We began the cut/buff today. Any paint can be saved!

[FlyingDutchman]

Chris started cutting/buffing my 48 today after a week of wet sanding with 1000-2000 grit. Bare in mind this car sat in a barn for 10 years and I did not repaint it!

[Mark D]

Love to learn how to do this... Feel like giving a lesson or two? My car could use this.

[RobertKB]

That looks really good. As mentioned, some pointers or a list of the steps that were taken would be appreciated. More pictures too as you progress, please!

[Rusty O'Toole]

Anyone who wants to buff up their car, should start doing it by hand. A power buffer can cut through the paint in a second, even in the hands of an expert, if he slips just once! By hand is slow but much safer.

It is a lot of work but rewarding. You have to wash the car thoroughly then polish with fine rubbing compound, then wax with good car wax. Go over it several times with the wax, every time you wax the car the finish comes up more. My record is 9 times on an old red Renault. Every time I waxed it, the finish got a little better. When I started the paint was so oxidised it looked like primer. When I was done you could drop a clean rag on the roof and it would slide off the roof, down the windshield, down the hood and onto the ground the finish was so slick.

[FlyingDutchman]

I asked Chris to do a write up for us all. I'll post it as soon as he's completed it.

I can attest that we did have one full week of solid 1000 grit and 2000 grit wet sanding before we began cutting/buffing.

I'll post some more pics tomorrow, we moved onto the medium cut today. Funny, in soaking the pads how brown and dirty the water becomes! Paint holds a lot more dirt than people realize!

[pflaming]

I learned the hard way that a power buffer does too much, too fast. I was buffing my truck then realized there was a lot of nice original paint, so I changed to hand sanding and high number grit. I'm going to keep the old and not repaint and will NOT get your results but YES there is a lot of old paint that can be saved.

The two pics: one as found, the other as is and it still needs a lot of work.

Edited May 2, 2018 by pflaming

[dezeldoc]

Most original paint is going to be thin so watch out with the buffer, as said it will either burn or go through before you know it. FlyingDutchman, If that is not a repaint i would be amazed.

[Andydodge]

Best bet is to use machine compound but use it by hand, its much finer than hand rubbing compound so you'll not rub through as easily.........when I painted my Dodge sedan in 1978, I hand sanded or what you guys call colo(u)r sanded it with 1000 grit then hand cut it then hand polished........lot of work( I was younger then, lol) but it still has a good shine 30 yrs later..............lol.......andyd

[40P10touring sedan]

"Any paint?"....

Mines a ten footer best I can see of...there's alot of grit in my paint, this is how she was when I bought it. I have to figure this was a quick and dirty{very dirty} paint job from a PO. It does shine when clean...

[old stovebolt]

Chris started cutting/buffing my 48 today after a week of wet sanding with 1000-2000 grit. Bare in mind this car sat in a barn for 10 years and I did not repaint it!

Just an FYI. Turtle Wax makes a great black car wax. When it dries, it doesn't

leave the typical white wax in all the cracks and chips.

[Rusty O'Toole]

You can get as good a result by hand as you can with a machine possibly better. At least you won't take off too much paint or cut through.

The brown stuff may be dead paint as well as dirt.

Once you get it clean and polished you MUST protect with wax or it will oxidise again. Every time you polish off the oxidised paint, the paint job gets thinner.

Polish it up and then wax with your favorite brand of car wax. Wax it at least 3 or 4 times, the finish will come up more each time and you build up a protective wax coating.

Once you are satisfied with the finish you can keep it nice by going over it once a week with Pledge and a soft cloth. Old T shirts are great for this.

I know this is a lot of work but each stage goes easier and faster. It may take a week to wet sand or polish the first time, but the last coat of wax will go on in half an hour. After that you can preserve the finish in a few minutes each week.

Once or twice a year you will want to wash and wax with car wax then go back to the Pledge treatment. When you do this hardly any paint should come off on the rag because very little deterioration of the surface will take place because you have protected it so well.

[WhatDoIKnow]

in in the process of doing my 50 coronet when i first picked it up i thought it was blue but it turned out gray been doing it by hand for about a week now and just have the driver side done been taking my time to try to get it right