Red Cars = Faded paint

Barr

I was lookin at a neighbours car - a 1994 Red Polo and the colour looks totally faded .

Ive only ever seen this happen to red cars and was wondering is there an effective way to bring it back to life ?

Seperate

Oxidation. There's a scientific explanation alright, something in the make-up of the red single stage colour being more effected by the sun's (if you remember what that is!) rays. It does happen to all single-stage colours, but its not as noticeable.

A decent polish will sort it out, along with a bit of elbow grease

If you're near a Halfords or motor factors, Autoglym Paint Renovator, followed by Super Resin Polish should do the trick. If you're buying online, there's various options which would usually give better results for in or around the same €€'s.

mgadget

If its not lacquered (the faded paint will transfer onto the polishing cloth) then good polish and wax and a days work will see results. If it is really bad, may need to use T-cut, which is more abrasive than polish.

If it is lacquered, then it seems only a respray can bring it back to its former glory.

Barr wrote: »

I was lookin at a neighbours car - a 1994 Red Polo and the colour looks totally faded .

Ive only ever seen this happen to red cars and was wondering is there an effective way to bring it back to life ?

Bluefoam

You can get a long life red paint on Alfas, that doesn't fade...

colm_mcm

it often outlives the rest of the car (etc. etc.)

Run_to_da_hills

Bluefoam wrote: »

You can get a long life red paint on Alfas, that doesn't fade...

THe paint dosn't fade but the car dose. :pac:

green-blood

you could spend hours and hours hand polishing with paint renovator/SRP or T-cut, which are variatiosn on a theme... or you can have it machine polished, using pro polishes

polishes - cut paint, remove tiny layer of lacquer/oxidised one coat
wax - adds protection only

polish makes it shiney
wax keeps it that way

all paint is affected by its environmental conditions and how well/badly it is looked after /washed

nudge, machine polishing services are available

colm_mcm

On a 94 Polo, there's no point in paying someone to do it, just buy some T Cut and work away, VW red is particularly bad for this problem.

aoibhebree

mgadget wrote: »

If it is really bad, may need to use T-cut, which is more abrasive than polish.

I use T-cut on my red '99 Colt, I find it's really good and keeps it red and shiny for at least a month, takes me (by which I mean my boyfriend!) about 2 hours of hard polishing to get it right though. I didn't realise it was abrasive though? So is it actually damaging my baby??

Bluefoam

colm_mcm wrote: »

it often outlives the rest of the car (etc. etc.)

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The paint doesn't fade but the car does. :pac:

Run_to_da_hills: if you are going to repeat what the last poster said, at least learn to spell or just cut and paste

green-blood

are you t-cutting every 4 weeks!!

eventually yes you will do irreversabel damage... once its glossy, get him to wax/seal it.

red is badly affected due to the affects of the light spectrum in those wavelengths... yellow is poor too, keep your eyes out for yello fiat cinquechentos, dark colours tend to show swirls rather than oxidation

bazz26

In fairness the paint on your average 15 year old car is bound to be faded at this stage unless the car was very well cared for all its life.

aoibhebree

No I think he does wax it after T-cutting, and I wouldn't do it every four weeks - it's just that after he does it, it lasts about four weeks, but it usually takes a further 2 months or so before I can persuade him to do it again! So is that enough to do damage? Thanks

Bluefoam

aoibhebree wrote: »

So is that enough to do damage?

T-cut damages the paint every time you use it. I would advise against using it often...

Better option is to look after your car well before it needs t-cut...

galwaytt

it's going to take a lot more than T-cut to bring my MX-5 back.....

HERE

Seperate

galwaytt wrote: »

it's going to take a lot more than T-cut to bring my MX-5 back.....

HERE

Half a day with a buffer and it'll be back to former glory.

@aoibhebree: I wouldn't be too concerned. Even if you did use T-Cut every 4 weeks, you'd be a long time seeing the damage its doing. But still, as the lads were saying, if you do the job making it shiney again, just throw a good wax at it afterwards and it'll stay nice and shiney for months rather then weeks.

mondymike

i used mer polish and red turtle wax on my 92 mk3 gold and it brought it up well. plus for the black bumpers smooth peanut butter all the way!

L1011

My old red Panda is to my eyes starting to fade horribly but apparently holding up fine - think its psychological... but as its not mine anymore I can't go attack it with a buffer.

Do metallic reds (and white, and other colours that go off) hold up better to sunlight than non metallic?

Neilw

galwaytt wrote: »

it's going to take a lot more than T-cut to bring my MX-5 back.....

HERE

The clearcoat is damaged on your mx5, only thing for it would be a respray.

aoibhebree

Bluefoam wrote: »

Better option is to look after your car well before it needs t-cut...

Yes yes, however I only bought the car last summer, it's a really clean car as regards to scratches and dents, however it's quite faded specially towards the back, I don't think the previous owner ever waxed it!! I barely recognised it the first time it was all shined up Will keep that in mind though and keep the t-cut for occasional use!

green-blood

dump the t-cut, its a primitive concoction, get some Super resin Polish and a decent wax, even a good old tub of Turtle wax, the hard wax, not paste ort liquid. €25 and you'll see far better results