The paint on my car's hood is faded very badly- is there a polish or wax that I can use to make it shine?

Question

My car is a red 1996 Firebird (V6). Some areas on the body look okay, but the hood looks faded badly and dull. Is there some product I can use to make it look shiny and bright again?

What about that "Nu Finish" car wax- does it work well?

Answer 1

Red paint often suffers from oxidation. I've detailed or brought back to life quite a few red cars with similar problems to what you described. The expensive answer is a repaint. The less expensive answer (around $200) is a polish/wax job by a pro detailer. The least expensive (and most labor intensive) is to do it yourself. The process will at least be a wash, then polish, then wax. You would need at least a mild abrasive polish and a wax, a terry applicator pad for the polish and a free day. I recommend 3M Fine Cut Compound which is not too aggressive an abrasive, is meant for hand application and leaves a decent shine on the paint. It will remove paint oxidation and all but the deepest scratches. Follow the polishing with a wax. Here is were NuFinish can be used. Just be patient and it will look good again.

Answer 2

I detailed cars for a long time so here it goes. IF the car does have a clear coat...you're pretty much screwed like the guy before me answered.

But your car is a little older...and it may just be badly oxidized. Try some polishing compound on it first to see if it will bring back some shine. There is also rubbing compound but it is really abrasive and you need to be extremely gentle with it. The object is to rub off the bad paint on top and give surface to the better paint underneath. After the polishing compound...you'll need to use a good carnuba wax to seal in the polishing compound. You can pick up all these products at your local WalMart. For wax I recommend Zymol...it's the best. The compound is a paste made by Turtle Wax.

Dont forget to wash the car first before doing any of this...Good Luck!!!!!!!

Answer 3

Well that dull finish is the clear coat. This clear coat is faded from the sun and will soon chip and flake off. Will Nu Finich restor it in most cases no. It all comes down to the paint job.
Years ago thy painted the car with say 3 or 4 coats of paint, then polished the paint. Over time you cound use rubbing compound to bring it back to a luster.

Cars today use a cheep coat of paint and then clear coat it to make it shiney. Over time the clear coat fades as the sun eats away at the finish. You can try that Nu Finish but take it fro a mechanic, you will not get what you paid for, just a cover up job and in some cases makes it worse.

Thanks for your question

Answer 4

you would be waiting to shine your hood to resume the end devoid of paint. Take your motor vehicle to a detailer and ask in the event that they think of that the sparkling coat is polishable. I continually seem into sharpening in the previous paint.

Answer 5

not really. you could try to use a good car polish and a buffing wheel, and after that use a good quality wax it might help out a little but you probably need to have the car resprayed. non of those car waxes are going to do any thing if your paint is worn down to the point were you cant even see any reflections.