I have done many cars in my time but when it comes to faded car paint, you can either save it or you won’t. The majority of car fade issues are usually from today’s convenience car wash centres.

Repeated use of car washes that provide the best of Chinese made products for your duco will soon see you restoring your faded car paint either through expensive paint correction or even better, a fresh new car respray just when you need a few thousand escaping your bank account. Isn’t that just dandy? Spend little now, pay big later !

Jokes aside, as sarcastic as that sounds, there is nothing funny about it because it is definitely the case that if you ill treat your car with cheap car washes, it will cost you, and cost you dearly. The car pictured here is a what some would deem to be a collectible version which is the T6 Uprated version.

The photos here and how this Volvo was transformed clearly do not do this car justice. This car was an every day run around which looked very sad for this customer but when he picked it up, he thought he was picking up a new car with paint protection. Now, of course, the car was also treated with a QFX ceramic coating from Toughseal paint protection.

Faded car paint damage van be removed with car detailing methods but not always, especially when it is deeper than top surface. These days, I only ever use paint correction to repair faded car paint damage and in this case, restoring faded car paint on this Volvo was like a magic transformation. Actually, this car was what you would call a diamond in the rough.

Before any car buffing can be carried out with any type of machine buffers or even by hand, all paint surfaces have to be clear of any paint contamination. the reason is that you can not buff contaminants off car paint just to get to the paint so everything must be cleaned off either using a clay bar or a clay cloth. In this case, it was a clay cloth that was used to remove all contaminants.

Once the paint is clean from any surface contamination, you should notice that the paint looks a little more glassy. Not only that, but also very smooth to the touch. This is how you know when paint is ready for buffing faded paint surfaces.

Running a clay cloth or clay bar is not always a necessity. You only need to run the back of your hand over car paint while washing and you will feel anything stuck to the surfaces. If the surface is anything other than smooth to the touch, you must run a clay cloth over the surfaces or a clay bar. Clay bars actually also come in different strengths.

Now, looking at this glassy reflection on this roof here, you would think this was the finioshed product and this is what it looks like. Well, believe  it or not, this is not finished. This roof is wet. It actually has a layer of water which is sitting dead flat on the surface.

This tells you two things:

1. The roof is clean and free from all contaminants and there is nothing to obscure the surface tension making it look like the roof is restored
2. And that there is no paint sealer or ceramic coating paint protection of any kind on the paint as the water is not being repelled.

The only way to really restore car paint from fade and remove it entirely from the surface is with hard combinations. The combinations are normally reserved for avoiding spray painting situations. Trust me, if you have ever had a car or panels repaired and it hasn’t been completed correctly, you’ll understand why it is crucial you maintain your original factory paintwork. This one of the reasons we recommend ceramic coating for cars. This is why we insist on investing in the best ceramic paint protection for cars .

Moving on, we took to this diamond in the rough with a rotary and wool pad. I didn’t want to waste any time so I took to it with what relates to an atomic bomb when it comes to flattening damage from car paint. I wanted to remove this quickly.

The majority of the faded damage was on the bonnet and the boot but not so much on the boot and the roof was still OK. The rest of the car suffered more so from loads of light swirl marks that distorted the shine from the car as well as very mild clear degradation which was easily fixed. If you are considering a ceramic coating cost for protecting your car paint down the track, give us a call on 0418 118 998

Yes, I could have used sandpaper to wet sand the entire panel but was not really in the mood for removing sanding marks after that. Not only that but I was trying to save as much paint as possible without cutting to aggressively so I used a not so strong correction compound. Had I used paper, I would have removed a lot more material and then I would have needed a rubbing compound to take out the sanding marks, so saving paint was on the agenda.

This paint fade was relatively deep in on section so it took a few passes bit by bit to remove paint fade from the bonnet. In one section, it was relatively deep but not deep enough to go through a clear coat. The problem with paint fade, especially when it is paint fade caused by car washes is that although you may remove the initial damage and it looks restored, it can return in as little as a day.

It won’t be as bad, but it is what is left and this just means more correction work to come. This can either happen within the hour or within twelve months. Most cars damaged by car wash chemicals don’t usually recover fully. Some do as long as the paint fade was strictly top surface but if the chemical itself has penetrated into the clear coat, it can be permanent where it will eventually break down the clear coat and then it starts to peal. In situations like this, a  paint respray will be in order. Having a been paint fade repair detailer and having resores cars from paint fade over this many years, you quickly learn what can be salvaged and what can’t

Ok, so here it is. Pictured below is a Volvo T6 that you would never had imagined how sad it looked when it came to for car paint fade restoration. We do at times, every now and then, not all the time but just every now and then, receive what was mentioned earlier a diamond in the rough.

This Volvo was one of them. The client initially came to us just wanting the paint fade removed from the bonnet. Although most of the damage was on the bonnet, the rest of the vehicle was suffering from paint degradation and swirl marks which were all top surface. This was a car screaming to come out and boy did it come out. No way did the customer expect to receive a car that looked like it had basically rolled off the showroom floor but that is what he got. A new car all over again ready for the local car show