How to Restore the Paint Work of a Car
Cars that are not fortunate enough to be stored in a garage will be affected by the elements imposed by Mother Nature. The rain, wind, snow, ice and sun will all have an adverse effect on the paintwork over time, often leaving it dull, lifeless and a shadow of what it once was. Fortunately, there is something that can be done to breathe new life in to the paintwork of your car, although it takes time, effort and a lot of hard work. So, if your car has been affected and you want to make it look like it has just been driven out of the showroom, read on.
Unfortunately, the process of washing, waxing and polishing will only keep your car looking immaculately clean for so long, and the condition of the paintwork will get worse with age. In order to get the paintwork up to its former glory it is necessary to T-Cut it.
T-Cut is simply a thick and abrasive cleaning fluid that is used to remove a top layer of paint, hence leaving behind a shiny new looking and un-weathered layer of paint. The fluid is abrasive enough to remove a very fine layer of paint but not so abrasive that it leaves scratches in the paintwork or permanently damages it.
Before T-Cutting a car you have to make sure the body work is properly clean and there are no particles of dirt, mud, bird droppings or anything else on the paintwork. Applying T-Cut to a dirty car and vigorously rubbing is likely to scratch the paintwork, which is likely to require repair, which is going to be costly, therefore the car will require a thorough wash at the outset. It is not necessary to use a special car shampoo or any other chemical cleaner at this point and water will be fine. That said, it is often easier to wash a car with a detergent than plain water, although remember to thoroughly rinse the bodywork to get rid of any excess detergent.
Once the car is washed it needs to be left to dry. A rub over with chamois leather will speed up the process, although it is not necessary. The car should not be polished or waxed after it has dried off.
Once the car is dry, pour a small amount of T-Cut on to a clean lint free cloth and apply it to a panel. Firmly rub the panel in a circular motion, smearing the T-Cut over the panel. Once the panel has been entirely rubbed down, take a different clean lint free cloth and remove the excess T-Cut by buffing the panel in a circular motion. During the buffing process you may see coloured flecks (the colour of which will depend on the colour of your car or the panel you are working on). Don’t worry about this as it is perfectly normal in the T-Cutting process. Keep buffing the panel until all the flecks have disappeared. With the panel finished, repeat the process on the other panels one at a time until the whole car has been T-Cut.
When T-Cutting a car it is important to complete a single panel in its entirety before moving on to the next panel. You should never let the T-Cut dry as this may cause a permanent mark on the car and damage it. When T-Cutting you should always apply the T-Cut with one cloth and remove it and buff the panel with the other cloth. Do not mix the two cloths up.
After the car has been T-Cut and the top layer of paint removed, the new layer of paint will require protecting since it has never seen the light of day. Therefore, it is important to wax the entire car, a panel at a time in order to protect the paintwork.
T-Cutting is an easy process, although it is time consuming so you need to set aside a few hours, obviously depending on the size of your car and the current state of the paintwork, to get the job done properly. Whilst it is labour intensive the end result is well worth the effort so it is a task worth doing properly.
