993 Guards Red paint bleaching.. what to do?
Discussion
Hi PH'ers.
I've been lurking here since a few months, and feel its time add my contribution to an interesting forum.
I own a 1994 993 in Guards Red. I've owned this car since 8 years now, and gives me the same fun as the day I bought it. It is my daily driver 365 d/yr and has never let me down. I've since driven various 996's of various flavours, but quite frankly do not give me the same sense of enjoyment as the 993.
Only 1 thing I have a gripe about. It looks fantastic when polished, but after a few weeks, the paint looks bleached and matted. After polishing again it looks as new. I have tried various remedies, using various paint restorers, and finished with a brand with carnauba wax. Would a zymol treatment or profi detailer solve my problem, or am I looking at full respray? I would like to avoid a respray since only the roof and engine cover are affected.
I've been lurking here since a few months, and feel its time add my contribution to an interesting forum.
I own a 1994 993 in Guards Red. I've owned this car since 8 years now, and gives me the same fun as the day I bought it. It is my daily driver 365 d/yr and has never let me down. I've since driven various 996's of various flavours, but quite frankly do not give me the same sense of enjoyment as the 993.
Only 1 thing I have a gripe about. It looks fantastic when polished, but after a few weeks, the paint looks bleached and matted. After polishing again it looks as new. I have tried various remedies, using various paint restorers, and finished with a brand with carnauba wax. Would a zymol treatment or profi detailer solve my problem, or am I looking at full respray? I would like to avoid a respray since only the roof and engine cover are affected.
Edited by masterblaster on Thursday 12th April 11:34
Sounds like you may need the help of a pro detailer, unless of course you can use a machine polisher yourself.
With the right compound and use of the polisher, all the paint oxidisation, and as a bonus, all the swirls marks will be removed bringing the paint back to life. Then it'll be ready for some nice wax and stay looking as new for as long as it's cared for.
With the right compound and use of the polisher, all the paint oxidisation, and as a bonus, all the swirls marks will be removed bringing the paint back to life. Then it'll be ready for some nice wax and stay looking as new for as long as it's cared for.
masterblaster said:
... and finished with a brand with carbonara wax.
There's your problem; you should be using pesto or bolognese!
Seriously, if you can get a decent shine out of the finish then you probably don't need a respray. What's probably happening is that you've got too much other "stuff" in your finish from previous compounds and waxes and that's turning white with time making your paint look faded. Either that or you've got a finish that got so many superfine scratches from over the years that the light no longer reflects very well once the wax is starting to fade.
The paint needs to be cleaned to remove all the contaminants and then assessed to figure out what the next step is. There are a number of good detailing forums out there (here's just 1 to start off with www.autopia.org/) that can give you guidance but the basic rule is to start with the most gentle method and go up in harshness or abrasiveness only if absolutely necessary. In other words, don't start off with T-Cut!
Edited by phelix on Saturday 24th March 11:46
Had exactly this problem on my 968CS, paint bloom, where the red goes sort of pinky/white.
I used some 3M stuff called Finesse which was recommended to me by a mate who paints all sorts of exotica. Did the trick and restored the colour to a brilliant finish. Takes a while as you hardly use any pressure,one cloth to put on and polish, and then a clean one to buff gently.
Once it was done the bloom didnt return. Costs about £20 a bottle easy to find at any decent trade supplier.
Alternatively if you're feeling flush, get Glynn to come do the zymol thing.......
I used some 3M stuff called Finesse which was recommended to me by a mate who paints all sorts of exotica. Did the trick and restored the colour to a brilliant finish. Takes a while as you hardly use any pressure,one cloth to put on and polish, and then a clean one to buff gently.
Once it was done the bloom didnt return. Costs about £20 a bottle easy to find at any decent trade supplier.
Alternatively if you're feeling flush, get Glynn to come do the zymol thing.......
Thanks to all who replied, including Glynn, I hadn't realised there was such science to car washing and polishing. Since I am not into concours finishing ( the car is a daily driver ) Can someone recommend a non zymol product to solve my bleaching problem or is Carnauba wax the way to go? Zymol seems way too expensive, is it worth it?
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