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Good evening! My ‘85 has not been polished/waxed in about 10 years! I am hesitant to polish it for fear of damaging, or should I? Or just wash and wax? Thanks and Happy 2020!!
Paint on these cars is THIN. Trust me. I've been planning for a new thicker clearcoat for awhile.
I'd suggest a light cut polish, to take fine scratches out. and then ChemicalGuys jetseal (2-3 applications) then a wax of your choice.
Ideally you'd claybar the car to or have a detailing shop do it. Then polish, paint seal and wax lastly.
Then you'll get a wet mirror finish. But if you havn't done a proper spa day in years start with a 'Fallout' remover, dish soaps, clay bars to really clear the baked on crap.
If you have thin paint, then I would recommend a solid wash to remove all loose dirt and grim. After that I would use a light Clay Bar and bar the car. After barring use a good carnauba wax. Based off the fact that these cars have thin paint I would hand wax vice using a tool buffer.
That first and last pic look remarkably like what happens to original lacquer paint on old Corvettes. It somehow shrinks and expands making that crinkled look. There's not anything can be done to fix that particular problem except to refinish it. On the plus side, the NCRS judges practically squeal with delight when they see an original, un-restored Corvette with paint that looks like that. I don't know if JCNA concourse judges feel the same. Never heard any giddy squealing at a Jaguar show.
I think that you should try to save the original paint unless you are considering a bare metal type respray. I can see that there is checking in the finish but a good cleaning followed by light polishing, sealing, and waxing will bring the car to presentable standards. An acceptable repaint will be quite expensive, a show winning one is just too expensive for most folks. A really good paint shop could probably do some touching up in certain areas, but finding some one with the skill can be hard.
I am totally amazed at how you got the paintwork up to such a high standard just by flatting and polishing. It just shows that the single layer colour coat paints once used by Jaguar do have a USP after all.
A really lovely car !!
Dish soap and Fallout remover to start with, then with a polishing orbital buffer I used a light polish (I don't suggest a strong cut the paint is thin enough) Meguire or AutoGlym for our UK friends, then Jetseal (I used 4 layers total) it is a sort of sealing liquid teflon type product good for anything especially glass, then followed up with a wetshine wax from the same company though any good wax will add that final mirror shine and importantly - lock it in for awhile.
Jetseal is awesome they say it lasts up to 12 months I'd say it could provided you arn't power washing the car every other day. It does repel dirt and water like a forcefield so less cleaning overall.
Paint rebirth
