Old Triumph Paint Restore

[GriffinSC]

I recently acquired and '79 Triumph Spitfire from a family member. For the most part it is in excellent condition. It was put into storage about 15 years ago and was always garage kept. With only 21k miles it was never a daily driving car. This would be the first classic car I've owned in over 30 years and the only British car I have ever had. I'm trying to work out what would be the best starting process to renew the paint and vinyl interior on the car. I've read your article on restoring single stage paint, which I assume it is with the age of the car. I don't currently own a power buffer so rubbing it out as suggested by hand with #7 is fine to me. Have a mentioned that the paint is white... So then I read the article you wrote on white paint and how hard it is. Would the process or products change for white paint?

I probably just haven't found it yet, but do you have an article on restoring the old vinyl and carpet in the car. There are no tears in the interior but I'm sure they are dried and will crack if I start driving it before getting some moisture back in the seats and dash.

I'm really new to detailing a vehicle so any advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

So busy right now buffing out a car.... no time to type...


Quick questions


Is the paint dull and chalky or does it have a hard shine?


Is the paint important to you?



Also, welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


I went through my British Sports Car phase, owned,

2 - Spitfires - a 1974 and a 1975

2 - MGAs - a 1959 and a 1962

2 - Midgets -a 1964 and a 1965


Fun cars, they all needed a powerful V6 engine though...

 

[GriffinSC]

So busy right now buffing out a car.... no time to type...


Quick questions


Is the paint dull and chalky or does it have a hard shine?


Is the paint important to you?



Also, welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


I went through my British Sports Car phase, owned,

2 - Spitfires - a 1974 and a 1975

2 - MGAs - a 1959 and a 1962

2 - Midgets -a 1964 and a 1965


Fun cars, they all needed a powerful V6 engine though...

It seems to have an ok shine to it. It's not dull and chalky at least. I'm trying to the keep the car as original as possible so saving the paint is on the list. Not to mention I don't have the budget to redo the paint at the moment.

I attached a couple pictures of the car. As well as how it was found in the last one. Finding it in the last photo is the fun. It was pulled out given a light rinse then put back up for a couple more years after these pictures. Right now it is being put up on a trailer to be at my house next week.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

It seems to have an ok shine to it. It's not dull and chalky at least.

Because it's single stage white paint and not dull and chalky, if it were me I would go ahead and shiner her up and skip the #7 rub down technique. It's really for dull, chalky antique original paint.


It looks like you have a tub of Turtle Wax compound or [/b]DuPont compound[/b] on the ground by the car?

Since you're working on white paint you won't see scratches like you will black paint even if the products are in fact leaving scratches, but for me I wouldn't use those products on anything important to me. Get a quality one-step cleaner/wax and us it or get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and use it as your first step. Megs UC uses great abrasive technology and it's much better for the paint.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[GriffinSC]

Because it's single stage white paint and not dull and chalky, if it were me I would go ahead and shiner her up and skip the #7 rub down technique. It's really for dull, chalky antique original paint.


It looks like you have a tub of Turtle Wax compound or [/b]DuPont compound[/b] on the ground by the car?

Since you're working on white paint you won't see scratches like you will black paint even if the products are in fact leaving scratches, but for me I wouldn't use those products on anything important to me. Get a quality one-step cleaner/wax and us it or get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and use it as your first step. Megs UC uses great abrasive technology and it's much better for the paint.

Just my 2 cents...

Do I need a power buffer for the Megs UC? Would I follow that with the cleaner/wax or just a finish wax afterwards?

 

[kkritsilas]

I did do something like this (before I came onto this site) on a 1981 Dodge Mirada (red paint, white vinyl top). This was done by hand, and the paint was acrylic enamel.

I washed the car with dish soap. Reason it was done with dish soap wad because the car had little black spots of caked on mud from the previous owner. Then, one section at a time, I used Meguiar's zMirror Glaze #1 (Medium Cut Cleaner is the description on the bottle) to get the oxidation off (there was quite a bit). Followed that up with Meguitar's Mirror Glaze #9, and that got the paint to the point where I would attempt to use a clay bar on it. Clay barred, anf then used Meguiat's Ultimate Polish, and Collinite 476. Shine was pretty surprising at the end. Car really needs to be redone again, properly and with a machine polisher this time, but that all did get all of the caked on dirt off, removed almost all of the oxidation off (some parts, like the plastic "gills" on the front fenders didn't improve at all, just were cleaner), and make the color go from a sort of oange to its original medium Red.

Some of the Meguiar's Mirror Glaze products, as old as they may be, specifically state that they can be used by hand or by machine. in the 1980s I was detialing cars by hand, using Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #2, #9, and then covered by #26 (paste wax).

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Do I need a power buffer for the Megs UC?

No you can apply by hand. The key is to work small sections at a time and when moving to a new section, overlap into the previous section a little bit.

Would I follow that with the cleaner/wax or just a finish wax afterwards?

You could go either way.

The cleaner/wax would act to clean up or "polish" the results created by the compound and leave the paint shiny and protected.

A non-cleaning wax would only add shine and protection.

Only testing would show which approach is better but I would lean towards a cleaner/wax as it will tend to shmoo over the results from the compound to create a more uniform appearance.

 

[GriffinSC]

Ok, scratch the OK shine part. I got it down off the trailer today and it's a bit worse then I was thinking. A lot of grease hand prints that have been there awhile and black dirt all over. Couple places look like it's been rub by something rubbery and left a few black marks. It's going to need a lot of cleaning. Thoughts on what I should start with? It's got a couple surface rust spots that need worked out as well, but want to at least get it cleaned up to start. What's a good soap to start getting this deep dirt off? Then I'm think I'm going to get some clay maybe.

 

[kkritsilas]

GriffinSC: The black dirt, if it is in the form of black specks all over the car, sounds like the black specks I had on my Mirada. I used Dawn dish soap to get it off. It is a harsh soap, as has often been reported here, but for getting those black spots/dirt, it worked great. The paint was pretty severely oxidized, so my thought was that this wouldn't really do any harm. It really shouldn't be used for washing any car paint that is even semi-decent, but it was pretty trashed, so I figured no loss. It really did get the black spots/dirt off. Don't use the clay as the first step, as all you will do is load up the clay almost immediately.

Next, as I described above, I used Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #1. This is called a Medium Cut Cleaner 9i.e. compound). The thing about these very old school products is that they are usable either by hand or by machine (says so on the label). I used the Megs #1, and went over the entire car by hand. Get a lot of towels (microfiber not really needed). This took off a lot of the oxidation; I would think almost 90% of it. You will use a lot of towels, and you will have a lot of oxidized paint on the towels (in my case, it was easy, white cotton towels turned red with oxidized paint because I had a red car). I did a couple of panels a night after work, and finally finished in about a week.

I am just relating what I did before joining the site. It did work for me. If any of the other members have suggestions, please take them into account.

From this point onward, it becomes a standard single stage paint, you can proceed any way you want to from here. I ended up going over the car withe Meguiar's #9, which did bring back some of the shine. You can go with the standard wash, decontaminate, clay, compound, and polish if that is what you want, or even hire a pro detailer to get to the final shine.

 

[LydiaGP]

As far as a car wash to start with, I'm wondering how Meguiar's Wash Plus+ would do in this instance? I've used it on an oxidized RV and it worked well to remove tougher dirt. Just a thought.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Ok, scratch the OK shine part. I got it down off the trailer today and it's a bit worse then I was thinking. A lot of grease hand prints that have been there awhile and black dirt all over.

Couple places look like it's been rub by something rubbery and left a few black marks. It's going to need a lot of cleaning.

Thoughts on what I should start with?

It's got a couple surface rust spots that need worked out as well, but want to at least get it cleaned up to start.

What's a good soap to start getting this deep dirt off? Then I'm think I'm going to get some clay maybe.

This may shock you.... but I've done this a bunch of times in the past and it works.


Assuming this has single stage paint, and isn't' that what you stated?


Wash the car with Bon Ami or Comet. Just soap her down and then sprinkle either one of these products either on the paint or on your wash mitt and wash the car. The Bon Ami or Comet will peel off the dead oxidized paint and along with it ALL the embedded dirt staining and whatever the black marks are.

Then after that,

Get a polisher and polish it.


If you don't have a polisher or the resources to get a polisher then rub it out by hand using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a microfiber or even terry cloth applicator. The slap some wax on it and then stick a fork in it and call it done.


Seriously - it's not that hard.


Down the road, when you get a polisher you'll say to yourself,

"I should have done this years ago"

I know this for a fact because I've had people tell me this or type this on this forum or the MOL forum for YEARS now after going through a thread and a project just like this thread and this project. Been there and done this for 20+ years ONLINE now.


And then there's this,


Here's what you need to get into machine polishing - Recommendations for a beginner by Mike Phillips

 

[GriffinSC]

This may shock you.... but I've done this a bunch of times in the past and it works.


Assuming this has single stage paint, and isn't' that what you stated?


Wash the car with Bon Ami or Comet. Just soap her down and then sprinkle either one of these products either on the paint or on your wash mitt and wash the car. The Bon Ami or Comet will peel off the dead oxidized paint and along with it ALL the embedded dirt staining and whatever the black marks are.

Then after that,

Get a polisher and polish it.


If you don't have a polisher or the resources to get a polisher then rub it out by hand using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a microfiber or even terry cloth applicator. The slap some wax on it and then stick a fork in it and call it done.


Seriously - it's not that hard.


Down the road, when you get a polisher you'll say to yourself,

"I should have done this years ago"

I know this for a fact because I've had people tell me this or type this on this forum or the MOL forum for YEARS now after going through a thread and a project just like this thread and this project. Been there and done this for 20+ years ONLINE now.


And then there's this,


Here's what you need to get into machine polishing - Recommendations for a beginner by Mike Phillips

WOW Comet cleaner huh. That's scary. I got a couple pictures of the trunk lid real quick and you can see the black that I'm working with. This was just with a quick wipe down with some clean water and sponge. What's the best way to check that this is single stage before I attempt the Comet theory? I'm pretty sure it's original paint on 1978 British vehicle so it should be single stage.
View attachment 59318

 

[kkritsilas]

Standard way is to get a cloth of pretty much any type, put some compound on it, and rub the paint. If paint colour comes off on the cloth, you have single stage paint. If you don't see any paint colour, it is probably clear coat/base coat. Principle is that clear coat is not visible.

You should use a cloth hat has a different colour than the paint colour, just so that it is easy to see. White paint on a white cloth will be much harder to see. in my case, I used yellow cloths on a red car. No mistaking that the colour came off.