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Wax or Ceramic coating?

7K views 58 replies 15 participants last post by  Lvspark 
Find someone to wash it, clay bar it, cut and buff, a coat of wax and sell it. Detailing is why dealerships / people can buy a $5000 vehicle and turn around and sell it for $7500. Most people buy what they SEE - not what's underneath.
 
The two paint types (the 70's Bronco and just about any modern paint or recent paint job) are massively different, which require different strategies when detailing the paint. If the Bronco is original paint - I highly doubt it's basecoat / clearcoat. So all the modern waxes / ceramics - even Zaino - won't do anything but MAGNIFY the condition of the existing paint. Just ask the guy from Zaino - he'll tell you that if you paint is in crappy shape, Zaino will magnify it.

That being said - I'm pretty sure a 1st Gen FSB is single stage. Easy way to tell - take a small bit of polishing / rubbing compound, wipe it on an inconspicuous area. If you get COLOR on the rag from the paint, you do not have clear coat.

You might have to hunt around to find a detail shop that knows how to cut and buff single stage. Reason being - with base coat / clear coat - you're "polishing" or compounding the clear coat on top of the color coat. With an OEM single stage paint job - there is no clear coat. So when you cut and buff you are actually removing color from the surface to make the finish shine. So you have to be a lot more careful with a buffer, speed choice, pad choice, material choice etc.

That's the difference in a quality detail job. If it were me - and I wanted to get it looking as good as possible for resale, I'd wash it with dawn dish soap (strips all waxes and coatings off) Then I'd hit it with a clay bar (use detail spray as a lube for the clay bar) this will get surface contaminants off the finish. After the first wash, take a plastic bag and put it over your hand. If you rub it across the paint and can feel "bumps" and other things on the surface - use the clay bar. Wash it again, hit it with a polish then a good wax. If you're paying for someone's time doing this - that's where the extra expense is - experience and time involved.

HTH
 
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