Trying to bring out the color on a red 99 Corolla..

subscriber

Ive a 99 Hatchback toyota corolla that I`m planning on selling soon. It will only be sold for small money but I want to bring out the color on it before I sell it to see if i can squeeze a few extra bob out of the sale because at the moment, it is appalling and had discolored very badly in the sun over the years.

A year ago I used a compound called Formula 1 and then followed up the day after with Mcguires polis and wax which i used an electric buffer with a soft pad to apply. It done a relatively good job at bringing up the color but unfortunately if didnt last pi**ing time and returned to as faded and as worn out as it first was within two months.

I was going to repeat the process when it faded again but just didn`t have any faith that it would last so didnt bother.

Looking for a bit of advice on maybe what I can do different this time around. The photos ive added here really don`t do the paintwork justice in how bad it actually looks to the naked eye as the camera I used seems to have shown the color to be a far bit more better than what it is in reality.

Thanks

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133325668@N03/shares/F18E27

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133325668@N03/shares/rgs09G

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133325668@N03/shares/Hcg06H

edburg

You had right idea, soft pad sounds like a polish/buffing pad though. A harder cutting pad or a microfiber cutting pad most likely work better.

A good cutting pad and cutting polish followed by finish polish and pad on the D/A.

Then a sealant of sorts, maybe 2 coats.

After normal maintenance but that won't be concern for you I suppose.

Or tcut it 30 mins before a viewer comes

subscriber

edburg wrote: »

You had right idea, soft pad sounds like a polish/buffing pad though. A harder cutting pad or a microfiber cutting pad most likely work better.

A good cutting pad and cutting polish followed by finish polish and pad on the D/A.

Then a sealant of sorts, maybe 2 coats.

After normal maintenance but that won't be concern for you I suppose.

Or tcut it 30 mins before a viewer comes

Would you be suggesting to use a microfiber or cutting pad to apply just the compound and then follow up with a softer pad when applying the polish and wax or did I pick up your post wrong?

Also what do ye think in relation to the products I used? Continue using same or is there something a bit better I could be using?

edburg

Yes cutting pad and compound/polish and then finishing polish and softer finish pad. Pads come in either foam n microfiber up to regarding which one to use.

As for products I don't know them to be honest, but as your selling car you may as well use them again unless your planning a upgrade of sorts then corolla be a good test panel for future.

I say upgrade as a form of saying by way.

subscriber

edburg wrote: »

Yes cutting pad and compound/polish and then finishing polish and softer finish pad. Pads come in either foam n microfiber up to regarding which one to use.

As for products I don't know them to be honest, but as your selling car you may as well use them again unless your planning a upgrade of sorts then corolla be a good test panel for future.

I say upgrade as a form of saying by way.

I get ya. Would it be a totally daft idea to repeat any part of the three step process twice over before moving onto the next step? As in either compounding twice before moving onto polishing or polishing twice before moving onto waxing? Would that achieve any better outcome in your opinion?

edburg

No not daft you may actually have to, just done same on my astra there last night.

It just depends on your first pass, just need to remember finish polish is one that bring out the bling so maybe do one pass each if not happy go again.

subscriber

edburg wrote: »

No not daft you may actually have to, just done same on my astra there last night.

It just depends on your first pass, just need to remember finish polish is one that bring out the bling so maybe do one pass each if not happy go again.

Sorry for all the questions now but if I were to do one coat compound followed by one coat polish and one wax.. then by going back to repeat the process over again and starting again at the beginning with the coumpound, would i not be just undoing the work of the first coat of polish and wax? Would it make more sense to do two coats compound then two coats polish and then two wax in that order?

Thanks

edburg

subscriber wrote: »

Sorry for all the questions now but if I were to do one coat compound followed by one coat polish and one wax.. then by going back to repeat the process over again and starting again at the beginning with the coumpound, would i not be just undoing the work of the first coat of polish and wax? Would it make more sense to do two coats compound then two coats polish and then two wax in that order?
Thanks

No no, wax is final component,its last process.

Do your Polish work first once your happy with finish, then slap the sealant or wax on to protect it.

subscriber

edburg wrote: »

No no, wax is final component,its last process.

Do your Polish work first once your happy with finish, then slap the sealant or wax on to protect it.

Excellent cheers mate, i`ll tackle it some stage this week and post back with finished pics.

Any recommendations on how long ya should leave each coat of compound and polish before giving it a second going over or by the time all the panels are done would it be time straight away to give it a second going over without delay / leaving time for each coat to set in / dry?

edburg

subscriber wrote: »

Excellent cheers mate, i`ll tackle it some stage this week and post back with finished pics.

Any recommendations on how long ya should leave each coat of compound and polish before giving it a second going over or by the time all the panels are done would it be time straight away to give it a second going over without delay / leaving time for each coat to set in / dry?

Polish you wipe/buff straight after you machined it, make sure panel is cool and go again.

Wax one panel at a time, if temperature is high the 30 seconds to a minute it takes to wax panel it most likely be ready to buff with microfiber.

If its cold then vast majority of wax will ready to go after couple minutes.

If your really anal and love a challenge wax whole car leave under cover/garage overnight and buff off next day.

Curran

When you say an electric buffer, you mean one of these?



No real point in compounding with one of those; in fact there isnt a whole lot of point in compounding at all.
Your potential buyer is looking for a solid run around and isnt looking for a show winning paint job; essentially all you need to do is put the colour back in the paintwork; you dont need to go chasing swirls and doing paint correction.

A light polish will bring back colour almost instantly with relatively little work; and a wax or sealant to give it the extra look in the glossy appearance - get the pictures taken, get her down the road, and let the new owner ask the same question in a few months! :P

edburg

Curran wrote: »

When you say an electric buffer, you mean one of these?

I just presumed it was D/A or rotary not one of those things.

Plus I am bit soft touch I like to have car as I would have it so hence a compound/restore polish as well as finishing polish. #makeitshiny hahaha

Curran

edburg wrote: »

I like to have car as I would have it

Oh absolutely, but in this case, I dont think spending that much effort will bring up the price. A quick polish, to bring up the colour, 2 hours work; will give a better return on the effort put in!

edburg

Nothing to do with price just a happy feeling its blinging.

subscriber

Back again..... so I've only this week gotten around to tackling this.... and have a few questions.

I've compounded, polished and waxed the car bonnet and two front panels having compounded by hand with a microfiber cloth and applied the polish and wax with a waxing cover for the electric buffer. The results were amazing initially but already i can see the bonnet and two side front panels starting to fade only 3 days after finish and after one wash with turtle wax...

Today I've compounded the rear panels by hand with a microfiber cloth again but this time used a microfiber polishing cover for the electric buffer and the results seem to be significantly better although it may not be the case as the rear panels have not yet seen a wash and are only freshly done.

I'm wondering what the best approach is to improving the front side panels and bonnet due to the fact that they seem to have faded quiet a bit in the past three days and after the first wash..... Should I start from scratch again with compound and follow up this time with the microfiber cover on electric buffer for polish and wax (didn't use microfiber cover for polish and wax first time) or skip compounding it again and just go straight to polish and wax but this time with microfiber cover?

Also wondering about water temperature when sponge washing? It had its first wash today with relatively warm water and when it dried, there seemed to be quiet a bit of dulling of the paint work on the bonnet and front side panels as well as a heck of a lot of water spots left over.... was washed with turtle wax. Would I be better off washing with just cold water next time? Will it avoid the dulling of the paint work using cold water?

Curran

The issue is probably mostly down to the fact that you havent really removed much of the oxidation. The panels when dry look faded, but if you throw a bucket of water over them, it probably looks a lot better. When you polished the panel, you are kind of seeing the same effect; the polish giving a wet look. And perhaps when you washed the car, you've removed the polish and thus removed the thing that was helping the effect of wetting the paintwork.

What polish did you use and what wax did you apply after you polished?

In terms of washing with warm or cold water - there should be no negative effect of using either.

subscriber

Thanks, is there any way to keep that oxidation in situe for when everything dries? .... Keep the wet look. I used forumla 1 compound agent and McGuires polish and wax.

Don't get me wrong, it's a massive improvement on what it was but not quiet as lasting effect as I would of hoped.

edburg

subscriber wrote: »

Thanks, is there any way to keep that oxidation in situe for when everything dries? .... Keep the wet look. I used forumla 1 compound agent and McGuires polish and wax.

Don't get me wrong, it's a massive improvement on what it was but not quiet as lasting effect as I would of hoped.

You have not taken oxidation fully away at a guess as you only hand polished it. Your first pass as Curran stated has only disguised the oxidation.

I am guessing you would need couple passes by hand with compound, plus if machine stated on other page is under powered so would need couple passes with finish polish to.

Are changing pads between polish and wax or just using one pad/bonnet for all work.

Hard to say for sure with out seeing the car n paint.

subscriber

edburg wrote: »

You have not taken oxidation fully away at a guess as you only hand polished it. Your first pass as Curran stated has only disguised the oxidation.

I am guessing you would need couple passes by hand with compound, plus if machine stated on other page is under powered so would need couple passes with finish polish to.

Are changing pads between polish and wax or just using one pad/bonnet for all work.

Hard to say for sure with out seeing the car n paint.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/133325668@N03/4Vmp90

I've posted a link to my flikr album above with before and after pictures. It will be obvious which is which.

I used one bonnet cover on the electric buffer for polishing and a separate one for waxing. Compounding was done by hand with a microfiber cloth. It's looks really good now but my fear is that I've put in far too much work considering I'm not planning on selling the car for two months yet. The compounding took quiet a long time as I had to leave each panel an hour to let it set in before going at it with polish and wax. Only the front two side panels and car bonnet have received a wash yet and they dulled significantly after the wash. Unfortunately i forgot to take photos after the first wash, and all photos above are of the finished product with a fresh layer of polish and wax on it on it so difficult to get across my point of how much it did infact fade. I feel I may have wasted my time doing the compounding layer with how much time it took up but nothing I can do about that now, what's done is done. If it fades after the next wash, which I suspect it will, I haven't a notion of going back at it with compound again, I'll just give it another coat of polish and wax before I sell it as it's not time consuming at all to do the polish and wax with the electric buffer. An hour would do the entire car.

Any extra advice or tips welcome.