Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rich5ltr]

Hi, I've got a frustrating problem on my 1958 Aston in that the paintwork goes milky if it gets wet. Don't laugh, but today I worked in it in the morning and decided to wash the previous weekends bugs off the bonnet and nose before meeting my brother in his Healey 3000. Wanted it to look nice! Problem is that as the washing water ran down the bonnet it left streaky marks and I would up having to wax the bonnet again. Now surely it can't be right that I have to wax the car every time I wash it so there must be something I can do about this. The paintwork is about 35 years old and I assume is cellulose. When polished and waxed it looks immaculate and it now has had a coupe of layers of wax on it. Could it be the modern bodywork wash liquids (Meguires body shampoo) or does anyone have any other ideas or thoughts? Thanks Rich...

[47p2]

Is the paintwork red by chance?

What polish are you using?

An easy way to tell if it is cellulose is you will get some colour on your cloth as you polish
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I take it you are leathering off with a clean leather?

I would also check what wax and shampoo you are using, and what water are you using?

Cheers

Dave

[Rich5ltr]

Yes the car is red, I think I know where you're going with that, and yes I do get colour on my cloth when I polish it. I use water straight from the tap (i.e. not softened) and Meguiers car shampoo then I simply rinse of with the hose and dry with the leather as quick as I can. When I got the car I used a P21 paintwork cleanser (polish) and since then I use P21 carnuba wax.

[Scotty]

Red is a so-and-so of a colour once the white marks start appearing. I would love to be able to give you a positive solution, but from my experience its just one of those colours that no matter what you do on the wax front the marks continue re-appearing.

I believe it has something to do with the chemical composition of the paint / pigments and age - short of elbow grease all I can think of is either a respray or if the paint is in good condition perhaps a clear-coat lacquer may be a solution.

However I hope someone else here will prove me wrong as I've been where you are and was fit to be tied, never did find anybody that could give me advice how to fix it.

[47p2]

I would try cutting the paintwork back and repolishing. For some reason red tends to bleed and when this happened with me I found the above procedure worked for a while, it never cured it though
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[Uncle Joe]

I suspect that the problem is the fact that the water is too hard, and the milkiness is coming from the calcium in it. These streaks dont dry ''on'' the paint as such, but ''in'' it. I had a similar problem myself years ago, as the water from my well was hard. The solution in my case was a softening apparatus in the incoming pipe

Is there any possibility of trying a wash in soft water somehow?

[Rich5ltr]

Thanks chaps, yes I have a water softener fitted so I can fill a bucket from one the taps that supplies softenened water to see what happens. I was hoping that if I built up several layers of wax it might help...

[47p2]

Try cutting the paint back with Farecla G10. It has a very light cut and will not remove too much paint. After this apply a good coat of polish
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[Greeney in France]

I am afraid it will continue; I had a red escort exactly the same I tried everything the only answer was to clear coat lacquer it
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