DETAIL: Quick paint help.

[Mr2 Sam]

I've recently aquired a 1990 Mr2 G-limited in black about a month ago that has some scratches in the paintwork. I've used turtle wax polish to see if that helped at all and it did remove a few of the very light ones, but there is still enough there to bother me. This weekend I finally have time to spend a few hours dealing to my paintwork and I've bought a light cutting compound to help do the job. What I'm unsure on is whether or not it's safe for my paint, as after closer inspection it says that it may not give the best results on a car with clear coat. I think I've read this somewhere before but I'm not sure, Can anyone tell me indefinately if black Mr2s from 1990 had clear coat on them? or if this compound will do more harm than good? It's REPO water rubbing compound, abrasive cream cuts and renovates vehicle paintwork. I plan on using a light polish and wax afterwards to keep the paint in the best condition possible. Thanks in advance for any useful information.

[KingCeaser]

i have no idea but a lot of the older solid color cars are a single stage like you said. what you can do is get some higher grade sand paper like 1500 grit. an just wet it a little an sand a spot. if the sanding juice is white there is a clear coat if it turns black its single stage. just dont sand through, just enough till you see the water turn white or black. an to see if you can even remove those scratches run your finger nail over it. if it gets stuck its not going to come out its too deep. sorry i dont know the answer for sure but thats a good starting point. good luck an rub in small circles not back an forth

[GR8MR2]

Unless the car has been repainted it will not have a CC. I don't know if you have a PC or rotary but be careful with the polish you choose. The SS paint is quite soft and it is easy to polish right through the paint with a rotary.

I'd use a PC (a.k.a. Porter-Cable 7424/7336) with a polishing pad at speed 5 and a fast acting mild polish like Meguiar's Speed Glaze #80. This is what I use on my 1990 Red MR2. It polishes down very quickly ready for waxing and leaves no holograms. Takes out scratches well too.

This #80 also works ok by hand in case you don't have a PC. ScratchX will work here if you can't find #80. The #80 polish is part of Meguiar's professional line and is usually only available in paint and body shop supply stores. Their ScratchX is available in all the auto supply chains like PEP Boys, Checkers, AutoZone and the like.

[Mr2 Sam]

Thanks for the replies. I'm on a very tight budget, so I just used stuff we already had lying around the house. I knew the paint would never turn out perfect, it is 18 year old paint. It does have a few of those fingernail scratches which I never expected it to get rid of, and it didn't, but it definately has gotten rid of some of the finer scratches and swirls. Only had time to use the cutting compound today which has left the paint rather dull, need to give it a good polish and wax tomorrow.

[TomsMR2]

turtle wax polish really sucks unless its the new one in the squeeze bottle, and even that one isnt too great. it sounds like you're using really old skool lacquer polish too.. even on single stage paints, use the good clear coat safe stuff.

for a black car you need GOOD compound and good pads, and lots and lots of time.

compounds have abrasives that polish out scratches. glazes just temporarily fill in scratches so you cant see them. glazes give a great shine, but do absolutely nothing to repair your paint.

you really need a medium cut compound, a fine cut compound, and a finishing swirl remover. its a lot of work, black is the hardest to do. its very near impossible to do by hand too.

but thats easily 100 bucks in polish right there.. if you just want to improve how it looks, use a swirl remover on a da, it'll improve it a lot.

keep in mind, once you start cutting and buffing old paint, you have to keep doing it. it'll haze back up within a few months.