Need help restoring paint on 14 year old car

Urweak

Urweak

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I have a 1997 Grand Am. I have buffed it a few times, but now all the plastic painted parts are dull, but the metal painted parts still have shine to them.

I was wondering if there is a product, technique, tool, that I could use to restore these areas so they match the metal areas of the car.

The first picture you can see the color difference between the bumper and the trunk/rear quarter area.

The second picture isnt great quality, but it shows the bumper up close.
 
Is the paint on the bumpers single stage? If so, you may just be witnessing some oxidation that can be removed pretty easily by polishing. After polishing just make sure to seal the paint in order to protect it from the UV damage that causes oxidation.

As far as product, technique and tool goes...a medium polish like Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on an orange lc flat pad and a PC should do the trick if it is in fact oxidation.
 
Was there some parts that was repainted? I would try some compound and polish, should make it shine again.

For plastic trim try Ultima trim guard, read good things about it.
 
JonMiles said:
Is the paint on the bumpers single stage? If so, you may just be witnessing some oxidation that can be removed pretty easily by polishing. After polishing just make sure to seal the paint in order to protect it from the UV damage that causes oxidation.

As far as product, technique and tool goes...a medium polish like Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on an orange lc flat pad and a PC should do the trick if it is in fact oxidation.
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I dont think its single stage. Its the factory paint, and I believe its base/clear. However, I am somewhat new to all this. So I could be mistaken.

I am worried that all the buffing I have done has cut down on the clear coat to the point where its beyond repair.

slickooz said:
Was there some parts that was repainted? I would try some compound and polish, should make it shine again.

For plastic trim try Ultima trim guard, read good things about it.
Click to expand...

No its factory paint. Is the Ultima guard for painted surfaces?
 
Urweak said:
I dont think its single stage. Its the factory paint, and I believe its base/clear. However, I am somewhat new to all this. So I could be mistaken.

I am worried that all the buffing I have done has cut down on the clear coat to the point where its beyond repair.



No its factory paint. Is the Ultima guard for painted surfaces?
Click to expand...

No for plastic trim and tires.
 
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Urweak said:
I have a 1997 Grand Am. I have buffed it a few times, but now all the plastic painted parts are dull, but the metal painted parts still have shine to them.

I was wondering if there is a product, technique, tool, that I could use to restore these areas so they match the metal areas of the car.

The first picture you can see the color difference between the bumper and the trunk/rear quarter area.

The second picture isnt great quality, but it shows the bumper up close.
Click to expand...

I just used WG TSR and Glaze followed by a good carnuba wax on a 96 Chevy pick-up.
I washed clayed and used my D/A with the Wolfgang twins. It came out fantastic. This was the first clay and D/A for this truck...ever. I know , I've owned it since 98 You should have a BC/CC on your 97 Pontiac. If you were thtough your clear you would surely know. Good luck buddy.
 
Urweak said:
I dont think its single stage. Its the factory paint, and I believe its base/clear. However, I am somewhat new to all this. So I could be mistaken.
Click to expand...

I have never been able to come to a solid conclusion on this, but those bumper covers and things like the plastic side mirrors and trunk spoilers age differently than the metal parts. It can be argued that the paint on the bumper covers may actually be different because it has more plasticizer in it for flexibility, but that doesn't explain the mirrors and spoilers, so I believe it is because of the thermal conductivity of the plastic parts being less, and therefore the paint on these parts gets hotter in the sun than the metal parts.

That being said, I've experienced clearcoat failure on mirrors and spoilers when the rest of the car is still fine. IMO you are probably not going to be able to bring those bumper covers back to match the car, what have you used on them so far and what do you have for machine/pads/product?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I have never been able to come to a solid conclusion on this, but those bumper covers and things like the plastic side mirrors and trunk spoilers age differently than the metal parts. It can be argued that the paint on the bumper covers may actually be different because it has more plasticizer in it for flexibility, but that doesn't explain the mirrors and spoilers, so I believe it is because of the thermal conductivity of the plastic parts being less, and therefore the paint on these parts gets hotter in the sun than the metal parts.

That being said, I've experienced clearcoat failure on mirrors and spoilers when the rest of the car is still fine. IMO you are probably not going to be able to bring those bumper covers back to match the car, what have you used on them so far and what do you have for machine/pads/product?
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Its not exactly clear coat failure like you might see on spoilers. Its just slightly duller then the metal painted parts. My hope was that it was just oxidization and I could correct it with a buff. Or maybe its the products I have been using since the last time I buffed it. Ive only used Zaino's Z2, Z5, and Z8 spray. As for buffing products, I dont really know. It was just cheap stuff from work (work at a GM dealership).
 
I honestly think a lot of it has to do with the substrate materials and the flex agents in the paint. Many vehicles from that era were that way.
 
Urweak said:
So not much I can do about it?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately probably not. If you've already tried polishing and aren't seeing any improvement, I'd bet that paint is about as good as it's going to get.

Lots of vehicles from the mid to late 90s actually came out of the factory with the paint on the bumpers not quite matching the rest of the car.... and over time the mismatch just becomes more pronounced. Nature of the beast due to the technology available at the time for producing and painting those plastic parts.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Unfortunately probably not. If you've already tried polishing and aren't seeing any improvement, I'd bet that paint is about as good as it's going to get.

Lots of vehicles from the mid to late 90s actually came out of the factory with the paint on the bumpers not quite matching the rest of the car.... and over time the mismatch just becomes more pronounced. Nature of the beast due to the technology available at the time for producing and painting those plastic parts.
Click to expand...

Ok, the first time or two I buffed it, it came out really nice, but this last time it didnt turn out to good. I was hopping that it was something I did and could fix with better products.
 
DLaw said:
I just used WG TSR and Glaze followed by a good carnuba wax on a 96 Chevy pick-up.
I washed clayed and used my D/A with the Wolfgang twins. It came out fantastic. This was the first clay and D/A for this truck...ever. I know , I've owned it since 98 You should have a BC/CC on your 97 Pontiac. If you were thtough your clear you would surely know. Good luck buddy.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the help. I picked up the WG Twins and some pads for my D/A. This is the result. The last picture is a before shot from the original post.
 
Looks much better! Still not perfect, but like I said before the color will probably never 100% match.
 
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