Bad Oxidation and Meguiar's Medium Cut

[sggaz]

Greetings,

We recently purchased an '00 Imperial Jade Mica Highlander edition. The search was tough as we wanted a 5-speed, domiciled in AZ its whole life, reasonable mileage, and fair price. We finally found one, but it had a glaring weakness: badly oxidized paint.

Near hood scoop:

Also on hood:

Between windshield and sunroof :

We thought paint was in our future but wanted to try DIY solutions. After trying Rubbing Compound by hand and nearly wearing out elbow joints we became aware of Meguiar's Medium Cut Cleaner, borrowed a 7" Var Spd Polisher (Harbor Freight) from bro and gave it a shot. Wow, after the first test patch was buffed and wiped off we were amazed. Had to hit the bad areas more than once but we now have a presentable vehicle and saved some dough. Here's the same areas after:

The only area that didn't clean up was two fender flares on the driver side that had clear coat flaking and will need sanding and repaint but overall not a big deal.

 

[CodeButcher]

What Speed did you use? Hi, Low, Med? What type of pad did you use to apply and polish?

 

[mikebontoft]

VERY nice work. I actually have the same harbor freight rotary polisher ordered... in fact I think its here today. $30.

My paint is nothing as bad as that was though. I just have thousands of swirl marks everywhere. I ordered lakewood country orange and white pads and some meguiars ultimate compound and polish. can't wait to get it done

 

[sggaz]

Medium speed

What Speed did you use? Hi, Low, Med? What type of pad did you use to apply and polish?

Thanks for asking!

I started at low speed but eventually increased to 'medium' which was the III setting. I had a typical terry cloth bonnet over a softer bonnet like a wool polishing bonnet. It is definitely a good idea to use caution and start slow. I considered the roof the best place to test.

The medium cut basically became dust and wiped off easily. I followed up with wax but will eventually get back to it with polish.

Note: I did see some green on the bonnet, the medium cut is aggressive but compared to the oxidation this is a win.

 

[mikebontoft]

its a definite win in my book. My truck is green too. I know the harbor freight tool is a rotary polisher copy of a makita 9227 or something. how did it feel to use? thats all im waiting for.

 

[sggaz]

Power tools and paint

its a definite win in my book. My truck is green too. I know the harbor freight tool is a rotary polisher copy of a makita 9227 or something. how did it feel to use? thats all im waiting for.

Until now I am not accustomed to using power tools on my paint so it was a new experience. The polisher is pretty smooth in itself. I applied very little down pressure and just let it do the job.

It was a bit too easy to bump the speed control and suddenly find that the speed had changed so you may want to pay attention to that.

Thanks for commenting.

 

[ICD]

Wow the it came out great. May keep this in mind when I I get down this road

 

[CodeButcher]

Anyone know the model or item number of the polisher? I have an older 7" Sear Carftsman polisher, but I don't know if RPMs are high enough.

 

[sggaz]

Hf 92623

That's the model number I used. It says variable speed 200-3350 RPM. It's a low end unit, I'd think your Craftsman is fine for this.

 

[T4R2014]

Looking very nice. I think you actually buffed out your dead clear coat. Whatever it did looks great though. I don't mean to be a sell-out but Meguiar's products just work.

 

[CodeButcher]

That's the model number I used. It says variable speed 200-3350 RPM. It's a low end unit, I'd think your Craftsman is fine for this.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. The top part of driver's door on wife's LC is starting to oxidize. I'll hit that first before my T4R.

FWIW, here is the polisher/sander

 

[mikebontoft]

That's the model number I used. It says variable speed 200-3350 RPM. It's a low end unit, I'd think your Craftsman is fine for this.

I ordered the same one but mine showed as 69474 (same as above) just apparently a newer version.

hoping to hit it up this week.

 

[benjamin247]

Greetings,

We recently purchased an '00 Imperial Jade Mica Highlander edition. The search was tough as we wanted a 5-speed, domiciled in AZ its whole life, reasonable mileage, and fair price. We finally found one, but it had a glaring weakness: badly oxidized paint.

Near hood scoop:

Also on hood:

Between windshield and sunroof :

We thought paint was in our future but wanted to try DIY solutions. After trying Rubbing Compound by hand and nearly wearing out elbow joints we became aware of Meguiar's Medium Cut Cleaner, borrowed a 7" Var Spd Polisher (Harbor Freight) from bro and gave it a shot. Wow, after the first test patch was buffed and wiped off we were amazed. Had to hit the bad areas more than once but we now have a presentable vehicle and saved some dough. Here's the same areas after:

The only area that didn't clean up was two fender flares on the driver side that had clear coat flaking and will need sanding and repaint but overall not a big deal.

This is awesome! My hood and roof is in the same condition and got an estimate for $700 to have it repainted. Going to save some dough and try this out. For the OP, it's been a couple years...how is your hood holding up?

 

[sggaz]

Ben, just got your PM and answered it. In the end our paint has continued to degrade. After the work we did in this thread we did not put in major effort to protect the paint (such as frequent wash/wax) and the paint has gone downhill. I think that type of effort would have preserved it better but that's the best we could have accomplished.