Faded Onvi Leon

[CupraTurbo....]

Hi every1, i've read a few posts on the forum saying that megs 3 part polish is the best for bringing the paintwork back up but my car is nearly white and T-cut wont touch it. Has any1 on here had really badly faded paintwork thats polished back up? if so, what polish did you use?

 

[Phil K]

Best bet would be to talk to a pro 'detailer' and see what they'd charge for a full rotary polish... you could try posting in the car care and detailing section for more info/advice

 

[Tyler Owen]

My understanding of Onvi Yellow is that it fades under the laquer and therefore nothing can be done to restore the orginal colour bar a respray

 

[dasmith83]

Here's a link to a post of mine, this shows you the transformation T-cut gave my paintwork.
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=147596

If T-cut won't touch it, then i doubt there is much you can do. However, from my experience i don't think they actually laquer yellow...i've been told the lighter colours like white and yellow are just a high gloss paint.

The only panel that T-cut didn't work on, on my car was the roof (which im less fussed about), but the rest was a huge transformation! I suspect that the roof may have been resprayed and laquered then...but i can't see why

 

[ChrisG]

Im pretty certain Onvi Yellow IS lacquered, and unfortunately it may well get a whole lot worse than mere fading

My 01 Onvi Yellow Cupra has faded badly, and around a year ago the bonnet / roof (which were most faded) started to peel in little patches. There was still yellow paint underneath, it was just an opaque white crispy layer that was peeling off.

Here's a link to a pic of what mine started doing a few months ago (too big to embed)

Piccie here

Anyway, its got worse since then and seemingly spreading like a skin disease that would only be rectified with a respray, so when I washed it last week (for the first time in a while), I thought I'd put the hose on the flaked bits and see what happened.

This is the result...

Youtube video

If that's not lacquer then what it is?!

Bear in mind this was just a normal garden hose, not a pressure washer! This is the end result...

Pic1

Pic2

Pic3

Im now left with a completely "peeled" bonnet apart from a few bits around the front grill which obviously dont get so much sunlight so havent faded/rotted as badly. Ive also since completely peeled the roof and most of the rear boot lid. Whats left is a very dull matt finished paint, but at least its one that is all one colour and doesn't look like its had acid thrown all over it.

Ive used some T Cut on it and it does come up to a shine, but not quite as good as the original lacquered, so I might speak to a bodyshop to see if I can get it buffed and then possibly re-lacquered.

I wouldnt recommend going this route unless your car gets as bad as mine did, but for me its actually a lot better now than it was, and I might even get away without a full respray that I thought was inevitable. Its also worth pointing out that all this has occured on a car Ive known from brand new as I bought it off a good friend who had it from new, so I know it hasnt been resprayed (unless done before it was sold "new").

Chris

 

[dasmith83]

WOW! now that's bad!! how often was that car waxed or protected? surely that shouldn't happen unless it's not been looked after enough? i.e. at least waxed twice a year etc?

 

[traumapat]

your sure its not something else? an old protective coating of something?

alarming

 

[ChrisG]

By the previous owner who owned it until about 18 months ago, it was meticulously washed and polished (with Autoglym) virtually every week of its life. Despite that when I bought it there were a couple of very small patches which I put it down to water getting under the lacquer where there were a few large stone chips, but I now know better as the lacquer was already rotting even then!

Since Ive had it I haven't washed it as often, but even so no paint should do that. I dont think washing / polishing in the last 18 months would have much difference anyway, the lacquer has gone on the horizontal surfaces where it gets most sun so I think its simply not UV stable and has rotted.

 

[ChrisG]

your sure its not something else? an old protective coating of something?

alarming

Yeh I did think that as well but its certainly never had any Armourall type coating, so the only other thing it could be is a layer of Autoglym. The reason I dont think its this is because the paint underneath is so dull, and the peeling layer seems to go around into the gaps where polish wouldnt really get, into seams etc.

 

[dasmith83]

Thats unbelievable! Now i've managed to bring the colour back out on mine, i'm using PoorBoys Nattys Blue wax over the top of the megs stage 3 carnauba. This PoorBoys wax is meant to have extra UV inhibitors to prevent the UV rays damaging the paint. Might be worth appyling some of this to prevent further problems

 

[ChrisG]

Yep once Im confident that I can get it back to a reasonable shine I think something like that will probably be more viable than getting a bodyshop to re-lacquer it, the only issue I currently have is that on panels where it curves from horizontal to vertical (like the front wings), the hoirzontal bits have faded / peeled, but the rest hasnt so you get to a point where you can't get any more lacquer off.

Also what is interesting is that none of the plastics have faded / rotted, even bits like the rear spoiler which also sits horizontal in the full glare of the sun.

 

[dasmith83]

interesting you say none of the plastics have faded...nor had mine! only the metal work had, mmm....

 

[ChrisG]

I think I now know why Seat only offer a 3 year paint warranty