Fibreglass gelcoat colour finish restoration

Hi, I am restoring a 1989 Midas kit car, which has a fibreglass bodyshell, colour is British Racing Green gelcoat.

It has alternatively been stored under cover and outside, so has been subject to wind, rain , sun etc.

The dark green colour, particulary on the horizontal surfaces, e.g. roof,bonnet,boot and tops of doors/wheel arches had "milky white" opaque marks/patches in the surface..

I have used 3M Finesse-it to polish all over, thinking that something slightly abrasive, but fairly gentle would clean it up without causing damage. This made an amazing difference,bringing the finish back quite well.

Now a couple of weeks later, some of the "milky" marks are reappearing,looking like flatting marks on modern paintwork if you understand my description!

I don't want to resort to actually painting the car, 'cos the gelcoat is brilliant
for hiding scratches, chips and should be so durable etc.

Before experimenting with Finesse-it again and following up with say Autoglym Super Resin polish, I thought it was about time to ask for some expert advice!

Many thanks, Dave.

Your advice/suggestions would be gratefully received!

Sorry, but unlikely to work.
The pigment in the gel has been broken down by UV rays.
Very unlikely you can find any product that will replace the green pigment, matter of fact there is no such product.
Should you elect to continue to cut/buff the gel, eventually you will remove too much and then the dense top portion of the gel is gone and it will deteriate even quicker.
You are observing a short term gloss/shine due to the various polishing agents/fluids in the products.
Once these evaporate from the surface, the real surface is seen.

Is it worse than this:

[www.youtube.com]

Thanks for your advice guys!

Bill, no it's not as bad as that! In actual fact the milky marks are now fairly isolated in odd areas, and probably only cover about 5% of the total bodywork, which is why I'm hoping to polish them out.

The milky marks are more like streaks,usually about only half an inch wide by up to 6 inches long!

In view of Mr Grumpy's comments, not wishing to go right through the top portion of the gelcoat, I am thinking now I should just persevere with gentle polishing with the Autoglym or similar?

Any more thoughts please?
Regards,
Dave.

Dave

Can you post or send pics. It would help to see the problem.
I have done a lot of gel coat polishing.

Bill



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2010 02:33PM by billd55.

Sounds like just some places you missed in the cutting process. Go over them and see if they are gone.

Doesn't appear that the gel is all that bad and you are almost completed in obtaining removal of the oxidized portion of the gel.

You are on the right track.