Fine scratches - need help

[PKR]

My recently acquired 1990 sterling silver 325i was well maintained ... at least mechanically. The exterior is another matter. The color is still excellent but when you get up close its apparent that most of the car is covered with what appear to be very fine scratches.
Inspecting them reveals that they're so fine that they won't catch the fingernail but on the other hand I haven't found anything that will remove them, at least not by hand. A friend with a buffer tried but got nowhere; he was nervous about going too far since he said these old paints are quite soft.
Looking closely its almost as if they're under the clear coat. Is this simply my clear coat failing ?

[Vivek]

If your friend knows what he's doing then it's probably cracks in the clear coat.

[N2MYE30]

I have the same thing going on on my glacier. What I did to remove it was to wetsand. Harsh, yes. Fixes it, yes! I tested a patch on a lower quarter panel first before doing the whole car. Just read up on color sanding/ wet sanding to know where to start.

[Vin-barrett]

-wash the car

-clay bar it

-by that photo i would wetsand with 1500 wet/dry paper, but if your scared use 2000 grit just enough until all the gloss has turned into a uniformly smooth dull finish. Keep the paint and paper wet at all times.
Use a sanding block or preferably a flexible rubber sanding pad. Let the paper do the work not you, not too harsh pressure on the pad. Again keep the paper wet, have a bucket of clean water next to you.

-Spray with Prep-Solve or any other aerosol wax/grease remover to clean your sanding

-Compound with a random orbital. I prefer the firm foam pad for this (Meguires is red with velcro back) but everyone has their favs. Use a med to fine cutting compound. Lately I like Meguires "Ultimate Compund" from pepboys better than the harsher 3M stuff. Again let the machine do the work not you. The shine will return without the scratches and you will get the idea on what your doing by now.

-After cutting Compound, switch to a softer foam pad with a less aggressive polish. I've been liking Griots #3 for the final pass at a relatively high speed on the machine and very light pressure.

-wax the car

It will look wonderful

[lylefk]

What was your friend using with the buffer? I'd need to see it in person but I'd be willing to bet starting with a coarse pad and a compound would get rid of 90%+ of that. I've gotten out some severe scratches without wetsanding (used to detail professionally).

[Zeemz]

That is clear coat fracturing. It is not total failure of the clear coat as it doesn't break down, but essentially your clear is shot due to tiny stress fractures throughout the clear. It is not the typical thing you see when someone says clear coat failure, but it is a type of clear coat failure.

I have this on my car as well. When I bought the car I thought it was from 20+ years of the previous owner driving it through car wash regularly. I thought either a compound buff or worst case a wet sand would fix. After doing some research, looks like nothing will fix it other than a respray.

Check out this post for some more info:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/40855-clearcoat-fracturing-versus-clearcoat-failure.html

Check out the 2nd page and there is even a E30 pictured. You can make it look better, but you can't fix it.

[PKR]

Thanks Zeemz, that does seem to be what's going on, though some careful polishing has helped.

[Zeemz]

Thanks Zeemz, that does seem to be what's going on, though some careful polishing has helped.

Mind sharing what you did....Wetsand or compound?

Also any before and after shots?

I am trying to decide if it is worth the trouble to either wet sand or just a good compound and polish.

[PKR]

Sure, but I'm on the road now (not in the E30); pics once I'm home.
But I've done some machine compounding; used Meguiars Ult Compound. I doubt that it'll help everywhere but the rule says to start with the gentlest option first ...

[Zeemz]

Sure, but I'm on the road now (not in the E30); pics once I'm home.
But I've done some machine compounding; used Meguiars Ult Compound. I doubt that it'll help everywhere but the rule says to start with the gentlest option first ...

How did the rest of the compounding go? Did you end up also having to wetsand?

Can you post the after pictures?