1970 Mark III - Paint refurbishing

[BigBlockHead]

Try these steps.

Wash the car
Use a clay bar to remove surface dirt and overspray
Use a tar and bug remover to remove the tar and bugs
Use a good paint cleaner like Mcguires fine cut cleaner - use a foam polishing pad on an orbital polisher- polish until the shine is even over the car.
Use a good paint polish like Turtle Wax paint polish- use a different foam polishing pad on your orbital polisher - polish for a nice shine.
Use a paint glaze like Mcquires Show Car Glaze - apply very thin coat by hand. The thicker the coat, the harder to remove the residue. This will give your paint a wet look shine
Use a good carnuba wax like Mcguires Yellow wax professional grade or Mother's to protect the shine.

The investment in a good variable speed polisher, micro fiber towels and pads, will be about what a professional detailer will charge to do the job once. But you can use them over many years to keep your collection looking great.

I would like to post photos of before and after of my 53 Capri, but I don't know how to on this forum.

I have been now doing as Tomo stated above. I am happy with the results. The paint has mirror type surface, but there are still some scratches and imperfections that I am not sure what I should do with.
What about those red spots? Can they be corrected some how? Remember that this is a repaint, not original paint.

[tomo]

I am glad that you managed to get a nice finish on your car. All of your hard work was worth it, the car looks much better.

Is your repaint Base coat- clear coat? if it is the red spots will have to be repainted and blended in and then clear coat the panel. I would leave them alone as no one will notice them on the car.

The scratches and blemishes will require the same treatment. You can try touching up with a small camel's hair brush with the paint and then with the clear coat. The spots will be noticeable, but probably no worse than they are now.

If your paint is singe stage, you can try sanding the red spots lightly with 1,000 grit we or dry. Use water with a car wash soap in it for the wet sanding. Any painting will probably require a full pane repaint.

[Dan Szwarc]

You should visit http://www.reddit.com/r/autodetailing and see how the experts do it.

[BigBlockHead]

Dan,
Thanks for the link. I will see what they have to say. My Mark III is just practicing, before I will start the same work on my Mark V. What I did not realize is that there are different polisher pads for different waxes.

I did all the steps for the hood previously. Now, I have been working on the rest of the car. I still need to apply the Show Car Glaze and Yellow Wax on the sides and trunk. After that is done I will start working on the chrome.

Here are couple photos of the progress - the car looks much deeper red than what it used to.

I am not sure, if the paint is single stage, how do I figure that out ?

[BigBlockHead]

Alright. Finally got the car out since I started the polishing process. I think it looks pretty good!