White spirit on car paintwork, how to fix it?

Deep_Ocean

There is a nursery rhyme which springs to mind with this problem. "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly." She should have just left it as that, well my issue is simlar

I have a canvas convertable roof on my car and it was starting to show signs of mould. I purchased some suitable paint and covered my roof with it. This looked great. But overnight it rained, this caused streeks of paint to stain my car. No amount of washing products and elbow grease were getting this paint to come off.

So anyway, a couple of days later I needed to change my registration plates on my car. To remove the stickers that were holding the plates on I used white spirits. Then I had a lighbulb moment. I tested the white spirits on the streaks of paint. It was great. It took all the streaks of paint off and the car looked as good as new.

I woke up the next day, took a look at my car at it looked so patchy. The white spirits had faded the colour of the silver paintwork.

Can anybody recommend how to bring it back to a good shine and to look smooth. I asked in Halfords, one guy was trying to sell me some murr or something, it was a car polishing solution. He said that this would do the trick. Another slaes assistant was close by and he said that nothing would fix it, it would need respraying as over time the paint will start to crack. He did recommend visiting a paint shop and asking for some G4 or something, can't remember the name of it now.

Anyway I wondered if any of you inteligent lot could offer a fool like me some good advice on how to correct this problem and getting my car to look as good as new?

Thanks in advance.

Spitakimus14

HI
T CUT and wax it will do the trick and painting soft tops is a no no

Deep_Ocean

Spitakimus14 wrote: »

HI
T CUT and wax it will do the trick and painting soft tops is a no no

Will T CUT be easy to apply? I don't want to make more of a mess than I have already. Is there an art to it or can i just apply it and then wipe it off?

Norman_Castle

Hi,the white spirit may have just removed the wax from your paintwork.I think the first step is to try wax on the dull areas.

Deep_Ocean

Thanks I will try that tomorrow.

jrrowleyws

I'd imagine you've damaged the laquer, if so, you can expect the paintwork to fade and go a bit cr^ppy over time. Get the advice of a body shop before you slap on loads of stuff as there might be a possible rescue solution. T-Cut and wax could be a short term fix, though t-cut is abrasive so if the laquer is already significantly thinned then it'd look good temporarily and then look a lot worse!

Unless you regularly wax the car, and even then, you're unlikely to just have removed the wax. TBH, cars which never get waxed are still shiny after washing, right? So its not likely to be a wax issue IMO.

Gloomendoom

Ha ha! My dad had a Hillman Minx too, a green one (WTE 892D).

Be careful using T-Cut on lacquered paint. If you are too enthusiastic you can polish through the lacquer coat. It will look awful.

Try the wax first.

Gloomendoom

jimmo wrote: »

D reg, your just a child. My dad’s Minx was his first car that had 3 numbers before 3 letters on the plate and replaced his 1956 Hillman Californian. Now there's a car.

Yes, I know. My mate has one. Blue with a white roof. He's also got a 50's convertible too. I found it for him in Swindon, of all places.

Fevvahz

It sounds like the lacquer could have been damaged/etched by the white spirit. Best case scenario would be that it's simply stripped out any wax on there. It may well require a bodyshop to respray, but be aware that they'll probably be biased towards that solution - and a respray isnt cheap.

If the lacquer is damaged, then a polishing compound would be what I'd try first, T-Cut in the hands of the inexperienced isnt a good idea though. I'd suggest speaking to a detailer (think of detailing as the premier league of valeting). Perhaps put a post up on detailingworld.com and see if there's anyone local. There are hundreds around. If its simply etched and not too deep than the right compound and pads may bring it up as new.

First thing I'd do not though, is go outside and thoroughly wash it, get rid of all the residual white spirit - and I dont mean rinse with water, i mean properly with car shampoo.

Good luck.

harveybobbles

G3 or G4 is good but only used in the correct way! Get a good resin wax and use it on the faded bits as all you have done, byu the sounds of it is removed the laquer with the white spirit.

Might be worth posting this over on the Motoring section rather than In The home.

missile

I would not use T cut, not would I relly on advice from Halfords <LOL> I suggest you contact a reputable car detailing company.