Old paint and new car care products Options

[swm914]

My son details cars summers and occasional weekends when home from college. He has a nice reputation. Some guy, by word of mouth called him and told him he could do his Boxster and that he is the first one to touch it besides him.

Anyway, he wants to detail my "new" '74 914 for me and I trust him. However, he is concerned that the normal pro grade quality products he uses may not be good to use on 30 year old paint. I'm thinking it shouldn't make any difference.

Can forum readers advise as to their experiences and offer any advice? The car is in Phoenix Red and is in great shape. Thanks

Steve

[Matt Romanowski]

As for products on the paint, any good stuff will work, but like everyone says, try it out before doing the whole car, preferably in a non showing area.

What old paint needs the most is usually oils and nutrients (like a plant). Reds (Pheonix Red is not really red though) usually dry out the fastest and fade. What you want to avoid is anything that has silicone (anything that flashes really quick).

I just went through a bunch of work on an original six that was painted with lacquer in the early 80's. Fades if you even mention water. After trying just about everything (P21s, Zymol, all the major domestic waxes) the best things was Meguir's Gold Class. It has a lot of oils and waxes in it that will "feed" the paint and protect it.

Pat - on interiors, it's important to dress them properly. The plastizers in vinyl constantly migrate our of the vinyl. When they lose too much, the vinyl becomes brittle and cracks (the only real diffence between a pvc pipe and your seat is plastizer). What you want is something that feeds the vinyl and doesn't make it shiny. Stay away from silicone. The other secret is to buff off the excess after you dress the interior to get rid of the shine.