Red fade on my 318is

The place to pick up tips on bringing that showroom shine back to your E30.

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Jason318is
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:45 pm

hi all,
as will all comonly know red paint fades badly, but is there anything i can do about it....i've polished and polished and it comes up well for a week or so and then its as flat as a pancake again.....i was wondering if you could take the top layer off with 1500 wet & dry and then polished again......or is it a case of having to repaint the cars?

cheers for any suggestions?

jay
slippo
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:35 pm

its the pigment in it mate, nothing you can do but keep t cutin untill the shine comes back, i take its painted in cellulose? (the rag turns red when you t cut the car) i have heard that you can lacquer over the top of cellulose, but have never tried it myself, someone else may be able to give some more advise, but t cut or g10 compound should make the shine last quite a while with a nice coat of regular wax
schuey
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:51 pm

I have just done mine(all weekend!) After the usual washing etc as it had been stood for ages,I firstly 1500 wet sanded some scratches out,then compounded the full car with my machine polisher (rotary) and G3 compound as it really was past it! Some idiot has treid before and damaged the paint in a few spots,but I will be sorting that :roll:
This was followed by a machine glaze as G3 is pretty abrasive and as such leaves it a bit dull but red!I followed that with Autoglym super resin polish by hand as that removes any slight swirling left by the polisher and gets to the spots that you cant reach with a huge polisher.Ithen washed all the cack and polish etc off the car,dried it and then gave it 2 coats of Zymol rouge wax a day apart(thats a rather pricey red wax),it looked pretty nice before that,I only put the zymol on because I had some and it makes it look ace in the flesh.
There are a few bits,mainly plastic such as the door panels that still look slightly off colour due to plastic ageing differently but i notice stuff like that more than random peeps as I am a painter. :?
I wouldnt really recommend using 1500 all over as there is a fair chance you will go through the paint,loads of elbow grease or a machine polisher(with someone competent at the helm) will sort it out,then is just a case of keeping on top of it. :cool:
The results off a dodgy phone,there is a before and after shot off the back bumper on there too:
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=83706
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318 IS. Sold.
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grantfk10
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Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:32 am

Good post, and good work Schuey - well done!
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Jason318is
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Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:07 am

thanks schuey, thats great advice.....lloks like i need to plan a free weekend......but well worth the effort!!

thanks again

jay
schuey
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Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:04 pm

No probs,its was hard work,I could hardly lift my arms on monday morning! :D
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318 IS. Sold.
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