I recently got myself a yellow little P5, that was cared for very well mechanically. However, it wasn't protected by wax quite as much, and so it had some typical fade from the single-stage yellow paint. The car had almost 7 years of outdoor parking, along with 160+K New England miles on it. So let's just say, with all the paint chips and other paint issues (some bubbling etc), this thing wasn't concours material.
Specific trouble areas were: dull and faded front bumper, rear bumper (except for the right side), side view mirrors, door handles, plastic strip above license plate on the rear hatch. The rear hatch was somewhat dull, but not faded.
I just wanted to get most of the color and shine back, such that people don't notice off the bat that something is faded or dull. I wanted to get it to an 85% state. There are still plenty of swirls in the paint.
So I poked around Autopia for some advice on single-stage paintwork, and one product that was often suggested was Meguiar's #80, Speed Glaze. It was said to do really well with oxidation and to contain oils that the single-stage paint likes. I also learned about Meguiar's #105, which is their latest highest-tech ultra-cut polish, for heavy-duty jobs (and this certainly looked like it).
The products used were thus:
* Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze (basically oil for the paint)
* Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze
* Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound
* Blackfire Scrath-Resistant Clear Coat Finishing Polish
* Porter Cable dual action polisher
* Lake Country pads
Prep work the day before:
* Zaino Z-7 car wash & clay lube
* AutoMagic Clay Magic clay bar (the one they sell at AutoZone)
Washed & clayed, then hit up roof, hood and bumpers with Meguiar's #7 to "hydrate" the paint. It actually had a noticeable darkening effect and made the fade less apparent right there. It was a bear to buff out.
So the next day, I got to work. Unfortunately, I don't have any really good befores of the whole car.
Tools of the trade (yeah, that's yellow paint on the pad):
(A detour a year in time)
The one pic that shows the fade that the bumper has is this one, from a year ago, which also shows a dull hood:
That hood was corrected with Poorboy's SSR 2.5 back in the day (before I owned the P5) and the shine was restored. Here's a pic of that in progress:
Specific trouble areas were: dull and faded front bumper, rear bumper (except for the right side), side view mirrors, door handles, plastic strip above license plate on the rear hatch. The rear hatch was somewhat dull, but not faded.
I just wanted to get most of the color and shine back, such that people don't notice off the bat that something is faded or dull. I wanted to get it to an 85% state. There are still plenty of swirls in the paint.
So I poked around Autopia for some advice on single-stage paintwork, and one product that was often suggested was Meguiar's #80, Speed Glaze. It was said to do really well with oxidation and to contain oils that the single-stage paint likes. I also learned about Meguiar's #105, which is their latest highest-tech ultra-cut polish, for heavy-duty jobs (and this certainly looked like it).
The products used were thus:
* Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze (basically oil for the paint)
* Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze
* Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound
* Blackfire Scrath-Resistant Clear Coat Finishing Polish
* Porter Cable dual action polisher
* Lake Country pads
Prep work the day before:
* Zaino Z-7 car wash & clay lube
* AutoMagic Clay Magic clay bar (the one they sell at AutoZone)
Washed & clayed, then hit up roof, hood and bumpers with Meguiar's #7 to "hydrate" the paint. It actually had a noticeable darkening effect and made the fade less apparent right there. It was a bear to buff out.
So the next day, I got to work. Unfortunately, I don't have any really good befores of the whole car.
Tools of the trade (yeah, that's yellow paint on the pad):
(A detour a year in time)
The one pic that shows the fade that the bumper has is this one, from a year ago, which also shows a dull hood:
That hood was corrected with Poorboy's SSR 2.5 back in the day (before I owned the P5) and the shine was restored. Here's a pic of that in progress:
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