Oxidation removal - At least that is what I think it is

[sscully]

Working on the sister in law's 03 red Mustang, she got it not too long ago, and prior to her it has a stripe package on it ( in addition to the DB's name and the word Mustang on the door handle  )

I gave it a try with Optimum MF cutting pad and Hyper Polish.  I got some color on the pad, but this is going to take 3 months to do at this rate.

What is a good plan of attack for red oxidation ?

[Too Stroked]

Steve,

A couple of random thoughts. First, color on the pad? That car should have basecoat / clearcoat on it. That would mean you shouldn't get any color on the pad. Has it been painted?

Second, if it's been painted, BE CAREFUL!

Call me and we'll talk.

[Rollingrock]

could it be the dealer prep guys using colorX wax?

[Too Stroked]

No, it was actually worse than that. I'll let Steve share the surprise answer with some pics. You'll love it!

[sscully]

Tom saved my Bacon on this one.  This is where it shows I am a novice with doing detail work.  I don't prep for the what ifs, as we do not have unknown / hidden things on our cars ( or my parents / sisters ).

I had the same thought about the mild color on the Opti Cutting pad, that I was getting with Hyper polish. 
Tom hit me up along side the head, to bring me back to reality, it was a single stage "hot iron" paint job.

Tom told me where to look for signs, I had not seen any, but he told me time and time again about finding a masking area.  "Even the best painters will screw up masking" was the tag line that did it.
I was looking under the hood and in the door jam ( for more obvious signs ) when I happen to look up on an angle at the rear window, where the "hard top" looking roof meets the body.  Up under there was the sign


CRAP !!!, red paint on the window trim.

Got a junk MF towel and my ONR pre soak, and starting looking closer.
- I had only cleaned off the section that I was working on ( shown above ). 

Wiped down the door looking at the metal flake to see if it was different, and I cleaned where the window trim meets the body.  DOUBLE CRAP !!! Red paint mask line.



OK, look at where the touch up paint was put on ( I think it was Vattozone "close enough" red paint ) by a scratch on the hood.  VERY carefully ONR spray it, and barely drag the MF towel over it.  TRIPLE CRAP !!!  The touchup did not take and the paint job was peeling off the factory paint.
This was with the Halogen work lamp at the right angle to the hood, with it open, and I tilted the camera down until the light caught just right to show what looks like factory red wet sanded.



The sister in law did not know it was a repaint and she was none too pleased with Tom saving me from repainting the car 

Word to the wise, don't be like Steve.  Don't be that guy !!!

Tom I mean it, you saved me ~ $ 3K, I owe you big time !!!
- Karma will not let me forget this one.

[Too Stroked]

Hey Steve, just glad I could help another TDC memeber here. Other members have saved my bacon and taught me a ton along the way. That's just one of the cool things about this site!

And for those of you just tuning in, the thing that caught my attention in Steve's orginal post was the fact that he came up with some color on his pad. This car was clearly (bad pun) painted with a basecoat / clearcoat system when it left the factory. Only single stage paint should "color up" a pad.

The other thing that just didn't make sense was the faded paint around where the stripes were removed. Yes, BC / CC will fade over time, but that just looked a bit much to me. Single stage on the other hand will fade more easily.

While I was on the phone with Steve, we kept looking for the typical places where you can tell a car was painted. When Steve said "Holy Crap!" I knew he'd found it. I then asked him to "Step away from the car (and drop the Chalupa.)"

Some of you may ask why a re-paint is cause for concern. As Steve found out, many body shop paint jobs are either thin, highly variable in thickness and / or not properly prepared or cured. Hit one of these babies with too aggressive of a process and the paint will come off faster than you can shake a stick. And that's not what most of us mean by "correction." Good catch Steve! Uh, and sorry about your sister man.

[Need4racin]

Just don't use aggresive compound or press down on those area. I wouldn't be afraid.

[sscully]

Just don't use aggresive compound or press down on those area. I wouldn't be afraid.

'You are a better man than I am Gunga Din'
I followed Tom's directions! 
By time he told me "and drop the Chalupa", I was already putting the MF cutting pad on the Velcro on the bottom of the towel holder to dry, and unplugging the flex ( had already cleaned the MF cutting pad prior to calling Tom )

That spot on the hood that I am pointing at, the paint looks like it might be 1 mil thick, if it is lucky.

I figure how much I am going to grind on the paint to get the fade around the stripes  out ( or more than likely, only minimize it ) there would be about half the paint gone.

No thanks, I keep my $3K 

[Blown F-150]

Great catch Tom! Sorry to hear they car was repainted SS instead of Base/Clear. Who does that!?!

[sscully]

...<snip>...Sorry to hear they car was repainted SS instead of Base/Clear. Who does that!?!

Someone that wants to dump a car in a hurry and wants to contain costs ( thin paint job, less material and quick ).

Don't ask me what the sister in law was doing..... Not my money.

It was a HUGE save on Tom's part.