Search results

Thanks all for the input. So many different ways to approach the problem. I appreciate your experience and advice. I'll experiment with the DA a bit tonight and see what it does for me with polish vs. compound. I could use some practical advice. There is a cars & coffee on Sunday morning. I...

Thank you Mike for posting that link. I will go back and add that in a few places on my single stage paint restoration thread. Maybe if I do a good job, my car will make your index :) With regard to forums, I couldn't agree more. In the "old days" there were list servers and I remember saving...

When I got the car it had the original 2bbl small block 350. I recently swapped an LS engine into it which is essentially an iron block version of the Ls3. I built it with forged rods and pistons and a little bigger cam. I did all the work myself including the wiring harness, but I did take it...

I started a separate thread to follow the progress. I posted lots of photos and video of the process. Please check there for updates. Newbie single stage paint restoration

Thank you for the kind welcome. I am really happy to find this community and learn something new about caring for my car. Klasse Act - My car originally had 14" Rally wheels with derby caps. On Novas with original disc brakes (like mine), the derby cap actually had the text "Disc Brakes" on it...

Are you kidding me? I am barely returning the favor! You have written VOLUMES and shared uncountable photos and video of this stuff. It's because of what you shared that I even knew paint correction was a thing or that this was even possible! I am happy to share my progress if it will help...

Polisher: I bought a 6" DA polisher very similar in size and specification to the Porter cable 7424. Based on forum rules (i.e. stick with AG-sold products) I will let it go unnamed, but I am hopeful it will do the job for most of the car. Today I also ordered a Griots 3" polisher kit from...

Step 3: Condition For me, this where the paint "restoration" part comes in. As I understand it, single stage paints aren't sealed up by clear coat, so over time they lose their composition as base oils are degraded and washed off over decades. I learned this from this awesome article Mike wrote...

Step 2: Clay Bar The next step was to clay the surface. I understand the purpose of clay is to remove "surface bonded contaminants" aka "industrial fallout". These are harder to see contaminants on the surface of the paint, but they are easy to feel and typically wont come off with just a wash...

Step 1: Strip Wash To get the car back to a "clean" slate, the first step was a "strip wash". As I understand it, maintenance car wash soaps are neutral, meaning they are designed NOT to remove residual waxes. Even though my car likely has little or no wax on it, I wanted to get it as clean as...

Mike - Wow the man himself responds to my first thread! Thank you for so kindly chiming in. I have already gone through a few steps (wash, clay, and condition w/ no 7), so let me bring this thread up to speed and then I'll explain what I products and tools I've purchased. I was going to break it...

Awesome work. It's looking new again. I noticed you mentioned running out of pads. I came across one of Mike's articles/videos of "cleaning on the fly" that might help. I am really curious how far a pad can go using that method before it needs cleaning. How to clean your foam pad on the fly I...

Hi everyone. My name is Clint and I'm joining the forum from Southern California. I have a 1970 Chevy Nova with single stage paint I've completely neglected in the 20 years I've owned the car. I stumbled across one of Mike's articles here on restoring single stage paint and I've decided to go...

I have a 1970 Nova with single stage "black cherry" color paint. I have no idea if this is the original paint, but it is the original color, and it's in pretty bad condition. I have owned the car for twenty years and never paid much attention to the dull oxidized surface. I always assumed that...