Polishing bloom out of car paintwork

[Guy King]

The message from nog contains these words:

When the wife's not here, yes.

[Doki]

I dunno. If it's got a lot of an expensive ingredient (say, carnauba), then it's supposedly better. Never had any to try out mind.

[Doki]

It does, as long as you don't c*ck up...

[Doki]

It's fading. Bloom is a spraying defect. Fading affects the top layer of the paint - take the top layer off, and the layer below will be unfaded and shiny.

I got hold of a polisher for £20ish IIRC from one of the cheap supermarkets. Then you need mops - about a tenner a time if you buy farecla ones, and some G3, and that's not far off a tenner either. Then you've got to spend time doing it, and if you're not careful, you can rub through to primer on edges where the paint is thinner. You can fix it relatively invisibly if you're handy with paint, but you'll need to buy some matching paint (won't be much less than a tenner either, as it's no longer the colour it was from the factory and you need it to match) and lacquer over it. Unless you plan on doing a few cars, I'd do it buy hand or pay someone else. TBH by the time you've got all the kit together, you could have done it by hand. I once did a Ford Orion that had turned pink in an afternoon with AG paint renovator and super resin polish, but any rubbing compound will do the job (although some Holts stuff I've seen is ridiculously coarse). It's also well worth cleaning the car well before you start - get some traffic film remover or you'll inevitably end up rubbing dirt about.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've got a random orbit one which came out well in recent Practical Classics testing. But don't bother with it as it simply doesn't save either time or effort.

[Drake]

Yes - I can see what you mean, now.

Great suggestions - thank you. I'll have a go at doing it by hand this wekend.

Drake

[badger.badger]

Not always, in hard water areas it can be a build up of calcium. I saw a Vauxhaul Velox in a dealers that was grey, when they cut back the bloom it turned out to be two tone white and pink, all becasue the owner washed it off everyday with a hose!