When you want to fix paint that oxidized and just looks gross, you can easily do that yourself – and by hand, according to ChrisFix. Some sandpaper, compound, polish, paint, wax, and muscle power can make your car’s faded and oxidized paint look new.
What do you need to repair old, faded and oxidized paint?
You’ll need soapy water, rubbing alcohol, microfiber towels and pads, and:
- Rubbing compound and polish
- Wax
- Primer
- Color coat spray paint
- Clear coat that is the same type of paint as the color coat
Making your vehicle look new again doesn’t have to be expensive. Making some time to do it yourself could save you thousands. Keep reading to learn how to spice up your vehicle’s paint job, whether the clear coat is oxidized, peeling or even when the paint is nonexistent.
Clean the Exterior
Wash the car. Wet it down first; then spray it with soapy water, or use a sponge and soapy water to clean it. A soft bristle brush with a long handle also works. Work from the top down when soaping up your vehicle and when rinsing off the soap.
Using a microfiber towel, dry the car. Make sure it is completely dry before you start working on the paint.
Bring Back the Shine
While bringing back the shine on old paint is easy, it’s time-consuming and, if you’re doing it by hand, can be tiring because you have to use medium pressure when using buffing compound and polish.
Always use a microfiber buffing pad instead of a towel when you are applying buffing compound, polish, or wax, since the towel absorbs too much of the product. Finally, always use circular motions when applying the product and when buffing it into the paint.
When removing the buffing compound, polish, or wax, use a microfiber towel. You should also use circular motions during this step. Work on one panel at a time so you can complete it before the compound, polish, or wax dries.
Buff the vehicle with buffing compound. Remove the buffing compound with a microfiber towel; then polish the panel. Don’t forget to use medium pressure whether you are doing this by hand or with a buffing pad.
If you do not need to repaint the section, you can now apply wax. Remove the wax with a microfiber towel after letting it set for 2 minutes.
Repair Chipped Paint
Sometimes, the paint is chipped on the door edges. While it won’t be perfect, you can cover the metal with touch-up paint. First, clean the area with rubbing alcohol; then apply the touch-up paint, working from the bottom to the top and getting the paint on as smoothly as possible.
Worn Paint – Prep the Area
When fixing worn paint, find the body lines on the car. If you try to paint only the worn area, you’ll see where the new paint and old paint meet. The old paint is always more faded than the new paint.
Tape off the vehicle so that only the section you are going to paint is showing. You can use trash bags or newspaper to cover the areas around the section you are working on. This prevents overspray from getting on the rest of the vehicle.
If you have to work on an area that doesn’t have a convenient body line, choose an area that is small.
Fold a piece of paper in half, but don’t crease it. Tape it to the car.
When you apply the paint, the roll in the paper creates a feathering effect from the new paint to the old paint, which eliminates a hard paint line.
When wet sanding, use a mixture of soap and water. Spray it on the surface you are sanding and on the sandpaper.
Wrap 180-grit wet/dry sandpaper around a kitchen sponge. The sponge prevents you from creating a hot spot in the area you are sanding. Wet sand the entire surface of the area you are painting until it’s smoothed out, including the old paint that is not damaged.
Wipe the area with rubbing alcohol to clean off any paint dust and grease from your fingers or gloves.
Next, wet sand the entire area with 320-grit sandpaper. This gets rid of any scratches from the 180-grit and further smooths the area. Wipe the area with alcohol.
Finally, wet sand the entire area with 400-grit sandpaper. This further smooths the area, but it leaves enough small scratches for the paint to adhere to.
Worn Paint – Paint the Area
Paint the area with primer. You don’t need a thick coat, but make sure the entire area is covered. Let the primer dry for a few minutes.
Spray the area with the color coat. Create overlapping layers and thinner coats – but not too thin. If you spray too much at one time, you’ll end up with runs.
Finally, spray the clear coat. Spray two thinner coats, then a medium coat. If the last coat is too thin, you’ll get orange peel. Let the paint dry a few minutes between coats. Apply three coats. Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours.
The last step before you can remove the tape is to sand the fresh paint. Using 5000-grit wet/dry sandpaper and a soapy water mixture, lightly sand the new paint to get rid of the haze and any orange peel.
If the orange peel is thick, you can start out with 1000-grit wet/dry sandpaper; then hit it with the 5000-grit sandpaper.
Remove the tape by pulling the tape at a sharp angle away from the fresh paint. If you have any hard paint lines, sand over them with 5000-grit wet/dry sandpaper and soapy water to blend the line.
The final step is to apply compound and polish to the fresh paint. You can do that immediately. However, do not apply wax to the paint job for at least 30 days as the paint is still not 100 percent set.
Visit Vehicle History
Learn more about different vehicle models and read comments from vehicle owners before you buy your next vehicle by visiting Vehicle History. You can also find more information on maintaining and repairing vehicles.
