Re: The Number #7 Rub Down Technique for Original Single Stage Paint - All original 1938 Packard
Continued....
Fiber is your abrasive
As I mentioned in the video, a lot of people would automatically use a rubbing compound and compound the paint. When paint is this old it becomes dried-out and brittle. Using a compound will remove too much paint. In fact, it's likely you'll remove so much paint you'll have thin spots all over the car where the primer shows. You can even chew through the primer and leave exposed bare steel.
The least aggressive approach
Instead of using a compound or even a polish, here's how I do it. I use fibers as my abrasives. Currently, Griot's Garage offers the perfect towel for this step, it's a 8" x 8" microfiber wax removal towel. What makes this microfiber towel unique besides the out-of-the-norm size is that it has a rather large nap or LOOP style weave. This LOOP of fiber weave acts as your abrasive when you massage the Number #7 over the paint and then later when you go to remove the oily Number #7 the LOOP of fiber acts to SLICE into the oily film and break it up and loosen it from the paint surface. This makes removing the Number #7 easier on you and more gentle to the paint you're trying to revitalize.
Griot's Garage PFM Wax Removal Towel
To remove the #7 I'm using the
Griot's Garage Pure Freakin' Magic Wax Removal Towels.
What makes these cool is they are single sided so no need to fold and re-fold or remember which of the 8 sides of a normal 16" x 16" towel has been used or not used. The towel also offers something I talk a lot about when it comes to restoring antique single stage paint with Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze and that's a large loop nap towel. For restoring paint I use a large nap cotton towel to act as both a gentle forum of abrasive and also to slice into the thick oily layer of #7 when it's time to remove it.
This is a microfiber towel so you get the safety and plushness of microfiber but the large loop works to slice into and break up layers of wax or actually anything you want to remove.
100% Cotton Terrycloth Toweling
If you don't have access to these Griot's Garage PFM Wax Removal Towels, the next best thing is 100 Cotton Terrycloth. For example, an old bath towel, hand towel or even wash cloth. When using an old cotton terrycloth towel, be sure to pick one that is soft and contaminant free.
Cut sections out of the towel about 8" x 8" so they fit your hand like thus,
Use Number #7 Heavy or Wet
Anytime I share to use a product heavy or wet, this means use a lot of product. In the case of Number #7, you are using the oils in the #7 as both your lubricant to lubricate the process of rubbing the towel over the surface. You're also massaging or pushing the oils INTO the paint. The action of rubbing the towel over the surface using the #7 acts to gently abrade the paint and thus remove a lot of the dead, oxidized paint. As you remove old paint, you make it easier for the #7 oils to penetrate into the underlying base of good paint.
Good Old Fashioned Elbow Grease
I have people ask me all the time,
Can I apply the #7 by machine?
The answer is "no".
This is simply one of those things in life that is best done old school and that's working by hand.
Bringing out the full richness of color
After massaging the #7 over a section of paint for just 30 seconds or so, you can see a lot of dead paint coming off the car and onto the terrycloth towel.
You can also see how the #7 oils are penetrating INTO the paint restoring the full richness of color as compared to the un-touched sections of paint that still look dull and lifeless.
Continue to rub-down the entire car using the #7 heavy.
Here you can see the heavy layer or wet layer of #7 TS Oils I've left on the paint to saturate the paint as the car soaks in #7 overnight.
Before and After for Video
I left the front sections of the hood and fender un-touched for the purposes of demonstrating on these areas in the video. Normally I would rub down all of the paint.
2 bottles of #7 for a car this size
Just to help you gauge how much #7 is needed, I used to full bottles to apply a heavy, or wet application to this 1937 Packard.
2- applications - Switching over to the Griot's Garage PFM Wax Removal Towels
Here you can see the cotton terrycloth I used for the first application of #7 and then I went over the car a second time, (without removing the first application, I left it on and rubbed right over it), only I remembered I had the Griot's Garage PFM Wax Removal Towels and because they are higher in quality than cotton, I switched over to them for both the second rub-down and the next day to remove the #7.
Here's the paint on the 1937 Packard soaking in a very wet application of the #7
Oil migration into the paint
Here's how the #7 works - over time, the TS oils in the #7 migrate into the paint in the same way you see these oils migrate into he printer paper. This takes time. This is why you let the car soak in the #7 overnight.
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