Faded paint

[Scruffymurphy]

I have an E30 touring with faded red paint. It's especially bad on one side. What suggestions do people have for restoring the colour.

[Ciaran Mk1]

I've a mk3 golf in flash red aswell that feens polished to see how it would turn out. 4 panels were especially bad and the rest weren't too bad after. We didn't do a full correction, just a polish to bring up the paint and the results were fantastic! (but as with half his feckin details,,there's no pictures to show the results!!)
He has a write up on a red E30 he hit with G3 which gave great results aswell (it's int eh members work section.) My car was hit with the sonus hard compound sfx1 and a medium cut pad I think. You'll see the paint coming back up as you work anyways. The main thing is to give the paint the correct protection afterwards and proper maintenance afterwards since the paint would fade again very easily.
Brian or the other lads might have better suggeations on what to do though

[Daragh]

I'd clay it first to remove as many bonded contaminants as possible, then depending whether you are working by hand or machine, either a paintwork cleanser / polish (by hand) or an abrasive polish (by machine). Followed-up with a sealant or wax for protection. There is no point in restoring the red colour to like-new levels, if you do not seal it properly afterwards. And top up protection every few months. Otherwise it will fade again quite quickly and you will be back at square one.

By hand, I would use Gollit Nano Plus, Carlack 68 NSC or Klasse AIO (all very similar) as they are chemical cleansers. They remove the old (dead) paint / oxidation without removing any of the good paint underneath. The most user-friendly, gentle and least labour intensive way of tackling the problem of fading. Seal afterwards with an acrylic / polymer sealant and or a Carnauba wax. Too many products to choose from and everyone will have their own personal favourite. It is quite subjective.

Conventional polishes which contain abrasives, cut into the paint. They work far better by machine than by hand. As you have to break down the abrasives fully to get the very best results. Menzerna, 3M, Meguiar's again everyone will have their preference. Topped with sealant or wax like before.

***

So basically, chemical based paintwork cleaners by hand will remove the dead paint, restore gloss levels and colour intensity, but will not remove swirls marks or scratches. Easy to use by hand (or machine) and slighlty less elbow grease required than conventional polishes. Gentlest on the paint.

Abrasive polishes will do likewise but when used properly (by machine polisher) will also reduce or remove swirl marks/light scratches as well, but at the same time will remove a few microns of paint in the process. So on older cars if the paint is on the thin side, it is not ideal (unless paint thickness can be measured as you go) and paintwork is polished accordingly with the necessary attention to detail.

The other option (by hand) is to use a polish which part cuts and part fills in defects, and then top it with a longer lasting wax for protection. Something like 1Z Einszett Paint Polish or AutoGlym SRP and then top with Collinite 476s wax. Fair bit of elbow grease required.

[Feens]

Welcome Along Aonghus

The lads have said it there, lots of elbow grease and patience, If you look here in members work you'll see Bernards car (BMW19 from e30owners) i done during the summer, it came up very well got a good correction on it and it was very badly faded, Ciarans Golf came up brialliantly aswell it was faded an awful lot, but i used the Porter cable on both cars, wouldnt dream of doing them by hand lol

[Scruffymurphy]

Thanks alot for the help lads. The car really needs a respray as the roof is a different shade of red, but until funds allow, I'll do my best to restore the faded panels. I'll be working by hand, so it'll be slow and painful.

Brian could you pm me a price for doing the work. Let me know if you want pictures.

Thanks.

[JohnH]

Welcome over here Aonghus - I hope all's well in Donegal

[Scruffymurphy]

Originally Posted by JohnH

Welcome over here Aonghus - I hope all's well in Donegal

All's great thanks John. How you getting on and how are the missus and her IS?

[green-blood]

well lookie here....

welcome along smokey

tell ya what, you lay on beds and beer and I'll get Feens up for a weekend and we'll sort your motors??

[Brian]

Originally Posted by Scruffymurphy

Thanks alot for the help lads. The car really needs a respray as the roof is a different shade of red, but until funds allow, I'll do my best to restore the faded panels. I'll be working by hand, so it'll be slow and painful.

Brian could you pm me a price for doing the work. Let me know if you want pictures.

Thanks.

Aye, you might want to take GB & Feens up on their offer. Got a few weeks of detailing work to do and then have to give up to get my house ready for the new wee-one. Sorry mate....

[Scruffymurphy]

Originally Posted by green-blood

well lookie here....

welcome along smokey

tell ya what, you lay on beds and beer and I'll get Feens up for a weekend and we'll sort your motors??

I'm liking the sound of that. Anytime yous want to take a run up, I'll be here, with the fridge well stocked.

[JohnH]

Originally Posted by Scruffymurphy

All's great thanks John. How you getting on and how are the missus and her IS?

Great thanks, the iS got a polish recently but needs a more rigorous polish soon.
I think we might be heading up your way for another weekend again soon

[Scruffymurphy]

Originally Posted by JohnH

Great thanks, the iS got a polish recently but needs a more rigorous polish soon.
I think we might be heading up your way for another weekend again soon

Excellent. If you're heading up give me a shout. We've moved into the new house so should be able to stretch to a cup of tea at least. My number is 087 7647220.