Polish

[arcturus]

Hi, What in your opinion is the best way to remove old polish and wax prior to re-polishing and waxing for Spring. Do yo think that it'a even necessary ?

[Bonefishblues]

Washing up liquid.

[Army]

There is a common misunderstanding about polish. Polish removes paint to make paint shiny. (If it was done properly last time) You do not need to remove polish.

To remove wax as said above a detergent will remove wax - it is often better / only necessary to use a mild detergent.

Unless you are in a hurry to repaint your car or it has ¨paint problems¨ then polishing is not necessary.

[omc 47]

Originally Posted by Army

There is a common misunderstanding about polish. Polish removes paint to make paint shiny. (If it was done properly last time) You do not need to remove polish.

To remove wax as said above a detergent will remove wax - it is often better / only necessary to use a mild detergent.

Unless you are in a hurry to repaint your car or it has ¨paint problems¨ then polishing is not necessary.

A lot depends on the paint process, base coat and laquer would be just cleaning the laquer,enamel and cellulose which was from the 60's and earlier era then yes you are taking a very small amount of paint off the surface BUT even so it would take a fair bit of elbow grease to remove a good paint process from general car panels......avoiding edges which are always vulnerable of course.

[Army]

Originally Posted by omc 47

A lot depends on the paint process, base coat and laquer would be just cleaning the laquer,enamel and cellulose which was from the 60's and earlier era then yes you are taking a very small amount of paint off the surface BUT even so it would take a fair bit of elbow grease to remove a good paint process from general car panels......avoiding edges which are always vulnerable of course.

Modern paint is indeed more likely to be harder than older original paint. The chances that that´s still on a vehicle is not as great as perhaps the ¨original paint¨ adverts on the bay of e might suggest (!)

The thing that more often than not counteracts the harder wearing modern paint is the modern fixation with power tools - and - as you say those edges...

...masking tape needs to be used =>



####

For most situations I reckon a clay bar is the best modern way of cleaning a car before waxing

There are several yew toob videos showing how to do it

[omc 47]

Indeed Clay bar is one method that I've never used but seems very effective from reports I've read.
I see you've a Red Volvo, red pigment is notorious on older vehicles to eventually "die" and requires a good cut in process.
My wife had a '95' red Peugeot 306 and it was asking for a respray but I just used to give it a T cut and then Auto Glym which suprisingly held it back for some time...............like the masking tape Army.

[Army]

Originally Posted by omc 47

Indeed Clay bar is one method that I've never used but seems very effective from reports I've read.
I see you've a Red Volvo, red pigment is notorious on older vehicles to eventually "die" and requires a good cut in process.
My wife had a '95' red Peugeot 306 and it was asking for a respray but I just used to give it a T cut and then Auto Glym which suprisingly held it back for some time...............like the masking tape Army.

The masking tape is indeed very gucci stuff - it is designed to not leave a residue behind (which can happen especially if left on for too long with the normal stuff)

[THREAD-JACK]



After a little cutting



https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=277319&page=2

[/THREAD-JACK] !!!!!

Clay bar is essentially a version of Blu-Tak that you use with liquid to lift the muck away - very impressive

[Derek UK]

George might respond and say that his paint is only 2-3 years old. If it had very little extra polishing after the new paint had hardened it might benefit from a mid polishing now to add some extra shine. I think it is a single stage paint with no clear coat. After that a few layers of very thin layers of wax will preserve the shine and in this case give some protection from salty breezes.
As said, washing up liquid will strip off any wax on the car and it should be taken off before any polishing is done, as the wax will interfere with the polishing.