Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
How to fix Rust showing through original single stage paint?
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs)
The reality is, most people that contact me found me via an article I've written or a reply I've written on this forum. The thing is, instead of figuring out that the whole reason they are contacting me is because they found me via an article or answer I wrote on the forum that they to should bring their question to the forum because not only will that help them.... but it will help a future "them". If I answer everything in a private e-mail or other touch point, no one would find and contact me. It's a cycle or pattern that repeats as long as everything is shared in the public domain.
The above is kind of wordy but re-read it slowly and it will make sense.
So I get an e-mail asking,
Hello mike.
This is a photo of the hood area on an original paint 1958 impala. It’s my understanding that gm painted single stage lacquer with no clear.
My question to u is. How do u tell the difference between patina surface rust and heavy iron deposits that are embedded?
Iron remover has my attention thanks to your different articles etc. can I take the chance and spray a inconspicuous area in the lower quarter or rocker panel without causing a serious problem ?
Thanks for your opinion
Ps.
I got the black corvette straightened out that u sent pads and products to me. Between u and the owner that decided after I did work to tell me truth about how he was caring for the car both washing and drying. Most people just don’t get it.
Thx for your help.
I await your reply about iron
-Blake
And here's a picture
Great questions Blake.
Thank you for taking the time to send me an e-mail and ask for my opinion on how to address such a problem before tackling it on your own. When working on the ORIGNIAL paint on a classic car, there usually is not enough paint on the car for a
Second Chance
First - Yes, all U.S. car manufacturers were spraying single stage paint from the time of the Model T until 1980 when GM switched one of their Corvette assembly lines over to what we all know as clearcoat paints. Technically they are called basecoat/clearcoat paint systems and I believe back then GM was using PPG Deltron paint systems but I could be wrong.
After the Corvette, other cars in the GM line as well as other car manufacturers started switching over from shooting single stage paints to basecoat/clearcoat paints and once car manufacturers switched over all the collision shops across America and actually the world had to follow and switch over too. When this switch was taking place in the 1980's that's when I went to work for Meguiar's calling on body shops teaching shops the Meguiar's wetsanding and buffing system. I saw first hand shops switching over to the new HVLP paint guns and everything else that went along with shooting basecoat/clearcoat paint systems. I have a unique history in this industry that fortunately gives me experience most don't have. There are plenty of other guys that were part of the switch-over but I'm one that TYPES about it and shares it. You don't see my peers in this industry that were also active in body shops back then typing and sharing, my guess is they are too busy, it's not their passion or they don't type well or type fast?
Anyway, what I see is surface rust showing through the paint. My guess, based upon experience, is the paint is very thin. The car is very old, 61 years old as I type this in the year 2019. It's completely normal for rust to be forming under the paint and poking through the surface.
If it were me?
I would carefully machine polish this paint using a high quality one-step cleaner/wax and maybe top it with a traditional carnauba wax or synthetic sealant. This will remove the rust appearance but not the underlying rust problem. The car could last and LOOK GOOD for another 60 years if it is kept indoors and once in a while lightly polished using this process. If you have some BLACKFIRE One Step, a soft foam polishing pad and ANY orbital polisher then this is what I would use.
The other option is called a Money Pit. Remove all the paint, fixe all the rust and then repaint the car. This is called a restoration project and my guess is it will uncover a lot of hidden rust all throughout the body that will require sheet metal replacement, thus the car will become a money pit. Nothing wrong with fully restoring a 1958 Impala. But if the owner does not want to go down that road then,
KISS = Keep it SIMPLE SIMON
Use a soft foam polishing pad with a quality one-step cleaner/wax also called an AIO and gently machine polish the entire car and then seal with a wax. You could also as an option, after machine polishing, apply the Meguiar's #7 and then seal with a wax.
Would love to see some pictures of the entire car. I always practice taking GREAT before pictures BEFORE you start working on it because once you start working on it and thus improving the appearance, you can never go back in time and get the before pictures or what I call
Capture the ugly
Hope this helps...
Hope that helps and feel encouraged to join our forum, this is where I answer questions. Email is okay, but the forum is powerful.
Click here to join the AutogeekOnline.net car detailing discussion forum - THE best forum on the Internet
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs)
The reality is, most people that contact me found me via an article I've written or a reply I've written on this forum. The thing is, instead of figuring out that the whole reason they are contacting me is because they found me via an article or answer I wrote on the forum that they to should bring their question to the forum because not only will that help them.... but it will help a future "them". If I answer everything in a private e-mail or other touch point, no one would find and contact me. It's a cycle or pattern that repeats as long as everything is shared in the public domain.
The above is kind of wordy but re-read it slowly and it will make sense.
So I get an e-mail asking,
Hello mike.
This is a photo of the hood area on an original paint 1958 impala. It’s my understanding that gm painted single stage lacquer with no clear.
My question to u is. How do u tell the difference between patina surface rust and heavy iron deposits that are embedded?
Iron remover has my attention thanks to your different articles etc. can I take the chance and spray a inconspicuous area in the lower quarter or rocker panel without causing a serious problem ?
Thanks for your opinion
Ps.
I got the black corvette straightened out that u sent pads and products to me. Between u and the owner that decided after I did work to tell me truth about how he was caring for the car both washing and drying. Most people just don’t get it.
Thx for your help.
I await your reply about iron
-Blake
And here's a picture
Great questions Blake.
Thank you for taking the time to send me an e-mail and ask for my opinion on how to address such a problem before tackling it on your own. When working on the ORIGNIAL paint on a classic car, there usually is not enough paint on the car for a
Second Chance
First - Yes, all U.S. car manufacturers were spraying single stage paint from the time of the Model T until 1980 when GM switched one of their Corvette assembly lines over to what we all know as clearcoat paints. Technically they are called basecoat/clearcoat paint systems and I believe back then GM was using PPG Deltron paint systems but I could be wrong.
After the Corvette, other cars in the GM line as well as other car manufacturers started switching over from shooting single stage paints to basecoat/clearcoat paints and once car manufacturers switched over all the collision shops across America and actually the world had to follow and switch over too. When this switch was taking place in the 1980's that's when I went to work for Meguiar's calling on body shops teaching shops the Meguiar's wetsanding and buffing system. I saw first hand shops switching over to the new HVLP paint guns and everything else that went along with shooting basecoat/clearcoat paint systems. I have a unique history in this industry that fortunately gives me experience most don't have. There are plenty of other guys that were part of the switch-over but I'm one that TYPES about it and shares it. You don't see my peers in this industry that were also active in body shops back then typing and sharing, my guess is they are too busy, it's not their passion or they don't type well or type fast?
Anyway, what I see is surface rust showing through the paint. My guess, based upon experience, is the paint is very thin. The car is very old, 61 years old as I type this in the year 2019. It's completely normal for rust to be forming under the paint and poking through the surface.
If it were me?
I would carefully machine polish this paint using a high quality one-step cleaner/wax and maybe top it with a traditional carnauba wax or synthetic sealant. This will remove the rust appearance but not the underlying rust problem. The car could last and LOOK GOOD for another 60 years if it is kept indoors and once in a while lightly polished using this process. If you have some BLACKFIRE One Step, a soft foam polishing pad and ANY orbital polisher then this is what I would use.
The other option is called a Money Pit. Remove all the paint, fixe all the rust and then repaint the car. This is called a restoration project and my guess is it will uncover a lot of hidden rust all throughout the body that will require sheet metal replacement, thus the car will become a money pit. Nothing wrong with fully restoring a 1958 Impala. But if the owner does not want to go down that road then,
KISS = Keep it SIMPLE SIMON
Use a soft foam polishing pad with a quality one-step cleaner/wax also called an AIO and gently machine polish the entire car and then seal with a wax. You could also as an option, after machine polishing, apply the Meguiar's #7 and then seal with a wax.
Would love to see some pictures of the entire car. I always practice taking GREAT before pictures BEFORE you start working on it because once you start working on it and thus improving the appearance, you can never go back in time and get the before pictures or what I call
Capture the ugly
Hope this helps...
Hope that helps and feel encouraged to join our forum, this is where I answer questions. Email is okay, but the forum is powerful.
Click here to join the AutogeekOnline.net car detailing discussion forum - THE best forum on the Internet
