Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

Is it possible to remove oxidation for good? last year I polished the paintwork by hand to get rid of the oxidation that was forming on the paintwork. I have just noticed that the oxidation is showing signs of returning, whilst I don't mind giving it another polish, I'm just wary of the fact that the paint may begin to wear thin. (Also it's beginning to get bloody hot, humid and horrible and don't fancy getting totally soaked in sweat again).

I had this problem with my G reg mark II Astra about 8 years ago. Mexico red it was.  

[RobG]

Is it possible to remove oxidation for good? last year I polished the paintwork by hand to get rid of the oxidation that was forming on the paintwork. I have just noticed that the oxidation is showing signs of returning, whilst I don't mind giving it another polish, I'm just wary of the fact that the paint may begin to wear thin. (Also it's beginning to get bloody hot, humid and horrible and don't fancy getting totally soaked in sweat again).

I had this problem with my G reg mark II Astra about 8 years ago. Mexico red it was.  

Regular washing and a coat of quality wax is all you can do I`m afraid

[Andy B]

...... Mexico red it was.  

That always seems to be a problem with solid red (& blue) paintwork, especially in the sun.  

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

...... Mexico red it was.  

That always seems to be a problem with solid red (& blue) paintwork, especially in the sun.  

Makes you wonder why Vauxhall/Opel can't provide decent paintwork that doesn't suffer from this kind of problem.  

On my Astra I would spend ages giving it a decent cost of wax but then my cloth would turn red. It was always the bonnet that got it.

[Cybertrucker]

A couple of observations from my own experience...

Possibly silly question, but are you using a wax polish or just a mild abrasive like T-Cut?  The reason I ask is because some years ago a bloke I knew asked me "How long does T-Cut last?" - he'd been doing his car with T-Cut, getting a nice shine on it, but not waxing it, so his nice shiny paintwork was naked to the air and the shine wore off in about ten minutes.  You say "I'm just wary of the fact that the paint may begin to wear thin", so I'm wondering if you are using an abrasive rather than a wax.  (As an aside, waxing a car shouldn't wear through the paint, but T-Cut etc might eventually get through it.  My Dad knew a bloke back in the 1950's who used to cut and polish his car every weekend, and he genuinely did wear through to the steel in places!)

Is it original paint?  If it's still a decent paint you're okay, but I had an Opel Kadett years ago which had had a cheap and nasty respray using what the trade called "Knacker Lacquer".  It oxidised so badly that a polished finish only lasted a couple of weeks, and I eventually gave up even washing it, because it was a white car and if I washed it the car park looked like it was running with milk.

As RobG says, all you can do is give it a good layer of wax.  This will give it a good shine and more importantly will also keep the air away from the paint - it can't oxidise if oxygen can't get to it.  Even with wax on it the paint may fade due to sunlight, which is different from oxidising, but you live in Qatar, so there's not a lot you can do about that!

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

A couple of observations from my own experience...

Possibly silly question, but are you using a wax polish or just a mild abrasive like T-Cut?  The reason I ask is because some years ago a bloke I knew asked me "How long does T-Cut last?" - he'd been doing his car with T-Cut, getting a nice shine on it, but not waxing it, so his nice shiny paintwork was naked to the air and the shine wore off in about ten minutes.  You say "I'm just wary of the fact that the paint may begin to wear thin", so I'm wondering if you are using an abrasive rather than a wax.  (As an aside, waxing a car shouldn't wear through the paint, but T-Cut etc might eventually get through it.  My Dad knew a bloke back in the 1950's who used to cut and polish his car every weekend, and he genuinely did wear through to the steel in places!)

Is it original paint?  If it's still a decent paint you're okay, but I had an Opel Kadett years ago which had had a cheap and nasty respray using what the trade called "Knacker Lacquer".  It oxidised so badly that a polished finish only lasted a couple of weeks, and I eventually gave up even washing it, because it was a white car and if I washed it the car park looked like it was running with milk.

As RobG says, all you can do is give it a good layer of wax.  This will give it a good shine and more importantly will also keep the air away from the paint - it can't oxidise if oxygen can't get to it.  Even with wax on it the paint may fade due to sunlight, which is different from oxidising, but you live in Qatar, so there's not a lot you can do about that!

I may have caused a bit of confusion from my original post. The paint on my 1990 Astra (many years ago in the UK) used to oxidise quite badly after a few weeks. I never used T-Cut at that stage, I think it was Turtle wax, but it still always used to end up taking some of the paint off. But the oxidation was generally confined to the bonnet.

Here in Qatar, I bought the Omega last year (Glacier white) and ordinary wax was not strong enough to initially give it a shine. I resorted to using polish generally and rubbing compound spairingly. Got a nice shine and it has lasted almost a year. I should be able to control it with wax now, but as Rob and youself suggest, the sun don't help.  

[Pitchfork]

Thought you could get linctus to shift Qatar!

[dbug]

Sun and sand blasting mate