Originally Posted by jmk

I think that the OEM finish on that car was two stage. Red would have been the first color to be converted to base/clear. Base clear is much preferrable single stage, especially with red.

There are three reasons red fades fast. The organic pigments used in modern red finishes are more suseptable to UV degridation than other pigments. Red pigments do not hide well so there is a much higher percentage of pigment then with most other colors. The human eye can generally see red better than other colors, so small changes tend to be more noticable.

Red is also much harder to disperse. You have to use more "grind resin" per lb. of pigment. This tends to reduce durability from the resin side of the equation.

Bright yellow and purple pigments are also low hide, lower durability the blues and the greens.

Wax will not increase durability. It will only hide the inperfections. If you want a premium paint job on this car, you will need to paint it.