Mars Red PAINT FADE! :(

Here is the car in question - as you can see, the sun has not been kind to it over the years.

It's been sat around for about 5 years, was washed and polished just before but then had nothing since then. Was partially sheltered by a tree and house but as you can see it is still quite bad..



I was wondering whether this is actually rectifiable, and if so - how i would go about getting the paint back to how it was?

With all the products out in this day and age, surely there is something that I can put on it to make the paint at least red again and not pink!?

Other than the paint fade, the bodywork is sound hence my reluctancy to go for a respray.

All tips and advice greatly appreciated

Cheers,

Chris

Common problem. Basically no, not without a respray, UV has bleached the pigment in the paint. You can do various things like polishing (t-cut or machine polishing) as a temporary measure but never found that it lasts for any length of time.

yep agree, once its faded you will need to keep polishing every couple months to keep it good. unless you respray, but can sometimes still fade quickly after a spray depending how well it was done

fair enough, a couple of months i can deal with.. as long as the colour can be returned for at least a temporary basis, even if it wont stay long term without lots of work.

so do you lot rate T-Cut, or is there a better product out there for this kind of colour renovating?

Hard work, but, has lasted on mine

1. Wash with fairy liquid ( never do this again after step 1)
2. Clay bar.
3. Use farecla G3 cutting compound, by hand.
4. Use farecla G10 cutting compound, by hand.
5. Finish off with meguires 3 stage kit..Restorer, Polish, Wax.

Use the products sparingly and plenty of elbow grease. The process will take around 3 hours PER Panel..so will keep you busy.

When complete use a gentle wash solution like Meguires gold class, ans wax it every couple of weeks. The finish will blow your mind and knacker you!! keep it waxed and the finish will last.

haha amazing, you dont have any before / after pics of the car in queston do you?

the time aspect isn't a worry - i'm a student, i have nothing but time haha

cheers

Using cutting compounds by hand, rather you than me, I'll stick with the rotary!

Washing up liquid is a complete no-no as it contains loads of salt (vinegar is another no-no), use a proper paint cleaner like Dodo lime prime/lite, Sonus paintwork cleanser… You're trying to make your paintwork better not worse  :wink:

So I'd say for the bodywork:

1. Spray bottom half of car with degreaser to get rid of road grime leave it to soak in), you could use APC diluted 4 to 1 (all purpose cleaner) from the supermarket or use something like Tardis. APC is also good for cleaning the engine bay in conjunction with some stiff brushed (again improvise with ones from the supermarket and save money) . Don't buy "posh" APC it doesn't work any better.
2. Rinse
3. Wash & rinse (2 bucket method, Google it) lambs wool wash mitt, micro fibre drying towel, although no need to dry if you're going to clay straight away.
4. Clay (Bilt-Hamber is good, cheap and you just use water as the lube)
5. Paint cleaner
6. Polish
7. Paint cleaner
8. Protect

I would add a few additional steps like snow foaming butnot totally necessary.

Don't see the point of using the Meguires restorer or polish as you have already polished.

If you can borrow a DA (dual action) or rotary then do so, combined with either 3M or Menzerna polishes. Makes life a whole lot easier and create a better finish than any amount of hand polishing. Don't be tempted to buy one of those cheapo polishers they're useless. If you do buy then get the Meguires DA, not cheap though.

Meguires are fine "low end" products but Poorboys, Chemical Guys and Dodo are superior and not much more expensive. We spent a lot of time testing various products out when my brother was setting up his car detailing business.

One other thing you might want to try is use a sealant rather than/as well as a wax once you've polished it. I always use a couple of coats of sealant followed by wax, the sealant gives the paintwork a slightly wetter look. Might keep it looking red for a bit longer plus it lasts longer than wax so is especially good in winter.

Although you can and it does no harm, there's no real need to wax every couple of weeks. Once a month is normally more than enough as long as you use good quality shampoo (cheap ones tend to strip the wax). In between use quick detailer. A sealant will normally last 3 months or so depening on the weather.

I find Car Care Products | Detailing Products UK | Clean Your Car is a good place to pick stuff up from.

Hope that helps.

jonsons baby bath is an excellent product to wash the car with 8)

If you say so!

mkeeley said

Using cutting compounds by hand, rather you than me, I'll stick with the rotary!

Washing up liquid is a complete no-no as it contains loads of salt (vinegar is another no-no), use a proper paint cleaner like Dodo lime prime/lite, Sonus paintwork cleanser… You're trying to make your paintwork better not worse  :wink:

So I'd say for the bodywork:

1. Spray bottom half of car with degreaser to get rid of road grime leave it to soak in), you could use APC diluted 4 to 1 (all purpose cleaner) from the supermarket or use something like Tardis. APC is also good for cleaning the engine bay in conjunction with some stiff brushed (again improvise with ones from the supermarket and save money) . Don't buy "posh" APC it doesn't work any better.
2. Rinse
3. Wash & rinse (2 bucket method, Google it) lambs wool wash mitt, micro fibre drying towel, although no need to dry if you're going to clay straight away.
4. Clay (Bilt-Hamber is good, cheap and you just use water as the lube)
5. Paint cleaner
6. Polish
7. Paint cleaner
8. Protect

I would add a few additional steps like snow foaming butnot totally necessary.

Don't see the point of using the Meguires restorer or polish as you have already polished.

If you can borrow a DA (dual action) or rotary then do so, combined with either 3M or Menzerna polishes. Makes life a whole lot easier and create a better finish than any amount of hand polishing. Don't be tempted to buy one of those cheapo polishers they're useless. If you do buy then get the Meguires DA, not cheap though.

Meguires are fine "low end" products but Poorboys, Chemical Guys and Dodo are superior and not much more expensive. We spent a lot of time testing various products out when my brother was setting up his car detailing business.

One other thing you might want to try is use a sealant rather than/as well as a wax once you've polished it. I always use a couple of coats of sealant followed by wax, the sealant gives the paintwork a slightly wetter look. Might keep it looking red for a bit longer plus it lasts longer than wax so is especially good in winter.

Although you can and it does no harm, there's no real need to wax every couple of weeks. Once a month is normally more than enough as long as you use good quality shampoo (cheap ones tend to strip the wax). In between use quick detailer. A sealant will normally last 3 months or so depening on the weather.

I find Car Care Products | Detailing Products UK | Clean Your Car is a good place to pick stuff up from.

Hope that helps.

thanks so much for that step by step guide man, i will try it out as soon as ive got a bit more dollar to spend on the car lol.

i dont think im too convinced about the johnsons rubbish though lol!

thanks man!

Thats nothing!!! stop being a gril! and get some old cotton rags and get polishing!

I got my little brother this, 35k miles and been stood unwashed in a car park for 18 months, cost ?200




jet wash, then 2 hand washes with good car wash with out a wax if you can, (I used turtle wax nanno stuff on it) then I tried cutting with the machine but tbh it was pants! so I did it by hand…

then a going over with turtle wax safe cut, then a wash, then another cut to get the bits we miss/didnt come up, then a wash, then 2 coats of turtle wax high gloss wax (key point, NOT polish! the was just protects, and very midly cleans a ploish will cut more paint off) then 2 final coats of auto glym super resin point applied very very lightly so as not to cut the wax off that I just applied.

the auto glym was used as it has UV blockers in it to stop the paint fading,

the final out come after 3 days of work was this,




the pictures dont do it justice!!! the red is sooo deep and shiney!!! and its been sat on the drive now for 2 months, in the sun not moved and its still thats red, the only thing thats been done is its been washed once when it got covered in really sandy rain,

if you have the money to spend on top dollar products then you could prob get it a smidge shinier, but tbh you would be hard pushed to tell the differance between the 2 unless you looked stupidly close and even then if I spent the time to fully detail it I dont think you would tell, most folk who have seen me bros car ask if its been re-sprayed its soo good  8)

Wow! Karl thats an awesome job!!  8)

yep and all for sub ?30  :wink:

all from halfords

and then I used car plan trim black for the bumpers and spoilers as this is the only one I have found that actually lasts and stays black with out making everthing all shiney and tacky and sticky like back to black, plus it lasts, I did my old mini arches once when I got it and 2 years later they still looked mint  8)

Trim black - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_160886_langId_-1_categoryId_165682

car wash - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_164865_langId_-1_categoryId_165527
(if you can find the non wax halfords wash its brill!!! the new stuff with added wax isnt as good but there is still some of the older stuff around, if you see it get it!)

high gloss wax - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_161508_langId_-1_categoryId_165527 (bottles changed now, its more rounded but the pics nearly the same and its still bright red)

resin polish - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_173303_langId_-1_categoryId_165527

cutter - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_158824_langId_-1_categoryId_165527 (you can get a bigger bottle of this, id recommend getting that)

My brothers still needs to be clayed, I use this clay bar - http://www.carnaubawaxshop.co.uk/shop/viewproduct.php?product_id=96 as its the best one i have found to use, can be used with just water so no need for special detailing spray and doesnt cost the earth, its done a damn good job on my daily hack and on my mums mini,  

just clay it and then give it 2 coats of auto glym softly applied again for protection as the clay will take off the protection.

crikey! i am stunned, that difference is incredible! the paint does actually look like new lol

thanks so much for all the info aswell dude, just a maybe seemingly stupid question.. what should i use to apply all these products? i've got a roll of old halfords polishing cloth but tbh i've found it to be really coarse and will worry bout it leaving swirl marks on the surface really bad.. is there anything with like more fibres or something that you can recommend using?

truly i am stunned by that change, its great to see though and now i will happily put in the effort as i know it will get me somehwere!

The only trouble is that a MK1 has been bleached by the sun for a goo long time. I had the same problem with my first Golf and it was past a simple polish. But it's certainly worth trying.

yeah it's been a good five years.. so alot worse than after 18 months.

if I tried the technique used on the Polo Coupe.. and it wasn't as good as it could be, I could just try out your technique after mkeeley?

to be honest I'm not toooo worried about how it looks atm, just as long as I know that it can be rectified then I will have no worries and get down to it eventually

am going to be concentrating more on gettin it running and through an MOT first lol



any ideas on what rags to use aswell.. will Halfrauds polishing cloth be ok or do I need something less coarse? Would old T-Shirts do the job? Any specific materials?

been and used the haldords cloths not a fan tbh,

the best I have found is either micro fibre cliths from wilkinsons, but that can be a bit expensive…. or my number one choice, good old T shirts, cut up with all the stitching removed and no transfers, etc, just plain old cotton, charity shops are your friend when it comes to this or raid the draws at home.

try the cheapo methord first, you will be suprised. just make sure you follow the instructions, as some of the polishes and waxes say you need a damp cloth, so run it under a tap, then wring out, and keep doing that when it gets dry / clogged up in use, rinse it clean and start again.

if that doesnt work theres no halm in trying the more expensive way.

the polo had been stood for 18 months unused, but before that the woman only used it 2 months a year for 5 years as she lived in spain… so when she wansnt here it wasnt washed or loved, just left, but give it a go you will be suprised, just set aside a good weekend as it time consuming but I found I had miles miles better results hand polishing than machine polishing, it applied it ok, but you couldnt get into all the window edges and creases so ended up using your hands anyways and buffing off it would remove the top dusts but wouldnt actually get in and cut through the ploish / wax and left a bonded film behinde that had to be buffed by hand to a deep shine, so again I didnt see the point.

and another thing I found, auto glym paint renevator, seemed to work ok but was alot harder work than the turtle wax safety cut and cost more,

As I posted earlier in the thread ideally you'd use a DA/rotary polisher will do a better job than by hand and, obviously less effort.

Found this link

http://www.clean-image.co.uk/articles/faded_paintwork.htm

would take an absolute age by hand and still not come out as well.

If you haven't any choice but to hand polishing then I'd agree, use micro-fibre cloths, Aldi or Lidl (can't remember which) were selling them cheaply a time back, don't need to be the expensive ones. Just keep the edges tucked out of the way as the cheaper ones tend to be sewn with nylon thread which scratches the paint.

You're probably better off with a compound like Farecla rather than Scratch-X or Turtlewax, which are really designed for small areas.

Personally I don't like Resin Polish, it tends to stain any plastic trim it touches and leaves a lot of residue making it more effort than its worth. I'd go for Meguires if you want products you can just pop down to Halfords and get. Depends how fussy you are I guess!

the main reason for the resin was its got UV filters in it, most dont, and I know it works as I have used it on my old red mini too when I had that, if the polish / wax has UV block in it then it will help stop the fade coming back, same as factor 30 stops you getting burnt in the sun  

thanks lads, im probably not going to be using a rotary polisher as i just can't afford one right now. even though it will take lots of time, time is something i have alot of so i'll just get some cheap microfibre clothes or T-Shirts

as for the different polishes.. i might go for that resin polish if it's got these UV renovators in, plus I wouldn't have a problem with stripping the car of all the plastic trim as I'll be giving it a really good going over in all aspects anyway. I'll just be careful around the seals in the door arches altho alot of them need replacing aswell anyway!