The Great British summer, is there anything less predictable?
We’ve all been there, enjoying glorious sunshine one minute, then cowering under an umbrella the next, only to be searching for sunglasses shortly after. The “sun, rain, sun” summer weather is something all to familiar. Following these short showers, you may be tempted to leave your classic car wet and let the sun dry it. We strongly suggest you do not do this and dry it quickly with your drying towel.
Don’t believe us? Just ask Geoff…
Geoff is the proud owner of this rather lovely Triumph TR6. He had driven to a car show in blazing sun, but shortly after arriving was the victim of a summer downpour. He noticed his fellow owners drying their cars; “I was at a show to enjoy myself, not spend the afternoon buffing, so I decided to leave it.” he said. It wasn’t until he got home that he realised his once flawless Signal Red paintwork was now covered in ugly white blotches.
He reached for his trusty Super Resin Polish and even a few other more aggressive rubbing compounds, but nothing would shift the marks. It was then Geoff emailed Autoglym to see if there was anything we could suggest. After explaining his predicament and mentioning he was just down the road from Autoglym HQ, we invited him in for a masterclass in classic car paint rectification, with our Technical Services Specialist- Karl Heath, to find out what had caused those white blotches.
Karl explained “Over time car paint can become porous. The combination of moisture and a high temperature on the panel can leave these very stubborn watermarks that are ‘in’ rather than ‘on’ the paint. If your paintwork is susceptible to these marks, you must take care to protect it from the effects of summer showers and dry it promptly, ideally with a Hi-Tech Microfibre Drying Towel.”
After first washing and drying the car, Karl took paint depth readings to assess paint levels. Deeming there was sufficient paint on the affected panels, he then set to work with our Professional product, Rapid Renovator and his trusty Flex rotary polisher.
Rapid Renovator is a single stage compound designed to remove light to medium defects and quickly made progress on the marks, gently removing them without taking away excess paint. Karl continued to assess each panel as he worked, until all of the marks were removed from the horizontal surfaces.
The great thing about Rapid Renovator is that it requires no additional refining products. It removes defects and leaves a highly polished surface. It is completely free of fillers and masking agents, so all that is needed after use is a coat of High Definition Wax to seal in and protect the paint. So that is what we did.
After a short time the wax had cured, so we buffed it off, put the roof down and headed outside to see the finished result. We present one gleaming TR6 complete with beaming owner.
So protect those classics from summer rain!
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