2003 white toyota camry

I'm alittle bewildered by a customer's vehicle that was severly oxidized, requiring buffing. (And I mean, heavy compound and a wool pad)

All indications were original factory paint but I assumed this model should have been clearcoated. I know Ford painted a lot of white vehicles with regular white enamel (non-clearcoat) for a long time after every other color was clearcoated. But this was a 2003 and a Toyota.

Any input?

Jimmy, we have never seen a 3 year old car oxidize. Even though on first glance it was not repainted, chances are that it was.
You should have sent it to a dealer for evaluation, to see if it was original or repaint. It should have still been under warranty.

Jimmy J

yea, you're right most paint jobs are warrantied 5 yrs. I didn't think about that because this was a second owner. I can usually spot a repaint but couldn't here. Had to have been a re-paint. Foreign vehicles were the first to go all clearcoat. Anyway, felt alittle nastolgic using the ol' wool pad and compound again.

I used to say "I was born to buff"...with my apron on and compound all over me.

Humm, the car was built in Kentucky, right?

It is a USA build?

If so, it was cleared from the factory.

You say not evidence of refinish, in the door jams, trunk or hood jams?

If you were to use the ValuGard ABC system before buffing, you would have found the buffing time would have been reduced by at least 50%, it would have washed off the majority of the oxidized clear, making it much easier to do the buffing process.

Ketch

What you need is a paint thickness guage which will tell you right away if the car is repainted. Even the inexpensive $49.95 magnetic one will tell you this.

The normal film thickness on a car is about 5 to 6 mils. Anymore than that is a repaint.

You can also tell if it is a single stage vs a clear coat by simply putting some wax or polish on a red or green towel and rubbing on the car. If you get white color on the colored towel you have a single stage.

Just because the car is a 2003 does not necessarily mean it is a clear coat finish. For some reason some vehicles still have single stage paints.

Get this one, a 2005 Lexus black is a single stage paint. Have not been able to determine why, but it is a single stage polyurethane enamel.

Hope this helps.

Bud Abraham
DETAIL PLUS SYSTEMS
www.detailplus.com