hey guys, im planning on purchasing a honda civic EK (EJ) soon...the only probkem that i can tell is there seems to be slight oxidation on the roof of the car i want to buy, ive tried searching but i can only come up with painting fenders/panels and cant find anything about oxidation. my question is if i want it to be the original black again will i need to repaint the whole car to match or can i get away with just the roof being painted (is that possible?) alright thanks for any replies (my first topic started on HT sorry if it sounds noob)

 

If the paint itself is just oxidized a good buff and wax and some claybar should do it justice.

 

Try lightly sanding it then running a buffer over it. If that doesn't work, re-painting it will be best. If your car is black, you will have no problem panel painting it, even if it's B92P (Nighthawk Black Pearl), I've panel painted several Acura's, and Accords in that color.


Modified by WihaSi at 3:11 PM 4/26/2007

 

It really depends on how bad the oxidation is.

By the way, most people call oxidation "fading". Few actually call it oxidation.

The products usually used to remove light oxidation are polish and compound (for the heavier oxidation.

I would only recommend repainting if the clearcoat is damaged in some way. More than likley this oxidation can be removed with normal polish. Maybe compound if it's a bit too much for the polish to work on it.

I have a hand detail thread linked in my sig.

By the way, the other products mentioned by ek forever guy, claybar and wax, do not remove oxidation. Rather, claybar removes surface contaminants, generally the stuff you can feel with your hand (claybar makes the paint feel like glass again). Wax protects all the other work your detailing did and also offers a slight protection against some scratches and such.

 

Claybar will be part of the process too. Many of the Car washes I worked at in PHX used claybar and buffing to get rid of oxidation. Once you buff it it will still have oxidized residue which claybar will get rid of.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ek forever guy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Claybar will be part of the process too. Many of the Car washes I worked at in PHX used claybar and buffing to get rid of oxidation. Once you buff it it will still have oxidized residue which claybar will get rid of.</TD></TR></TABLE>
"Oxidized residue"?

 

yes.

 

wow thanks a lot guys!! that really helped, NOFX your write up was great, i plan to do that if i buy this car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ek forever guy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes. </TD></TR></TABLE>
That didn't explain much. I've never heard anyone use the term "oxidized residue". I even did a search and all that came back was mostly things regarding oxidation of metals (i.e., rust). I'm still not exactly sure what you're talking about.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EKduck &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow thanks a lot guys!! that really helped, NOFX your write up was great, i plan to do that if i buy this car </TD></TR></TABLE>
Hope it helps you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ek forever guy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If the paint itself is just oxidized a good buff and wax and some claybar should do it justice.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats what i did

 

When something Oxidizes it literally means oxygen reacting with whatever is oxidizing.

Iron rust is just oxidation. When you knock off rust it isn't iron, it's a an iron Oxygen mix.

 

I understand that.

But when it comes to detailing, that blueish white film that forms on top of paint, we call that "oxidation". Some people refer to it strictly as "fading", even though nothing's actually fading.

Old single stage paint jobs would oxidize. In order to fix the paint and make it shiny again you actually would have to buff off the "dead" paint, as it was called.

"Oxidation" on new clearcoat paint is not the clearcoat or the paint being eaten away. It is the paint drying out and collecting contaminants (often pollution). Polish removes contaminants, glaze both hides some hairline scratches and rehydrates the paint, and wax (or sealant) protects that work.

While polish can remove some of the clearcoat (this generally happens with machine or harsher polishes), you have to be careful since most of the UV protectants in the paint are often in the first 5/10th of a millimeter of the clearcoat.

Claybarring removes contaminants, which can help oxidation along, but it does not remove what detailers call oxidation.