raptinglass

Bought my '96 polo/saddle vert last year and love the car. No real disappointments. The usual issues have been discovered and remedied as needed but... I was fooled by the finish on the car. It seems that every time I wash the car more and more imperfections keep showing up. I keep my "baby" clean and have waxed it several times with Zylol. Looks great, however the detail guy must have used some sort of filler or colored wax when he cleaned it up before I viewed it.

Is there a wax available that adds correct color when applied? My son has told me about a product that adds color but it seems to be available only in red and black. I don't know what else would explain the degraded finish after a few washings.

I don't want to pop for new paint yet. All I want to do is restore the finish that I saw when I bought it.

Anyone have knowledge?

Thanks

SVXr

I am in the same position you are. When I bought my Black LT4 I could have sworn the paint
was beautiful. Ever since it's like it just keeps getting worse. I found that I had to buy a new
wash mit only for the black paint, use the old one for everything else i.e. glass, rims, etc..

I almost never put my car cover on and bought a separate chamois for...yep, just the black
portion. All this helped but in the end I bought Menzer (sp?) car polish and a new polisher and
went to work. I still need to get a harder pad cause the finishing pad I used wouldn't cut so there
are still scratched. But it's getting better.

Good luck, I have seen magic what people can do to a finish with a little polish, I wouldn't worry
about repainting.

Strick

I have a 92 polo vert and I did the full Zaino process with the clay and all. The clay really brought back the shine and glassy feel. If your clear coat is still in good shape, the clay bar will smooth it out and brighten the shine.

pennstatefootball

wow......

That Polo looks great! Nice job!

bugman

couple of comments.
if the paint surface is gradually losing it's life, there are two main possibilities.

1. yes, the paint was imperfect to begin with , well detailed with fillers, and with rain and washings, those fillers are now falling off, revealing the underlying paint defects.
2. The paint really WAS perfect to begin with, but your own washing techniques are now introducing swirlmarks and marring that is dulling the finish.

I do not suggest that you use any colored wax product. They are a mess, result in smearing and streaking, and in the end this is not your answer.

Most definitely take a good look at your washing techniques. No chamois. No T-shirts or diapers. Use sheepskin mitt only. Use three buckets, dry with nozzle-less rinse, then leaf blower, then light blot with towel. If further info desired, check http://www.bugmanweb.com - click on "detailing" and click the link for "washing tips".

Then, whether the dull paint was there originally, or whether you've caused the damage yourself really doesn't matter - you'll need to correct the paint with some abrasive polishes. Details at bugmanweb.com - click on "buffing".

If you don't want to buy a buffer, and if you'll be satisfied with a good coverup, then try

1. careful wash and dry
2. Meguiar's #6 cleaner wax for the first time
3. then Meguiar's #26 carnauba for subsequent washings.

These products are inexpensive and widely available. The cleaner wax is a good way to remove adherent tar and other surface contaminants on the paint. Then #26 has excellent ability to fill in scratches and swirlmarks, to give you a vibrant darker color to the paint again, restore depth, and give you fantastic glass-like finish. The only shortcoming is that, if you haven't polished the paint to remove the scratches, then you'll have to reapply #26 every 4 weeks or so to again fill in and hide the scratches and keep the appearance up.