Faded 944's?

[Guest]

Hey all,
I read on the internet that the time my 944 was made there was a "bad" mix of paint? Is this true?
Its a '85 gaurds red car, the bonnet and sunroof are the main areas which are effects and its as if the paint has a oxidised layre on the surface.
I have t cutted small areas which has brought the paint up but has still left the area slightly hazey and i was thinking of doing the faded areas in rubbing compound?

I imagine this is a comman problem and i was wondering if there is any products avalible for faded cars like this? im sure it will come up the paint its just this layre of oxidisation (sp)

many thanks

 

[lali]

Well if thats true then the 'time' was a long time!! My brothers 95' 968 was a bit "pink". I think its a problem with most red cars of that era 80's to mid 90's where whatever pigment they used in red paint was especially prone to fading if it was left unprotected from UV. My "mars red" MKII Gti has got a pink bonnet as well... what can you do to get rid of it? erm... The guy that looks after Andy Duncans race car swissolled the 968 and it was red again... it might be worth trying him. Andy is the GT3 registers assistant sec Racershead is his forum name ( i think)

 

[Guest]

My guards red car has got to the point where it needs a respray. I've used all sorts of professional 3m cutting compound and all sorts on the thing, and after a few weeks it just returns to pink. it is an unfortunate fact of life that once it goes, it keeps on going.

Failing a good cut, you could also colour sand the offending areas. it is a very harsh treatment, but does tend to last a little longer. The only thing is, you can only really do it once or twice (3 is a push i'd say) before you have no paint left!

 

[zcacogp]

FWIW, the paint on the late Mk2 Golf's was water-based, 'cos VW were experimenting with eco-friendliness at that time, and it just isn't as good as the nasty solvent-based paints. Perhaps Porsche were doing the same?


Oli.

 

[Guest]

Hi There,

The reaon its still hazy will be that there is a couple of layers of clear laquer on top of the paintwork. I would advise against rubbing compound because this is too abrasive and will damage the paint itself.

Regards

Gary

Black 1986 944Lux

 

[Hilux]

Red piment in paint is a natural product so subject to UV rays I understand. They still have not synthesised a completely artificial one I believe and the natural one oxidises (goes white) so that when you remove the oxidisation it happens again unless you use a lot of UV resistant polish

 

[Diver944]

The fact is that red pigment will always gradually fade unless you religiously keep it protected with a good protective wax. A good machine mop of the entire panel will bring out the colour and the shine and leave a good surface for you to wax. You can do it yourself with a very fine polish and lots of elbow grease, be careful with T-cut, it can be a bit agressive.

As others have said, there is a finite number of times that you can cut back the surface of the lacquer. At some point you will wear through the lacquer and reveal the pigment. At this point you will have an area that changes colour completely, so be careful.

 

[Guest]

thanks for all the replys people, i heard the red and white 944's werent lacquered though? which is why they fade?

I bought a machine buffer and with abit of Tcut and a damp wheel i managed to get most of the colour back, although a couple of areas are still slightly milky, ill have another go tomorrow as i think i must have missed a couple of bits!

The question now is what wax/polish to use to protect the paint? any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Hi,

You are always going to have this fight with red cars. I have just spent 2 days t-cutting and polishing my red megane ready for sale. I have owned 2 red cars, both from different manufacturers/ages and both were a pain to keep fresh. What I found worked best was to alternate every time I waxed with something like AutoGlym (normal wax/polish) and colourmagic (coloured wax).

Regards

Gary

 

[Mikie_gb]

I have had 4 red cars as follows:
1988 1300 Golf
18881600 Jetta
1996 Toyota corolla
1988 944S

The golf was bought brand new and I didn't own it long enought to watch it fade. The Jetta went white, the Corolla went white and I used it to experiment different types of cutting polishes and waxes for use on the 944 which is turning matt right now from living on the streets of London for the last year, instead of being garaged and cleaned weekly.

I have spent 4 years fighting the pink onslaught and have hundereds of pounds worth of stuff I have tried. (Succesfully and some less so)

www.tyresmoke.net has a lot of information and personal recommendations on car cleaning. There is also the concours section on the PCGB forum which is rather limp in comparison.

I shall not give my opinion on what I think about the peddlers of polish. They seem to have cleaned up their act a lot in recent times and the charlatans have been hoofed off various forums (or been lynched and buffed to a rosy pink).

The test I carried out on the Toyota was completely unscientific and was to see which wax lasted longest. One lasted three weeks and the other two lasted over 6 months without me touching them further.