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Painting a car is expensive. The days of $500 Maaco paint jobs are long gone, and if you’re going to repaint your car today, you should expect to pay at least $5,000, if not somewhere between $8,000 and $20,000. Heck, even if you were to DIY it, materials alone will run you over $2,000 for a basic setup. But if you are looking to preserve your car’s originality or avoid that costly outlay, there is another way: you could restore that faded paint.
Now, the asterisk here is that not every car has paint that can be restored. Everything we are about to talk to applies predominantly to classic cars, because they used single-stage paint. That means the paint was applied in one go, and all of it was “colour.”
Modern cars use base-coat/clear-coat paints, in a process that sees the colour layer live under a protective clear coating. This modern paint style can’t be restored with the method we are about to describe. But if you have an older (as in pre-1980s) car with faded paint, read onwards! Because that will totally buff out.
Today we are working with paint and body expert Fred Bottcher, who has more than 30 years of experience. Our subject car is my cousin’s 1974 Ford Maverick, which still wears its faded but original 50-year-old paint. In fact, this is pretty much the ideal candidate for paint restoration. The paint is faded, but not so much that it has rust spots showing through, as you sometimes see with cars left out in the desert.
Step 1: Clean and dry the car
This may seem obvious but it’s important. You need to wash all the dirt and goo off the car before you begin. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate — a simple spray with a hose will do. But Bottcher says “don’t forget to dry it, too!”
Step 2: Glazing compound
For the next step, move it into the shade — either into your garage, or even under a carport. You can’t do this in direct sunlight, as the compound we’re using will dry too quickly.
The glazing compound will remove the top layer of oxidization and begin to bring that paint back. You’ll need a polishing machine to do this, as doing it by hand isn’t really feasible. If you have a garage setup with an air compressor, you can use an air-powered polishing tool, which is a bit more versatile in tight spaces. These units are Bottcher’s go-to, but he says you can do just as good a job with an electric polisher bought from the big-box retail store of your choice.
We used both an air-powered and electric polisher to complete this job. The polisher you use is a matter of personal preference, and how well-equipped your shop is. You can get great results with a basic electric polisher!
You’ll also need glazing compound. Bottcher says “Generally, all glazing compounds are the same — it’s your preference as to what you want to use.” We used a generic off-brand glazing compound for this project, similar to a Mothers car-care product.
Apply glazing compound onto the pads of the machine and onto the surface of the car you’re working on. You don’t need to add too much. Pretend you are putting ketchup on a hamburger bun. Use a rotating circular motion on the bodywork, and don’t hold it in one place for too long.
You also don’t have to press too hard — let the machine do the work for you. If you see paint coming off on the pad, you are pressing too hard! A little discoloration is normal: this is the oxidization coming off. Bottcher says this method is very safe, and you don’t have to worry about burning through your paint because the compound isn’t very abrasive.
Once you work an area, wipe it clean with a microfibre towel to see your progress. For this car, we did the entire car three times with the glazing compound, and each time, it got a little more shiny. “The right shine is the one you’re happy with,” Bottcher says, and for us, three rounds had the car looking pretty sharp.
Don’t forget to apply fresh compound every time you work an area. Squirt a little onto the pad and some onto your work surface as well. It will spray everywhere as you do this, so don’t wear clothes you care about!
Step 3: Polish
If this was sanding, you should think of the glazing compound as 80 grit, and the polishing compound as 200 grit. The bulk of the job of removing the oxidization is done by the coarser glazing compound. Procedure with the polish is almost exactly the same as with the glazing compound.
Bottcher recommends using two cloths for wiping down your polishing compound between steps, a wet cloth and a dry cloth. The idea is to use one cloth for the first pass when everything is wet. Then the compound will haze up a bit, allowing you to see where on the body it is, and you can wipe it off with your dry cloth. You actually want to press hard when wiping the polishing wax off the car, as this will actually push the wax into the scratches on the paint, making it look smoother.
That’s it!
It’s a simple but time-consuming process to bring back old faded paint. This job took two people about six hours in total. In the end, we did three rounds of glazing compound and three rounds of polish across every square inch of the car. Scratches in the paint that were hidden by the haze before are now visible,—≠+≠± but the overall change is absolutely transformative!
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