Heavy Oxidation

I'm looking at buying a '85 300D. Looks like the engine was well taken care of but the body is in med-poor condition. The car is pearl-gray. The roof and hood has heavy oxidation shots and the hood has as lot of scratches. It was painful to touch the surface because there was no wax or protectorant and the car was sitting out in the Houston sun/heat.

Anyway, I now have Mcgiars #9,7,26,34 and an orbital polisher. I'm just curious if I stand a chance of even halfway restoring the paint (willing to sacrifice days!) with these large oxidation areas about the size of a shoe print.

Thanks for a great site! maybe you'll could carry detailing products along with the parts supplies. i.e. flitz would be nice.. also a source for quality terry-cloth towels; the "Lee S." autographed ones!

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Mark Herzig
1992 500E (82,000 miles)
1987 300SDL (105,000)

Hey Mark,
Sounds like a good, functional car. You may not get it to concours shape, but you can make it look as good or better than most ordinary cars. I assume from your previous post that you are not buying this car to be a garage queen. (or even princess) The oxidation of that thickness is a good news/bad news deal. On the one hand it HAS been neglected to reach that state. The good news is that sometimes the top layer(s) of oxidation acts as a protective barrier to what is underneath. You have all you need with the #'s and orbital. This is one instance where the Mirror Glaze numbered line has a distinct advantage over the "gold class" stuff. Its more individualized nature will let you work the problems more specifically.

Before you start the restoration project be sure to have 8-10 terry bonnets for the orbital. The oxidation that you remove will build up on them rather quickly. Once they turn 90%+ black it is time to turn them inside out. Take the flipped bonnet and run it to 90+% blackness. At that time, just pop on a new one.

I'd advise using #9 first and doing 2-3 goings over with it. (go over car with buffer and #9, then remove with terry hand towels) After you have done that it will make doing the 2-3 (or more if necessary) applications of #7 much easier and better looking. When you can go over an area with #7 and not get any black residue you know your done. What you remove should appear dark green but not black.

I've noticed a big benefit from using an orbital with #9, not much of a benefit from using it with #7. Speaking as far as pure visual results of course... On a job this size the orbital saves your shoulders, neck, back, hands, etc, that is its main benefit.

When your done removing all the oxidation with #7, the #26 will protect your labor very nicely. If everything is in good shape it should apply and remove pretty easily. Save the #34 for trim, doorjams, and other areas that only need minor cleaning and dressing up. Let me know how it turns out.

Hope this helps...Lee

Lee;

Just to make sure I'm on the right track, what I perceive to be oxidation may in fact be missing paint. Are oxidized areas grey and metallic looking or am I looking at scrapped off paint?

Mark,
If you see sheetmetal, your screwed. If it appears whitish, grayish, and cloudy then it is likely oxidation. If the paint is cracked or peeling there isnt anything you can do for that either. It depends, polish it a little bit. If you get a ton of gunk on your rag and the area improves, its oxidation. If any of the metal/bodypanel is peeking through then there is nothing to do but repaint or look the other way.

Good Luck....Lee