half polish, dull, or matte, polish techniques ?

[greenrig]

want to polish my 54 FC but not to a mirror. actually want it to look clean and bright but not real shiney or mirror? ive polished a couple airstreams before with nuvite to a mirror (or close) shine so i kinda know what i'm doing. i looking for both product and technique suggestions . thanks

[AIR-Quarius]

Mothers is a good one for great cleaning but will not try to give you the mirror shine....

[greenrig]

redhawker, did you do your overlander with mothers? what would i apply it with i wonder? elbow grease?

[greenrig]

any feedback on the truck box polish, diamond brite i believe.?

[dlb435]

One of the goals of the high polish to to remove all of the tiny scratches and restore the finish to a "like new" condition. There is no law that says you have to take the polishing that far. The polishing compounds come in different grades. Just stop at the level of polish that you feal is good. Or you can polish all the way out and just wait. The surface will slowly dull on it's own.

[BarryIowa]

I have used Diamond Brite and Nuvite and with either of these polishes I think it would be difficult to get an even polish short of the mirror finish. When I used either polish, my 55 Flying Cloud looks like a mirror from 10 feet. Only when you get closer do you see the swurls or tiny scratches. It seems to go pretty quickly from dull to mirror when using a compounder. I'm not sure it there are other products out there that could help you get to the luster you are after.

[InsideOut]

You can have it blasted with walnut shells or baking soda...this will give it an overall "clean" semi-matt, not shiny finish.

Shari

[Lothlorian]

Very interesting comments. My finish on my sides front and back look fine. It is the top that does not look to hot. I like the way mine looks but I would like to get my top to look like my sides. I want it to be uniform. I

Brian

[InsideOut]

You could just strip it...once the milky white of failed clearcoat is removed, you may have a more even looking finish. The clearcoat on the top is the usually the first to go...the sides last a bit longer - but if yours is just starting to go, and the areas where the clearcoat has already failed hasn't oxidized to much, it may look good all over once stripped. A friend was able to do this with his '69 and it looked MUCH better after stripping - since then it has just oxidized all over pretty evenly - looks better than failing, patchy clearcoat.

Shari

[greenrig]

baking soda blast! yes! this would be a great compliment to an acid bath to make sure that acid stops in its tracks. i actually know nothing about either one. but i liked the baking soda blast idea. is this equipment rentable. anyone done this? sounds really cool..and easy. ive got my nuvite ordered already, i know what i have ahead of me and i'm not looking forward. i'm tired of the 'black' and even though i wear as much protection as possible, i'm still concerned with health effects from polishing. that stuff is narly.