Cloud shaped stains after heavy correcting polish? Also how can I restore this oxidized anodized aluminum trim?

[FISHERWERKE]

Hello everyone, I decided to try out my adams heavy correcting polish last night on an old Mercedes I have. I was thrilled to see the brilliance come back but as I stood back and let the light shine across the panel I noticed some cloud shaped stains all over it. Is this just because its a 1982 and was neglected for so long? Or is there a way to really restore the beauty of this paint? Wet sanding? Also it has polished anodized aluminum trim and it is very ugly.... White milky haze all over. 

 

Here's an overall shot of it in its faded glory

This is what the whole roof, hood, trunk looked like before polish

Here I tried my best to capture the staining I mentioned.

Here is the faded trim

 

[SgtLip]

Sorry, I can't help you at all. I just needed to tell you that YELLOW RAM 2500 rocks. 

 

I had a 2015 RAM 1500 in Yellow and I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of it.

[FISHERWERKE]

28 minutes ago, SgtLip said:

Sorry, I can't help you at all. I just needed to tell you that YELLOW RAM 2500 rocks. 

 

I had a 2015 RAM 1500 in Yellow and I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of it.

Thanks, I love this truck. Yellow is my favorite color and I searched and searched for a yellow Ram outfitted the way I wanted and with a proper box on it not the super short junk

[Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin]

1 hour ago, FISHERWERKE said:

Hello everyone, I decided to try out my adams heavy correcting polish last night on an old Mercedes I have. I was thrilled to see the brilliance come back but as I stood back and let the light shine across the panel I noticed some cloud shaped stains all over it. Is this just because its a 1982 and was neglected for so long? Or is there a way to really restore the beauty of this paint? Wet sanding? Also it has polished anodized aluminum trim and it is very ugly.... White milky haze all over. 

 

Here's an overall shot of it in its faded glory

 

This is what the whole roof, hood, trunk looked like before polish

 

Here I tried my best to capture the staining I mentioned.

 

Here is the faded trim

 

Hi Fisher, I'm having trouble seeing your pictures, but I do know this about correcting compounds:

 

Usually when you use a heavy compound like Adam's Heavy Correcting Compound, it is usually used in a multiple step process. The HCC is meant for cutting out defects, but not so much for finishing - it's common for there to be a little bit of hazing or clouding left behind with heavy compounds like this. 

 

So usually you would follow with at least one more step with the Orange Correcting Polish and the Orange Pad, which will get rid of the hazing leave a nice finish, and if you desire, you can follow with White Finishing Polish and a White Pad.

 

But with all of this keep in mind that you're dealing with old paint, and since I am having trouble viewing your pictures, I would wait until somebody that can see them tells you if it's an issue with the paint itself or just hazing left behind from the compound.

[SgtLip]

13 minutes ago, FISHERWERKE said:

Thanks, I love this truck. Yellow is my favorite color and I searched and searched for a yellow Ram outfitted the way I wanted and with a proper box on it not the super short junk

 

Yellow is my favorite color as well. I had a Yellow 2015 Subaru Crosstrek and the 2015 RAM 1500. Then I got another Subaru but I could only find it in white. So I color changed wrapped it to yellow. I just traded it over the weekend. Wife says my Yellow days are over. I laughed at her!!!

 

I apologize for hijacking your post. I hope you can resolve the issue as that Mercedes looks great.

[FISHERWERKE]

19 minutes ago, SgtLip said:

 

Yellow is my favorite color as well. I had a Yellow 2015 Subaru Crosstrek and the 2015 RAM 1500. Then I got another Subaru but I could only find it in white. So I color changed wrapped it to yellow. I just traded it over the weekend. Wife says my Yellow days are over. I laughed at her!!!

 

I apologize for hijacking your post. I hope you can resolve the issue as that Mercedes looks great.

 

No need to apologise. I have had 3 yellow VW GTI's, I have a 1974 Super Beetle that is yellow, I had a yellow VW Corrado, I have had cars in other colors and do own other colored cars but yellow is just the bees knees to me. I get a lot of compliments on the truck. Not too many like it around. 

[tlbullet]

1 hour ago, Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin said:

Hi Fisher, I'm having trouble seeing your pictures, but I do know this about correcting compounds:

 

Usually when you use a heavy compound like Adam's Heavy Correcting Compound, it is usually used in a multiple step process. The HCC is meant for cutting out defects, but not so much for finishing - it's common for there to be a little bit of hazing or clouding left behind with heavy compounds like this. 

 

So usually you would follow with at least one more step with the Orange Correcting Polish and the Orange Pad, which will get rid of the hazing leave a nice finish, and if you desire, you can follow with White Finishing Polish and a White Pad.

 

But with all of this keep in mind that you're dealing with old paint, and since I am having trouble viewing your pictures, I would wait until somebody that can see them tells you if it's an issue with the paint itself or just hazing left behind from the compound.

🔼i agree w yo-yo ma. At first i was disappointed when i began my car..but after FP i was blown away.  Although my paint was much newer...good luck.  Send us pics either way!

[FISHERWERKE]

The paint is not cloudy, It has these shapes I can see that are possibly water stains but its in the shape of clouds. Its hard to see in the photo but you can make out little squiggly shapes. Almost like they are eaten into the finish. 

[ocdrifter]

That chrome molding is made in Germany and even new it looks milky it’s the way Germans make it, there is no way to polish it out. 

[falcaineer]

4 hours ago, FISHERWERKE said:

The paint is not cloudy, It has these shapes I can see that are possibly water stains but its in the shape of clouds. Its hard to see in the photo but you can make out little squiggly shapes. Almost like they are eaten into the finish. 

 

It's certainly possible that's etching and since you polished you can now see it better. If it's etched, not much you can do to repair besides more aggressive means like wet sand or repaint.

[RayS]

I'd recommend picking out a test spot and hitting it with the correcting polish and an Orange pad to see if it diminishes the cloud.  It may be just far enough gone that it will need something more aggressive like wet sanding and the test spot should give you more information to go by.  For reference, I didn't have any problem seeing the pictures at all,  not sure why @Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin had an issue - you might want to try again Juan.

 

As for your preference for yellow, I can understand the desire for particular color vehicle, it's not like I haven't or don't have a few Red vehicles - ^^^Chris^^^ gives me a hard time when I say a couple, so I'll stick say a few for now.   I have post of Red Through The Years and it sounds like you could do one on Yellow vehicles.   If you ever find a real Camaro done in yellow it really did look sharp, as in 1969 or 1970 dark yellow.  

[SgtLip]

2 hours ago, RayS said:

 If you ever find a real Camaro done in yellow it really did look sharp, as in 1969 or 1970 dark yellow.  

 

AGREE 1,000%

[BRZN]

I took care of an 81 Mercedes 380SL last fall. The paint was thin single stage paint. The owner had marks on it he though he'd created by letting water dry on it too fast after washing, I'm not sure water could have etched as much as it had, but he said he'd never noticed them before.

 

Best I could get with out going through the red:

Wet sanding would have removed the color, color was very thin on the tops of the front fenders to where I could see the primer starting to show through. I was able to bring the gloss back by removing the oxidation, but not fully correct. A re-spray would be required, but why on the 37 year old original paint. Your pictures look very similar. Most of the car was done with foam pads using PCP followed up with PFP.

 

I was able to get the car to an awesome looking 10 footer, but that was it

Edited October 15, 2019 by BRZN

[red94chev]

A lot of that old trim came with some type of a film or clearcoat on it.  So what happens over the years is the base metal will start to corrode and lift the top coat and you end up with that hazy looking trim.  The only way to really fix it would be to completely refinish it.