Advice for a newbie - stains in white paint?

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Bufferyhype

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Hi all, first post so looking forward to learning some tips and tricks from the forums!

I wonder if anyone could offer some advice on what these stains are on my car's white paintwork? You might have to view the full image as it's not too obvious in the photograph.

To me it looks like a sort of grey orange-peel effect. The streaking in the bottom left is just where I've not buffed the wax off properly before taking the photo.





Some background, in case any of it is relevant. I've not owned the car since new so I've no idea how it's been maintained in the past, but since owning I think I've done a decent job of decontaminating and claying, as there were a fair amount of iron particles in the surface beforehand!

There are some light swirl marks as expected, which I'm not too bothered about, but that grey staining makes the paint look a bit dirty/dull even after a thorough cleaning and waxing. Some of the paint does have a mild orange-peel texture anyway, I suspect it just wasn't perfectly flat from the factory.

Again though it's not obvious unless you're really looking for it (being white probably helps), and I'm not really bothered about that.

Having read through the forums I'd guess some sort of light polish/paint cleanser might do the job? I'm a newbie though and not too confident in anything too complex yet e.g. machine polishing or using heavier cutting compounds.

Many thanks for reading! :)
 
Here's the full size image,

wH8uZcs.jpg




Bufferyhype said:
To me it looks like a sort of grey orange-peel effect. The streaking in the bottom left is just where I've not buffed the wax off properly before taking the photo.

Click to expand...


The GREY discoloring to me is an indicator of

Road Film

That is the paint is simply stained. Look at this picture from a car we detailed here years ago, see the color difference on the fender?

Dirty Paint - Paint gets dirty - You might not see it but your cars paint gets dirty- Impacted dirt on paint

1955_Chevy_Sedan_Delivery_010.jpg



1955_Chevy_Sedan_Delivery_009c.JPG




:)
 
Here's another article that shows dirt staining on paint.


Here's why you need to polish paint...


My buddy Mike owns this really cool 1932 Ford Phaeton with yellow paint that to the average person looks pretty good. But a little polishing using a tape-line shows why all of us need to periodically polish the paint on our cars, especially our daily drivers, and the reason for this is because the paint becomes stained with a film of dirt that clouds the true color of the paint.

Here's a section I've taped off on the cowel because me and one of our forum members already buffed out the hood when he stopped by to test out polishers.

Dirty_Old_Ford_002.jpg





On the left I've clayed the paint and then machine polished it twice and then applied a coat of wax. You can clearly see the left side is now a brighter color of yellow and the right hand side has what appears to be grayish film over the paint.

Dirty_Old_Ford_003.jpg



Here's the same picture above with graphics....

Dirty_Old_Ford_006.jpg



Of course I finished polishing the rest of the car to test out some new products...

Dirty_Old_Ford_004.jpg



Products worked well and now the dirt staining has been removed off the entire body and a coat of Max Wax has been applied.


Dirty_Old_Ford_005.jpg





The paint on your car gets dirty too...

The car in the pictures above is a garage-kept, sunny day only street rod, yet... the paint was still stained with dirt.

If the paint on a car that is always stored in a garage except for sunny days gets dirt stained paint, what do you think happens to cars that are daily drivers?

How about cars that are daily drivers but are never parked in the garage?


That's right... the paint gets a dirt film over it and for this reason in order to maintain the paint and see the true color you need to periodically deep clean the paint with some type of paint polishing process. Any of these approaches will remove the dirt staining over the paint,



  • Using a one-step cleaner/wax
  • Using a paint cleaner also called a pre-wax cleaner.
  • Using a compound followed by a polish
  • Using a medium, fine or ultra fine cut polish

If the owner of the above car had not used one of the above and instead used a finishing wax, or a finishing sealant, that is a product with no ability to clean the paint, what they would have done is simply "sealed the paint" and continued the staining problem.


Medium to dark colored cars
It's pretty easy to use a tape-line to reveal dirt staining on white and light colored cars but if you were to do this on a medium to dark colored cars, chances are good your eyes would not detect the change in color to the paint.

That doesn't mean the paint on dark colored cars isn't covered with a film of dirt, it just means you and I can't see it. It's there however, and it's important to periodically polish the paint to remove the built-up film of dirt and other contaminants.

Polishing the paint will restore clarity to a clear coat and it will restore the full richness of color to a single stage paint.

It will also prepare the paint for your choice of a wax or sealant.

If you choose to use a paint coating, you'll need to do an extra step to prepare the paint for the coating and it's always a good idea to follow the manufacturer's directions.



Now that you've read this article and looked at the pictures...

When is the last time you polished the paint on your daily driver?


It's probably polishing time...



:)
 
Thanks very much for your replies! I've read a couple of those posts previously and thought it looked similar, just wanted to be sure.

I currently don't have any polishing products so I'm open to ideas, and nor do I own a polisher. Polishing is something I've never done before so I'm a little apprehensive about it, particularly if it involves power tools. Am I right in thinking it's safer to try working it by hand?

I was considering something like Auto Finesse Rejuvenate or Meguiar's Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner? Or perhaps some sort of polishing wax like Auto Finesse Tripple? I'm completely open to suggestions though, and would prefer to use less abrasive products if possible, with being a novice.
 
I ask this of most new members when they have a specific issue with their car. Please make public your location, most of us on here are more than willing to help out just about anyone who asks. If you were in my neck of the woods, I would have you swing by and we could take a look at your issues, and try out a wide variety of possible solutions. hopefully someone near you can help you out
 
Thanks for the recommendations. Is the polisher a strong recommendation or should I be OK with hand polishing for now, until I build up a bit of confidence?

Also I'm located near Liverpool, England.
 
Hey, just wanted to post back to let you know how it's going. I decided to try some Auto Finesse Tripple, so bought some of that along with some applicator pads.

I'm only doing it bit-by-bit as I'm doing it by hand, I'm thinking I might just do a panel or two every time I do the regular wash, and so far I've just finished the bonnet and it's polished up brilliantly, to my untrained eye at least! The grey dirt/traffic film seems to have completely gone from what I can see, and it's even reduced/masked some of the fine swirls if I look with a light.

I can get some photos up later if anyone's interested. Only down-side is it's revealed a couple of fine stone chips I hadn't previously noticed!
 
Nice that you got it sorted out. It's what really makes a paint to look it's best to polishing it. You can do it by hand but it's a lot of work. Even with a polisher and polishing a whole car is takeing it's time. Getting the paint clean can make a hughe improvement. And when you start to correct the paint from swirls and scratches it's really going to pop and look amazing. That's very much of work when you doing this by hand. And how crazy as it sounds you can easier damage the paint by hand than with a polisher. Cause when you polishing by hand it depends a lot of what you are polishing with. If it's a foam applicator or mf applicator or a mf towel. The least to most possible aggressiveness is range in the last sentence. It's how the pressure gets more concentrated with a mf towel wiped around a couple of fingers and a compound and rubbing it. This is very aggressive and you can fastly polishing through the clearcoat with that. Many have done it as it's the useally way to get under the door handles. And also it's hard to get an even polished paint as it's hard to maintain the same pressure and be methodical with the same amount of passes. You doing it right by doing just a panel or 2 at the time.

But don't be afraid of useing a polisher. The 8mm throw DA polisher is very safe to use. With some basic knowledge which you can find a lot of information on here on AGO. Starting with an AIO/cleaner wax as I think that your product is. And a light polishing pad or finishing pad. You will get great results from it and it's not abrading much of clearcoat at all. It's fun to see the results you getting while you polishing too as you have noticed with the hand polishing.

So be carefull when you polishing by hand to not get a high pressure on the polishing media you use. And polishing a lot of on the same little area. As it can be very aggressive when doing so. For an example if you notice a scratch and work a lot of just that. You can go through fast. Also edges as there is less paint thickness on them.

Would be nice to see your results. Do a 50/50 where you have done one side and the other is untouched. It's also something to get before pictures as it's too late when you are done LOL.

/ Tony
 
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