my red mini is doing great now with zaino system, but wonder if any of the pros here can give me suggestion on non clear coat 1989 porche i have. its red--and does have some scratch and swirl issues mostly on the hood. i just used prima swirl for my mid year mini job--and it did great. without clear coat i am nervous to get my machine going on it--i know even hand polishing takes some paint off. so would appreciate any imput on how to deal with red-no clear coat scratch issues-and should i just do the same--prima swirl-then zaino treatment. thanks robert

 

if you dont want to remove paint i suggest you try Prima Amigo.
thing is awesome to fill the haze and swirls. i dont polish my MCS
much these days as, like you, ive kinda removed quite a bit of paint
(in my case clearcoat) to remove deep dealer installed swirls. i dont
know how much more clear i have left.

Amigo is a glaze so it does not remove paint. i guess you can do
some minor hand polish (or us a RO with a softer pad, low speed)
and then coat it with Amigo, followed by your favorite wax.

 

I asked Octane Guy about single-stage paint a while back and he said to treat it the same as clearcoat. We polish our clearcoats without worrying about polishing them away entirely. That said, I haven't seen your car and have no way of knowing how much paint is on it (Octane Guy has an electronic paint-depth measurer to know exactly what he's doing). If you're using a PC, not a rotary, I think you'd be fine. Try calling Detailer's Paradise for some advice, they'll know a lot better than I. Or use Amigo as suggested and see if that works well enough for you.

I am going to polish my dad's Miata pretty soon. It's a 1991 with single-stage red paint. My plan is to start with Swirl on a white pad, rather than orange, thinking that the single-stage might be easier to polish than clearcoat. I can always go to a 2nd pass or an orange pad.

 

Polishing single stage paint versus multi stage paints is the same. While I understand the fear that paint is being removed, what most people don't realize is that you remove paint even on clear coat systems..you just can't see it because there isn't any pigment.

Polish a modern Lexus with a tinted clearcoat, and you'll find your pads changing colors.

The challenge to polishing 20 year old paint isn't so much that the paint is being removed but rather..how much paint is there to begin with? Has it been polished before? Is the paint in good condition and ready to be polished?

Single stage paint jobs are easy to polish. I recently picked up a 1988 Toyota MR2 with the original factory single stage paint job. I clayed it, polished with Swirl and the PC, and applied Epic. The car is parked outdoors, but washes easily with water despite the insect poo, and dirt from the trees, etc..

 

thanks for the imput. the non clear coat finish has had mostly only hand polish in the past, didnt have the flex then. used zaino z-5 and z-pc which improved it but the majority of scratches and swirls still there. so this will be the first real effort-with more knowledge and equip. i have a flex, lc orange pads and swirl. thought i would start with this since i just did my mini and it came out great. appreciate your comment OG had no idea non clear coat was dealt with the same. i know when i knew little about all this over the years it was hand waxed mostly, and maybe a couple pro detailers but not at the level its done today. so my hope is lots of paint is still there-surface has good gloss-and most of the heavier issues is on the hood-rest of the finish looks good and i suspect the swirl will knock out all there. thanks robert