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Restoring white paint

arcon5
arcon5 Posts: 14,099 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
Got a white van which has gone a bit dull...lost all it's vibrancy and has oil finger marks over the bonnet and wing




Any tips on how to freshen the paintwork up please?

Comments

  • Goudy
    Goudy Posts: 2,215 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You could spend hours and hours with a cutting compound and a cloth, but probably better to get it professionally mopped.

    A detailer or body shop should be able to do it for you, they'll use an electrically powered dual action piant mopping machine and the right grades of cutting compounds and polishes to bring the paint back to life.

    I wouldn't recommend you buy or rent one yourself and try it, it's very easy to burn right through the paint if you don't know what you're doing.
  • jk0
    jk0 Posts: 3,479 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    T-cut and then a coat of turtle wax?
  • G3 and a coat of turtle wax but go easy with the G3 or you'll rub through the paint.
  • debtdebt
    debtdebt Posts: 949 Forumite
    Goudy wrote: »
    You could spend hours and hours with a cutting compound and a cloth, but probably better to get it professionally mopped.

    A detailer or body shop should be able to do it for you, they'll use an electrically powered dual action piant mopping machine and the right grades of cutting compounds and polishes to bring the paint back to life.

    I wouldn't recommend you buy or rent one yourself and try it, it's very easy to burn right through the paint if you don't know what you're doing.

    It's actually very difficult to burn through the paint with a dual action machine.
  • DigForVictory
    DigForVictory Posts: 12,086 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    With the snow & ice & grit landing, is this the right week to get a van back glossy white?

    Could you cope without the vibrancy (eh?) in favour of increased visibility and then get all the yeuch scrubbed off after the gritters have gone back into hibernation?

    Or do you need it to look glorious for resale/annual accounts valuation etc?
  • Not the right time of year for this. Head over to AmmoNYC on youtube to research a few tips and tricks or the forensics detailing channel.
  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    debtdebt wrote: »
    It's actually very difficult to burn through the paint with a dual action machine.
    It actually is quite simple and the risk isn't about "burning through the paint", it's more to do with removing all of the clearcoat, which is what you're actually doing during paint correction, ie, removing layers of clearcoat.
  • jeradon
    jeradon Posts: 89 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I would do these basic detailing steps:

    1. Wash
    2. Use claybar
    3. Ultimate compound
    4. Polishing compound
    5. Wax
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