White Paint? Is it Clear Coated?

Ideally any vehicle should be clayed a couple of times a year with a mild clay, polished with a mild polish or cleaner-polish once a year, and waxed 2-4 times a year to maintain the finish. This is applies to both single stage or base/clear paint and all colors. Single stage paint is less resistant to UV damage and therefore becomes dull and oxidized over the years, while base/clear does not in most circumstances.

That being said, I rarely wash or wax or generally clean my 99 4runner, and it looks like shit, but the paint isn't going to fail or anything if I do nothing. The tacoma on the other hand has a permanent paint coating on it because it makes it far easier to keep looking clean and I don't like spending my rare moments of time-off maintaining my vehicles finish.

 

This is what is happening to my 2011 AC. I've never owned a vehicle that needed to be waxed more than once or twice a year. I'm pretty pissed that I'm now getting circular spots on the hood that are dull. There is also a spot on the side on the door. I've only had this truck 2.5 years and IMO, these spots shouldn't be there. I've got a 1997 white Saturn that was garaged until I got it from my father-in-law about 7 years ago. Since then, I've only waxed it once and it still has a perfect finish.

 

This is pretty alarming. I'm not too sure I want to buy super white now.

 

I contacted my local detailer, and he was saying 1-stage paints have problems with the opticoat. Although that WOULD be a great way to protect the paint, since it's a permanent coating...similar to if the car would have had a clear coat to begin with.

Anyone else heard that?

 

No, I would suggest consulting with another detailer. If it works on glass, textured plastic, fiberglass gel coat, matte paint jobs, matte wheels, vinyl wrap, 3M Paint Protection Film, spray bombed flat black bed racks and steel bumpers, it will sure as shit work on freshly polished single stage paint.

I've seen somebody scrape the failing clearcoat off of their roof, polish the base coat to a shine and apply opti coat. It stayed shiny and still beaded water for a year last time I heard. The whole thing is documented somewhere on autopia.org detailing forum.

Edit: woops somebody bumped this old thread then deleted their post... oh well info still valid.

 

I believe OC 2.0 was not designed for glass, plastic, matte color material....

But there are MANY different coatings available. OC 2.0 is not the only one out there.
In fact, i prefer any other coatings over OC 2.0.

Yes it is designed to last forever, however it does not have as good of a shine compare to other coatings out there.

 

Yeah that was my bad. I bumped it then changed my mind and decided to make a new thread on cc vs single stage. Good info on the opti coat

 

Taken from the www.opti-coat.com:

"Opti-Coat (Opti-Guard) is a hard wearing, aftermarket, ceramic clear coat for superior resistance to scratching (9H) and chemical etching from environmental impacts. It provides permanent protection for all factory paints, and can also be applied to exterior glass, metal and hard plastic surfaces."

From personal experience it works just fine on anything matte I've tried it on, it just takes some extra care to get the coating on evenly. An airbrush if you're looking for hints there.


I prefer it for a number of reasons. I would never apply it to any glossy paint without properly polishing that paint first, therefore the "amount of shine that it adds" is not something I'm concerned with. Also the fact that it doesn't change the appearance is one of the reasons I believe it has worked for me on matte surfaces.

 

Here are some links to the more popular coatings for those who are interested.

http://opti-coat.com/

http://www.cquartz.info/103-cquartz

http://gtechniqna.com/exterior-coatings/crystal-lacquer/

They are all great coatings and far beyond any wax or sealant.

 

I read somewhere that the clear coat is mixed in with the white paint. I never own anything except white vehicles.

 

Is it safe to polish? I'll be using v36 polish and a medium polishing pad

 

I don’t see why not .

 

V36 is a cutting polish.

What condition is your paint in?
If its in the powder-like condition described in this post then I would probably go with a more abraisive polish.

If you have pretty typical scratches and swirls its a great polish.

I have used the V36 (with orange pad) and V38 as a follow up with a white pad. Gave a great shine.

Like I said V36 is a cutting polish so best if followed up with a final polish as a two step but Chemical Guys does advertize as a polish you could use as a single stage polish.

If you can post a picture of the condition of your paint. You have an ‘08 so if it’s never been polished before you may need more power than a med-polish pad and V36
(Remember use 1 pad per panel).

 

I think some of the black is not clear coated, I had a 2001 Black RAV4 that definitely was not clear coated. Every time I would polish it by hand my sponge would be black.

 

Black is clear coated.

Do you clay bar your vehicle before you polish?

 

Ya I messed up that part. I did my tail gate and roof with one pad, it did wonders for the tailgate but the roof looks bad. I'll have to re do it. It looks fine now after sitting in the sun for a while. I just have to find time and do it again. I ended up just getting some big stretches out and then waxing

 

Yep, that paint did not have clear coat on it. It is much easier to tell with the black paint than white.

 

Something was wrong with the paint job then.

You really don’t paint correct by hand. You don’t have the power and speed to remove paint by hand. You need a machine.
This is why polishes intended to be used by hand contain fillers because they don’t really paint correct. They mask damage.

If you had paint coming up on a pad... something was wrong with the paint job.

Toyota blacks are all clear coated (at least since the making of the Tacoma).
Even then I own a white truck that is a single stage (clear coat is mixed in with the white). I never get paint coming out of my pads even when using a cutting polish.

Polishing removes microscopic paint amounts, not noticable amounts on a pad.

Now if you try to buff an unclean and unclayed vehicle your pad is going to turn black from contaminants in the paint.

Even single stage paints do not come off on a pad. So something is up with your Rav 4 or the vehicle wasn’t clean.
If your clear coat came off the Rav 4 it would be a matte black, not a gloss black.

 

Nothing was wrong with the paint, it was just oxidized. The polishing pad was too black for it to be dirt and contaminants, just like my 1970s Mercury would leave my pad red, and Buick would leave it blue.

I keep seeing people saying clear coat is mixed in with white paint, that is so not true. That is a car dealer answer where having an answer is more important than being correct. Clear coat is never "mixed in". Paint is formulated to either be a top layer or an under layer and on clear coated cars the color coat has a different formulation than if it was a single stage paint.

Light paint correction can be done by hand contrary to what detailers and people that are trying to sell power machines will tell you. The work is done by the compound and the pad, the power applicator just does it faster and more consistently than a hand can. Polishing by hand can be a lot of work, but still can do a good job provided the work is put in.

 

You must be talking about an incredibly old Rav 4. In my lifetime I have not seen a car that will lose it’s finish in a pad.

You are witholding critical information and saying unclear coated vehicles lose their finish which is incorrect.

Only very minor paint correction is achievable by hand. You will never be able to mimic the level of paint correction with a machine by hand. That is not a gimmick that’s a fact.
Heat build up from speed helps with the abraisive process. Hence why a rotary buffer will burn through paint faster than a DA.