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Bought an old car recently. The paintwork on the bonnet was kind of dark/dull. I've given it a go over with some T-Cut followed by a wash/wax. It's made it a bit more shiny, but now white instead of dark/dull. Don't want to go again with the T-Cut unless that's the wrong approach.
Any ideas? The rest of the car is tidy. Seems strange it's just the bonnet. Caused by heat I'm guessing...
Might have been resprayed (badly) in the past.
Looks like the lacquer is gone to me?
I guess you could use cutting compound / mop, but I think it's borked. Either live with it, or get it sprayed I guess.
your wing is haunted by a headless ghost
Looks to still have an imprint of the child that caused the damage
Matt black vinyl for the late 60s retro rally look.
Weird. I've seen plenty of red cars do that fading-to-scuffed-white thing (usually Corsas, especially in sunny places) but maybe never a dark blue car.
your wing is haunted by a headless ghost
🙂
The photo makes it look worse than it is to be honest. You kind of can't tell looking at the front of the vehicle, but from the side it looks pretty bad. Yeah I can live with it, probably won't be keeping it long anyway.
Have they changed T-Cut btw? It used to be awesome. I remember the cloth taking on the colour of the car. Not so anymore. Rubbish.
Get the bonnet wrapped in a wacky colour.
Would some of that coloured wax polish minimise the effect? I doubt any further buffing/polishing will resurrect that.
Tcut used to take color as it was cutting single stage paint. Most moderns colors (all metallics) are 2-stage paint meaning there's a clear coat layer over top. If your paint restorer product is pulling colour out then you've gone too far and you're through the clear and you've messed up!
Red bottle tcut wasn't "clear coat safe"
Hard to see in pictures but I'd be off to a pro detail place and see if they can correct that.
I'm guessing vandal liquid damage though looking at that dark stain in the upper center.
Tcut used to take color as it was cutting single stage paint. Most moderns colors (all metallics) are 2-stage paint meaning there’s a clear coat layer over top. If your paint restorer product is pulling colour out then you’ve gone too far and you’re through the clear and you’ve messed up!
Red bottle tcut wasn’t “clear coat safe”
Ahh that makes sense.
That dark bit came after I had a go at it. I think it's probably still a bit wet tbh.
Same as bearback, that’s had something thrown onto the bonnet. It’ll need a re spray (or a wrap)
is that not old t cut thats not been polished off?
Go on eBay and buy a new bonnet in the right colour. Cost me £20 when I did that for the Passat. Was fun getting it in the car to get it home though!
Cost me £20 when I did that for the Passat. Was fun getting it in the car to get it home though!
You should have just fitted it there and then and fly-tipped the old one.
Cost me £20 when I did that for the Passat. Was fun getting it in the car to get it home though!
Good idea, thought of that myself but had an absolute nightmare refitting windscreen washer cables in the old VW so nope. Just nope. It was easier fitting an exhaust!
Well it's a nice day and I'm off work so went out and had another go at it. It's looking better! I put some proper elbow grease into it this time and got a sweat on! It's definitely better than it was so gonna have a few more passes at it now I've got my eye in. If I wear a hole in the bonnet I'll get a matt black wrap as suggested 🙂
That's classic lacquer failure due to a cheap respray. Seeing as the lines are all in one direction I'd say it has had a life of going through roller car washes too, do that with soft paint (either cheap or if it hadn't had dtime to fully cure, can take a few weeks to fully harden) and it'll make it fail like that.
Have they changed T-Cut btw? It used to be awesome. I remember the cloth taking on the colour of the car. Not so anymore. Rubbish.
More the paint has changed from single stage (just the colour) to 2 stage (with a lacquer on top) regardless of whether it's a metallic or not. It's still removing the top layer but that top layer is now clear so you don't see it colour the cloth. The new paints are a lot harder too so take more effort to smooth/polish too.
Good idea, thought of that myself but had an absolute nightmare refitting windscreen washer cables in the old VW so nope. Just nope. It was easier fitting an exhaust!
Fitting a bonnet was a hell of a lot easier than getting a good finish respraying it; was also cheaper than the materials for a respray, and MUCH cheaper than paying someone to do it.
Just needed some 💪💪💪. Getting there... no need for the gym today.
Looks much better. Wax and a sealant now.
Looks much better. Wax and a sealant now.
Thanks! Any particular brands or recommendations? All I've got is this:
Once it's done you'll need to go through some finer polishes to get it to shine. TCut will get you to a point but it's like sandpaper, at some point you need to go finer. Then it'll need a sealent.
After all that, getting it wrapped might actually be cheaper!
I’ve seen quite a few cars with clearcoat failure, possibly after stone chips and water getting under the lacquer and causing it to lift, then it spreads and the metallic content oxidising and going very dull. My old Octavia had a few patches on the bonnet, and on the leading edge of the roof above the screen, in fact I saw the object, possibly a wheelnut, or a large bolt thrown up by a van on the opposite side of the road, it hit the bonnet and bounced, making me duck expecting it to go through the screen, but it hit the edge of the roof; and the lacquer over time flaked and the paint went very dull.
Not worth the effort of fixing it, the car had other damage and wasn’t worth anything.
If you are in Huddersfield I can machine polish it for you if you popped round with it.