. On modern paintwork TFR is pretty safe but MR2's need to be kept away from TFR. (Traffic Film Remover)

Not waxing regular enough. You need to use a good quality wax or polymer based product at least every 3 months. If all you have access to is off the shelf stuff from car shops then the Meguires NXT Tech wax is about the best.

Not using a Ph neutral car wash. Because MR2's are prone to fading its important that you use a mild and gentle wash and wax. If you only have access to off the shelf products Tesco do a very good one that is made from all natural ingredients and is ph nuetral. Its in a clear plastic tub that looks like hair shampoo. It says ECO on the front of the bottle.

I get some more pics up as i do more of the car and try to get some shots of the parts that are still pink.

[Leon.]

Looks great, top effort

Bit confused though, did you machine polish with the gold wax? If so is it a polish or a wax as they're different I believe... just curious

Always thought you needed a polish (slightly abrasive compound) to improve the paint surface, then sealthe paintwork, then wax on top as an extra layer of protection...

[JOHNM400]

Looks great, top effort

Bit confused though, did you machine polish with the gold wax? If so is it a polish or a wax as they're different I believe... just curious

Always thought you needed a polish (slightly abrasive compound) to improve the paint surface, then sealthe paintwork, then wax on top as an extra layer of protection...

Hi Leeroy. The paint was polished using a machine polisher and our new polish called EVO. The polish starts off coarse and as you use it it breaks down in stages into smooth polishing plates so the first stages of abrasion remove the swirls and oxidisation and the last stages produce the gloss.

The Carnauba Gold wax is a paste wax. I applied that after the polishing stage using my bare hands. The reason i use my hands is you can feel if there is any grit present as you apply the wax so as not to induce swirls back to the polished paintwork and the heat from your hands helps the wax spread nicely.

[mattcambs]

Great thread, John

It really annoys me that consumer products are all just marketing excercises and the really decent stuff is only available to the trade.

How do you rate Meguires stage 1, 2, 3 and their Gold class shampoo and their spray on top up wax?

Matt

[JOHNM400]

Hi Matt,

if i didnt work for Autosmart then id use the Meguires stuff deffo. Its still not up there with trade products but its by far the best in Halfords. You can get decent results with the 3 step system but the problem is when you come to the 3rd step.The Carnauba wax is very poor quality. I dont know the content of Carnuaba in it but it must be very low as it doesnt seem to last more than a couple of weeks and its doesnt seem to add anything to the finish. If i was using the 3 step system id swap the step 3 Carnauba wax for the Gold Class Wax or the NXT Tech Wax and even that doesnt last above a month but its about the best available to the general public. I suppose thats where your spray wax comes in handy to boost the protection until the next proper waxing.

Gold Class Wash and Wax is decent stuff,leaves a good finish in my past experience with it.

John.

[mattcambs]

Thanks, John. Good info.

[marc GT Turbo]

good post john .


ready for a shine off then buddy i know i am in the trade and use products not on sale to the public but ! i still think buffing compound , finnesse it and a simoniz wax cant be touched !!!!!! thats how i achieve my overall shine. and it lasts to i suppose being a paint sprayer we all have our preferences. as a painter and my opinion on a car with oxidisation ( eg. red cars that go pink) its going to fade no matter what !! what causes this is the pigment in the colur red is weak ! and sunlight breaks this pigment down , hence fading of the colour. when we bring these colours back to life with wax products etc , the pigment is going to absorb the sunlight more strongly and in turn wil cause more fading of the colour. it will keep shining but the colour will go from red to orange so to speak. ive just painted the front end of an mr2 in red just before xmas , a woman came off the street for a quote ! (she has never heard of imoc ) it was a 1990 car , in very good condition. it looked the same colour throughout and had been looked after. the quote was for the front end having lots of stone chips !!!! so although the colour was the same on the car , what a nightmare i had ! when i got the paint delivered i opened the can of paint and had a look what the match was going to be like it was like red against pink . i had to tint the paint down a bit at a time until it reached the colour on her car. the point i am making is although the car was clean , in good condition etc red is going to fade no matter what. probably the biggest factor in all of this is the paint laws they have in japan as opposed to in europe. how we measure the thickness in paint , its called microns. in japan they only use half the amount of microns of paint applied to what we do in europe. in other words there is more paint applied on a car from europe. but the paint the japs use is a beter quality. swings and roundabouts . marc.
its quite shiny my old bangor

[fozzy rev3]

Marc in Blackpool... "ready for a shine off'..? - Bring it on..

my challenge to you has been laid down mate..lol

..your in the trade - I'm not.. I fancy my chances..

take a look in members profiles "winter shine... on reflection". (sorry quickest ref - for my car.)

By the way - your cars sweet..

[Chr15py]

Here you go fozz





Eiwwwwwwwww! Horrid isn't it



Chris

[Leon.]

It's easy to make black look shiney

[JOHNM400]

Now Marc thats an offer i simply cannot refuse lol.

Nice and shiny that car of yours mate.


So you use compound (farecla im guessing as its a painters fav!) followed by Finesse it. I used to use that exact combination myself when i did a bit of painting a few years ago. I find nowadays though the Farecla/3M compounds are badly outdated. Dont get me wrong,you can still achieve a good finish with them but if you havnt used the next generation compounds that are out today then your missing out mate.

Have you ever heard of Menzerna? They are German compounds and absolutely blow the 3M/Farecla (silica based compounds) away. They are so good that our chemists who already make Farecla/3M silica type compounds have just brought out a product called Evo that is modelled on the Menzerna stuff and weve managed to switch loads of bodyshops onto it.

The way it works is the compound starts off about the same amount of cutting power as G3 and slowly breaks down as your using it in stages until it becomes nothing but oils. You dont need to use any water or lube as the compound contains its own lubricants so theres less 'fling' from the machine so less clean-up afterwards. Rather than use Silica as the cutting nibs it uses Aluminium Oxide.

It really is much quicker,easier and cleaner than using the old fashioned method of switching from product to product. Next time im up Blackpool ill let you know and we can meet up and ill give you some to try.

Which Simoniz wax are you refering to? Do you mean the hard carnuaba wax that comes in an old fashioned looking tin? To be honest i dont find its really that good. I bought a tin a few years back from the car shop as it was only about a fiver and i found it was rock hard and didnt give the finish anything 'extra'. The Carnuaba wax i use is a soft paste wax that contains Brazillian Carnauba wax,Beeswax and Montan wax amongst other ingredients. It very similar to the Zymol waxes only a fraction of the cost. The Zymol stuff is an absolute rip off as its marketed to Ferrari/exotic sports car owners that will pay crazy amounts for a tub of wax in a velvet bag lol.

Right,must shoot off as im actually about to wash my car now before it gets dark lol!

[blue2]

Ive been lazy the past few months and been having my car valeted. I asked them what wax it was they used and they said they use duck wax? Anyone know what that stuff is? My car always looks really shiny and the finish lasts 3 weeks at least.
Definalty going to start cleaning it myself though when the weather gets warmer. It usually takes me a good 4 hours to get it looking really good.

[JOHNM400]

Ive been lazy the past few months and been having my car valeted. I asked them what wax it was they used and they said they use duck wax? Anyone know what that stuff is? My car always looks really shiny and the finish lasts 3 weeks at least.
Definalty going to start cleaning it myself though when the weather gets warmer. It usually takes me a good 4 hours to get it looking really good.

Duck wax? I think they are seriously pulling your leg mate. No such thing,not for use on a cars paintwork anyway lol.

[blue2]

I thought so, what a bunch of twits! Ive got a sense of humor but I was asking them a serious question and after all Ive used them 3 times now and they aint cheap, the least they could do is give me a sensible answer.
Im going to phone 2morow and ask him again, if he gives me the same answer hes going to regret it. Cheeky b@stards!
I will google it first just to make sure they were taking the p!ss before shouting at them!

[JOHNM400]

Deffo pullling your leg mate,no such thing,not for waxing cars anyway. Fire them off and get a decent valetor who will speak to you about what hes using on your car. When i used to do it mobile i was more than happy to chat for ages about the pro's and con's of different types of waxes eg.Polymers V Carnuaba.

[blue2]

Im going to. Need to find a decent one and there isn't many in this area. As I said I want to do it myself but I just don't have the time as it usually takes me 4 hours at least to do properly.
Ill try and make time this weekend.