New Tonneau cover
Thanks Mom and Dad for the Christmas present!
My car came with no top, simple the metal frame. It’s a fun car, not a dialy driver, so I wasn’t worried about fitting a full top, but I wanted some protection when I leave it parked somewhere. I decided to fit a tonneau cover, and my Mom and Dad got it for me for Christmas. Quite pleased with it. It was a bit more effort to get all the hardware in place, both on the car and on the cover, than I expected, but it came out well in the end, I think.
Elbow Grease – Polishing the paint
My car is old, and when I bought it the paint showed a lot of oxidation and some fading (along with a few dents, lots of chips, etc.), particularly along the tops of the fenders and the hood. I’m not certain if the paint is original, but I’ve looked pretty closely and can’t see much evidence of a respray. If there has been one, it was a long time ago. The car hasn’t been restored, so I’m inclined to believe the paint is original, but I’d like to do some research to figure out if there is some way to know for sure. Edit: I’m now pretty sure, with further inspection, that it is was repainted at some point, in the original color.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I wanted to see what could be done with some good old fashioned elbow grease to clean it up. Armed with a polishing compound, Meguir’s Color Restore, and Meguir’s Gold Wax, and an army of polishing cloths and pads, I went into the garage last night and spent quite a few hours polishing. I did two passes with the polishing compound, and could see improvements. When the surface was still moist, it would look nice, but dry quickly and not look that great. The the third pass was the color restore, which worked, I think, but I’m not certain it did a lot. When I finished with these three steps, I’ll admit, I was a little worried. The car looked better, maybe? At this point, it certainly didn’t look good and I did have some very real worry I’d made things worse. It had sort of a dull look to it.
I put on a layer of the Meguir’s wax, and then left it to dry overnight. This morning I went out and wiped the dried wax, and it looked really good. Followed with a polishing pad, and it looked even better. A few more swirl marks than I would have liked, but overall, a dramatic improvement.
I wish I’d taken better before and after photos, the light wasn’t great, but you get the idea.
Overall, I was pleased with the results. My wife was amazed when she saw the car this morning, and truthfully, I think the improvement is more dramatic in person than in the photos. I wasn’t 100% happy, in sunlight there are more “swirl” marks present than I would have liked, but I’m 95% happy. It certainly looks significantly better than it did.
