my 92 ranger is heavily oxidizied after all these years.i had the truck painted in 1994 when i bought it.the truck has single stage enamel on it.it is maroon.the paint is very thick and was applied over the original paint.i do not have a buffer.what will cut the oxidizing the best and bring back a gloss if that is possible.rubbing compound,polishing compound or what?any ideas guy's?

 

So, you didn't prep your truck at all for paint? No clear? No primer? You just painted directly onto the clear coat?

And if your truck, not paint was oxidizing it would be rusting. Since that's how steel oxidizes. What's happening to your paint most likely looks like what happens to aluminum when it oxidizes, but your body panels is not made out of aluminum, so assuming you have no clear coat or primer; most likely the paint you put on is coming off.

And I personally would NEVER touch a car with any compound without a clear coat since the purpose of waxing a car is to polish the clear coat on top of the colored paint.

 

Any pictures showing the condition of the paint?

 

no sorry no pic's.this truck was wrecked when i bought it in 94 and only had 27,000 miles on it.i did the prep work myself.the factory paint was scuffed and prepped.only primed the spots that needed any filler work,then was sprayed with a single stage enamel finish.man was that thing sharp way back then.there is no paint coming off anywhere.it is a typical 10+year old weathered finish.my question was is there a way to bring back some shine to it without repainting it.i know it will not look new no matter what i use on it,but i was wanting to add a little shine back to it.more or less give it a good detailing to be more presentable.the pigment in the paint is probably dead and will not revive no matter what i use.i figured a few of you guy's might have a few tricks to pass on about a weathered finish.thanks alot

 

try a good wax

 

I wouldn't recommend waxing your paint, since you don't have clear.

 

^ Just so you can see I didn't even wash it first, It was dirty as all get out when I showed up at Randy's (wasn't expecting to do anything with it)Here is what a PC7424XP and some rubbing compound can do to a long baked paint job and about 15 minutes of work. My friend Randy is a paint Detailer (check out Welcome to MNZaino.com) and even though I have been told by many car guys my paint was beyond saving on my Caddy. Randy said he could fix it. I am a big believer in Zaino car polish, and as soon as you know how to use it you will realize it is the easiest and the best finish on the market, but having said that Zaino only makes one product with any abrasives in it and that is Zaino PC. So we use meguiars 105 followed by 205 for a great finish You could follow that up with Zaino PC, but most people will be happy with the 205 cut. Remember though, you need to polish or wax it afterwards otherwise it will get oxidized again. BTW, this all works the same on a Clear coated car, and with the products I have mentioned you would have to try VERY hard to ruin a paint job.

~HJ

 

BTW, here is a CLear coated car with the same exact process as my Caddy.

The victim / demonstration vehicle. (Thanks Mike!)










^ Now when this car pulled up everyone thought it was clean, about an hour later the car looked like crap everywhere that wasn't buffed (he just did the hood for the demonstration day)

 

You should be able to get that paint back to a shine. I would look into getting a buffer though and do a three step job (cleaner, polish and wax). If its real bad you might be able to wetsand the paint with a really high grit paper, then buff and wax it out but I am not sure if you can do that with an enamel.

 

Is anyone missing he doesn't have a clear coat...?

 

That is why I posted pics of my caddy, neither do I. Like I said, if it can take the Oxidation out of my Caddy's 35 year old baked paint, it will work on his truck.

I only posted the mustang as proof that it is safe to use Rubbing compound with a buffer on a clear coat car. Someone in this thread said you can't.

http://mnzaino.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=96

^ Here is another singe stage paint done the same way. This guy was going to spend $6000 to repaint his car as it had lost all shine, trust me it looked bad. Now it looks brand new and cost him less than $300.

~HJ

 

he said he has enamel which is a single stage. enamel can be wet sanded and polished just the same as a base coat clear coat paint job.



if it was my truck i would do a little wet sanding on the spots that were really bad. then get a cheap polishing wheel and some good polish and polish it up and you should be able to get it looking almost as good as new. just be careful not to go through the paint.

 

thankyou..... its enamel (macco) which does suck but the clear is in the base mixed with a hardner, they do how ever dull quick and more so not kept up with wax usually pretty thick depending on who sprayed it and hard to burn because it is all one we have taken alot of macco jobs wet sand, buff ,polish and wax and have come out amazing should be in good shape as long as its not cracking or peeling of your old paint