Advice on Cleaning up Old Damaged Paint

Raymond_B

Hobbyist
Hey guys, now that I have my project running I've started to get it cleaned up. It is a 1995 Lightning that I bought new in 95, blew the motor up in 2001 and it has sat the better part of 20 years. A few years of that were outside unfortunately. To make matters worse when it was in storage some assh@ts broke in to the storage unit and stole a bunch of things. In the process besides putting a few dents in the truck where they walked over it it looks like they slid something across the hood.

I've picked up a bunch of Chemical Guys products to try to clean up the paint. Below is what I have done so far.

Washed the truck with Dawn then tried Hexlogic white pad with V36 and V34 respectively because I am new I didn't want to just jump to a really aggressive pad/compound. It cleaned up the paint a bit, but it was still cloudy. Finally I went with V32 with orange pad then went to green. The truck has cleaned up, but I can still see the scratches in the hood and also what looks like bird dropping etching. At this point I have stopped after doing the whole truck with V32 and green pad.

So here's my questions. Is it worth it to use a more aggressive pad with the V32 or another product (CG or another supplier)? Or should I simply take the truck to a pro and have them wet/color sand (not sure the exact term) it? Am I even on the right track? I thought I was after reading here, but maybe I am in over my head?


Here's some pictures of what the truck looked like coming out of storage and what it looks like now. At the moment it's definitely a 15 footer, but as you get closer, especially the hood you can really see the imperfections.

Straight out of storage.

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Comparison on hood.

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Fender done.

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Side shot where it looks relatively shiny, the sides are in way better shape than the hood.

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Hood scratch.

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Nasty bird dropping I think

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Unfortunately, those scratches and bird dropping spot won't buff out, especially if it is factory paint, which is very thin.
 
Unfortunately, those scratches and bird dropping spot won't buff out, especially if it is factory paint, which is very thin.

Thank you, it is factory paint so I guess I'll move up the grits and polish and wax it and call it done. More of an excuse to get one of you pros to paint it SS black :)
 
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