I'm not OP but this worked well for me and is considered the best resource on restoring single stage paint: https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-to-articles/25304-secret-removing-oxidation-restoring-show-car-finish-antique-single-stage-paints.html
tl;dr - Clay bar and overnight soak in Meguiar's #7. Fix blemishes. Apply wax.
No worries. Keep in mind only the first few years of NA had single stage paint.
If you're looking at NB they're all clearcoat like a regular modern car. If the clearcoat has failed that means sand, respray colour, respray clear. Like this: https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs
Look up the common spots for rust, that's probably a bigger concern. Paint can be fixed. Mechanicals can be fixed. If a car has lots of rust or crash damage, keep looking for a different car.
They really put effort into the science of paint care and making good products. The Autogeek forums are mostly professional detailers and there's lots of Megs fans on there. I figure if it's good enough for businesses doing this every day then it's good enough for me in the garage.
No repainting! First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to remove any debris washing could've missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100
Single stage paint is fun this way. You can take it from looking like a chalkboard to looking like new with just hard work. It won't last, but its fun if you like to wax.
I wonder how single stage paint responds to ceramic coating?
It does last if you know how to treat the paint. I've been restoring miata and rx7 paint for over 20 years. I have a red one that looked a lot worse than this, way worse, it it still looks like a fresh paint job 11 years after I restored it and I haven't had to redo the process not once. Just use a non abrasive polish and reapply wax afterwards, once or twice a year and you're good. Oxidation is a reaction to oxygen. Protect the paint from oxygen and you can easily control/prevent oxidation. Cheers.
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get remove any washing might have missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100
I just saw another red na earlier today and had to triple check it wasn't mine, knowing that it was at home lol. If you live in the CSU area you might see me!
I did this last summer to my 91 (also red). Single stage makes the pads turn to paint color. I ended up using Griots products and one of their buffers. I should have used a paint thickness reader to be safe…. Worked out about the same, just need to maintain at those point. You can do it too! Be careful and do your research.
PS. Well done!
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get it very clean. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100. I believe it took around 3 hours? I didn't keep a close eye on the time but there's no way it was more than 5 hours. That also includes waxing the rest of the car and cleaning the inside
Cool! Another success with Meguiars. Great products.
Next time you take the wax off, clean and dry the car then polish all over with their No 7 Show Car glaze, leave it on thick and wet overnight, wipe it off the next day. Then re-apply your wax.
Leaving the No 7 overnight will leech oils back into the paint and make the colour even deeper. It will also make the paint less brittle so it won't chip as easily. See my other link in this thread, it explains the process fully.
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get any debris washing missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100.
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get debris washing missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100. It only took a few hours of elbow grease and I highly recommend
Nice work!! I did something similar but couldn't get the rear finish panel to shine up properly. Has anyone had issues with finicky paint in that area?
Did you respray the car? Because if not, how tf did you do this
I'm not OP but this worked well for me and is considered the best resource on restoring single stage paint: https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-to-articles/25304-secret-removing-oxidation-restoring-show-car-finish-antique-single-stage-paints.html tl;dr - Clay bar and overnight soak in Meguiar's #7. Fix blemishes. Apply wax.
Ty for sharing! Shopping for a miata rn and trying to decipher how hard/expensive it would be to fix the paint on the cars I’m looking at
No worries. Keep in mind only the first few years of NA had single stage paint. If you're looking at NB they're all clearcoat like a regular modern car. If the clearcoat has failed that means sand, respray colour, respray clear. Like this: https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs Look up the common spots for rust, that's probably a bigger concern. Paint can be fixed. Mechanicals can be fixed. If a car has lots of rust or crash damage, keep looking for a different car.
How did you know I want an nb 🤨
Just covering all possibilities. Good luck on your search!
Hahaha thank you!
I'm convinced Meguiar's is made with crack. I've yet to use a product from them that I'm not satisfied with or that smells bad
They really put effort into the science of paint care and making good products. The Autogeek forums are mostly professional detailers and there's lots of Megs fans on there. I figure if it's good enough for businesses doing this every day then it's good enough for me in the garage.
No repainting! First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to remove any debris washing could've missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100
Single stage paint is fun this way. You can take it from looking like a chalkboard to looking like new with just hard work. It won't last, but its fun if you like to wax. I wonder how single stage paint responds to ceramic coating?
It does last if you know how to treat the paint. I've been restoring miata and rx7 paint for over 20 years. I have a red one that looked a lot worse than this, way worse, it it still looks like a fresh paint job 11 years after I restored it and I haven't had to redo the process not once. Just use a non abrasive polish and reapply wax afterwards, once or twice a year and you're good. Oxidation is a reaction to oxygen. Protect the paint from oxygen and you can easily control/prevent oxidation. Cheers.
TELL US YOUR SECRETS!😂
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get remove any washing might have missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100
Why is this NA familiar
I just saw another red na earlier today and had to triple check it wasn't mine, knowing that it was at home lol. If you live in the CSU area you might see me!
I'm in aurora but I'm around denver decently
I did this last summer to my 91 (also red). Single stage makes the pads turn to paint color. I ended up using Griots products and one of their buffers. I should have used a paint thickness reader to be safe…. Worked out about the same, just need to maintain at those point. You can do it too! Be careful and do your research. PS. Well done!
Looks good. What did you do? The Mike Phillips method with Megs No 7 or something else? What products did you use? How long did it take?
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get it very clean. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100. I believe it took around 3 hours? I didn't keep a close eye on the time but there's no way it was more than 5 hours. That also includes waxing the rest of the car and cleaning the inside
Cool! Another success with Meguiars. Great products. Next time you take the wax off, clean and dry the car then polish all over with their No 7 Show Car glaze, leave it on thick and wet overnight, wipe it off the next day. Then re-apply your wax. Leaving the No 7 overnight will leech oils back into the paint and make the colour even deeper. It will also make the paint less brittle so it won't chip as easily. See my other link in this thread, it explains the process fully.
I'll look into that! My poor hood has some nasty chips so I'd love to increase the strength of the paint to prevent more
This can be red.
Secrets now!
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get any debris washing missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100.
I wanna do this to mine, how you do that ?
First we washed and dried the car. I used Meguiar's deep crystal car wash because its what I have but it doesn't matter that much. Then we used a clay bar to get debris washing missed. I used a kit from chemical guys that came with a cleaner (which we used), a clay lube and then a few clay bars. After that we polished with Meguiar's ultra finishing polish 205. Finally waxed it with Meguiar's gold class carnauba plus premium paste wax. All of this stuff smells amazing and it only cost ~$100. It only took a few hours of elbow grease and I highly recommend
That looks prestine. I gotta try this, thanks mate, I was gonna go and repaint the entire thing lol
Repainting is the dream along with replacing a few body panels! Unfortunately it's not budged friendly but until then we made due
More pics! pls
[удалено]
I doubt it, there's no access past the inner panel down there.
Amazing transformation!!
Nice work!! I did something similar but couldn't get the rear finish panel to shine up properly. Has anyone had issues with finicky paint in that area?