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Paint-Rubber-Vinyl & Plastic care


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I’ve seen more than one post on the care of car finishes and such & I know everyone has their own ideas about how to take care of a cars looks, paint, rubber, vinyl, etc, etc. So please take this in the spirit that it’s given in, information to digest. While I may be new here, I have been involved in the world of motion, not Disneyland’s Land of Motion, in one venue or another on a professional, personal or enthusiast level since I was 11 years old, I know that sounds like bunk, but none the less I’ve experienced & done much.
So when I tell you that the care of auto finishes since about 1980, depending on the make of car, but specifically since 1990 on for GM looks nothing like it did, you may or may not believe me. Yet this is fact and the same holds true for rubber, vinyls and plastic. Most to nearly all are now synthetic based and as such no longer oxidize in the same manner as their counterparts did. 
While not the same at all with relationship to reason and purpose; synthetic oil, as a example has advantage over conventional. Yet the number one reason to change oil is ignored. Why do you grease components and why are sealed for life components bad in general!? So like that, the reason to care for paint, rubber, vinyl and plastic is to restore something!
Anyway, old paints like lacquer & synthol enamel oxidize by decay of the top micro surface layer and by abrading away that layer you can restore the finish until the paint gets to thin. New paint, in particular urethanes, oxidizes differently. They lose certain selective chemistries. This causes dulling and opacity issues. Restore that chemistry and the brilliance returns. So while carnauba waxes make a paint finish shine initially, go back two days later and put some in a small circle in the middle of the hood and you’ll see its darker and more vibrant. Of course you can only see this on dark colors. This is because you didn’t feed the paint its nutrients. Rubber, vinyls and plastics respond the same way. Lastly, when these haven’t been fed the proper nutrition it will take multiple applications to restore it. The paint, rubber, vinyl and plastic will actually drink it up and you can actually see it occur if bad enough. Of course if any are to far gone they won’t come back. Unfortunately there are not a lot of products that do this adding of chemistry. Most only mask the problem in the way I previously mentioned.

 

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