What car do you drive?

[fossyant]

The thing is when you restore the colour back to its glossy shine you need to wax it with a hard wax (old bees wax type) to lock it shine in or it'll just go back to the pink van it is now I had a old toyota starlet that was pink hat to mecheain polish the car then wax it and toped the wax up each week end wash dry and wax View attachment 18489 View attachment 18490 View attachment 18491 View attachment 18492

Looking good, how do you stop clear coat failure, as you seem to know your stuff. Got it on the missus red Yaris, the top started going lighter, and you could see tiny pin pricks in the clear coat, been using top quality polishes all the cars life, but red isn't a great colour long term. The recent ice has left some scratch looking marks on the roof where the clear coat has lifted. The car is 14 years old, 1st gen Yaris, and from looking at it 6 foot away it looks mint.

 

[flying start]

If you can see the lacquer is peeling then it'll need painting or sanded down with wet&dry then lacqued again

If not it'll need polishing out with a machine polisher and a medium to hard pad I like issuing the 3m yellow waffle pad with the green compound polish you can use g3 but that is very harsh polish and requires adding water in a spray bottle to stop the polish drying out

My starlet was a p reg and a flat red so no lacquer used not like today's paint as its all water based

 

[flying start]

Should say best step to take are
Rinse
Wash
Clay bar
Wash or rinse
Dry
Polish
Wax best wax I've used for long lasting is finish kare 1000p hi temp past wax fantastic results

 

[fossyant]

Think it will need a paint as it is water based. Thanks. Managed to stop most of it getting worse with G3 and the range, but you all know what I am like. The missus has not even noticed.

 

[skudupnorth]

I'd quite like an old Skoda Estelle or Rapid to play with.
I almost bought one last year, to do an electric conversion on it, but the seller removed it from sale due to 'time wasters' when the auction wasn't even over. I had to wait, outside his house, for over 2 hours for him to get home late from work work in order to see the car so I am not sure who was supposed to be the time waster.

I had few Rapids and Estelles in my time and i wish i had kept them especially looking at the value of them now.I had an A.1 condition 10,000 mile Rapid which i bought and then drove to the Czech Republic.My Estelle that everyone knew was a 1977 120L modified with later Rapid running gear,engine and gearbox and lowered to hell.....that went to Czech twice,none of my rear engined Skuds gave any reliabilty issues and they were brilliant fun !

 

[nathanicola]

[QUOTE 2292305, member: 9609"]I think it is only very recently they have developed a final clear coat to go over reds. So may be the reds fading to pink will be a think of the past. Apparently using a wax polish with a strong UV filter is all important on the red colours.[/quote]
I know with Vauxhall if you have Flame Red they fade, and Power Red doesn't as it has a clear coat. Most manufacturers used a clear coat from 06 onwards. Here's mine, clayed and polished every couple of months and waxed with carabuna wax usually once a month.
Vauxhall Astra 1.9cdti with adjustable map running at 181hp and 261 lb-ft torque can switch to just under 200 which is fun but starts to get bad turbo lag and smokes a bit much for me and Vauxhall make there 6 speed box from cheese so need to be a bit carefull.

 

[Night Train]

I had few Rapids and Estelles in my time and i wish i had kept them especially looking at the value of them now.I had an A.1 condition 10,000 mile Rapid which i bought and then drove to the Czech Republic.My Estelle that everyone knew was a 1977 120L modified with later Rapid running gear,engine and gearbox and lowered to hell.....that went to Czech twice,none of my rear engined Skuds gave any reliabilty issues and they were brilliant fun !

Same here, I should have kept mine.

I had an Estelle and a Rapid. Both 1.2 litre, and with a spare engine. I did once joke that I had a 3.6 litre 12 cylinder Skoda when one of them was carting about the engine from the other and the spare at the same time!

The spare engine was so I could do an engine service, and rebuilds, in doors and then swap into which ever car needed the engine. My ex wife was hard on them as she was driving around 30-40K miles pa in them and wearing out the engines.

 

[The Jogger]

This, to take me to my Greenpeace meetings........

 

[flying start]

I know with Vauxhall if you have Flame Red they fade, and Power Red doesn't as it has a clear coat. Most manufacturers used a clear coat from 06 onwards. Here's mine, clayed and polished every couple of months and waxed with carabuna wax usually once a month.
Vauxhall Astra 1.9cdti with adjustable map running at 181hp and 261 lb-ft torque can switch to just under 200 which is fun but starts to get bad turbo lag and smokes a bit much for me and Vauxhall make there 6 speed box from cheese so need to be a bit carefull.

I looked at a 2.0 turbo in red Sri model I think but went with the civic type r very nice I used to own a Astra van 2003 1.7 ctdi mk4 it was very fast and really good on fuel you seem to have a very nice shine on that very nice

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

This, to take me to my Greenpeace meetings........

This was mine

I hated the side-steps, but daughter & SWMBO needed them for access

 

[Piemaster]

The Alfa is now several different shades of red, body/rear spoiler and front bumper. Think the front may have been touched up at some point as one side has faded to a different red from the other.

I have cunningly covered up the different colours with road grime.

 

[RWright]

What year?

2007 4.2L V6 I looked at the EPA fuel economy and it is 19 highway. I get better mileage than that on the highway at 70 mph with 500 lbs. in the back of it. I use it for work mostly. I have put more miles on my bicycle this year than on my truck. I have an 85 Nissan pick up that gets about 25 mph. I don't drive it anymore. I also have a car that gets about 26 on the highway. I don't drive it often either.

 

[gavgav]

I currently have a Suzuki Vitara - not fast but capable and fun despite its flaws. Very much like my bikes in fact.
View attachment 18440

When did you take it to the Arctic?

 

[Archie_tect]

2007 4.2L V6 I looked at the EPA fuel economy and it is 19 highway. I get better mileage than that on the highway at 70 mph with 500 lbs. in the back of it. I use it for work mostly. I have put more miles on my bicycle this year than on my truck. I have an 85 Nissan pick up that gets about 25 mph. I don't drive it anymore. I also have a car that gets about 26 on the highway. I don't drive it often either.

That'll be USA gallons though RW, 8 x 16floz?

 

[JtB]

Looking forward to taking delivery of my new '4 wheel motorbike' on the 1st of March.