I have a black 1997 Camry that has severe paint oxidation on the hood that looks terrible. Is there a product out there that I can buy to improve the looks?
Thanks,
Russ
You SHOULD have kept it waxed…that’s the ONLY way I know to prefent it.
You can try Mcguires cleaner then polisher and see if that works. But if it’s badly oxidized then the ONLY solution is to repaint it.
Get yourself an orbital buffer. Polish with 3M Perfect It II rubbing compound, followed by Meguires swirl remover, followed by Meguires glaze, followed by Meguires Gold wax. Or have a detailer do it for you. You really need to use rubbing compound to get all the dead paint off. No easy or cheap way for neglected finishes.
It happened after I waxed the car using Mcguires swirl remover. I used an orbital buffer. But thanks for responding.
Russ
Addendum. Sorry didn’t see your other post. Swirl remover is not a wax but is a fine polish to remove buffer marks. If your paint was indeed oxidized with dead paint that needed to be removed, the swirl remover is not aggressive enough to take it off. You just mixed in the polish with the dead paint and made a mess. So you have to start with a buffer and rubbing compound first to remove the dead paint then follow with the finer polish and end with wax like Gold Class. There used to be a lot of info on the Meguires site that you might want to look at but I prefer 3M rubbing compound and the rest Meguires products.
Thanks for your response and I will try that.
You might find this response extreme, but I think I’d visit a MAACO paint shop and ask them to mask off the area around the hood, and then sand and spray the hood only. You might get away with $100-$150 charge on this. Then take care of it afterwards. Black is hard to take care of but easy to match. Good luck! Rocketman
One more thing . . . any detailer will charge you almost half of what I quoted (betcha), check both sources before you make your choice. Rocketman
I tried your suggestion over the weekend but I couldn’t find the 3M rubbing compound. Went to 2 auto parts stores and neither one carried the 3M. So I bought the Turtle Wax rubbing compound. That stuff dries very fast. The hood looks much better but I need to try it again. I followed the rubbing compound with McGuires 26 yellow wax and then McGuires Gold. Is there a trick when using the rubbing compound? Should I apply it with an orbital buffer?
ok, then you don’t have paint oxydation, you have operator-damaged clearcoat 
swirl remover has grit in it. It’s only to be used by someone who knows what they’re doing, ESPECIALLY if you use a buffer, because otherwise you end up with what happened to you. You probably burned through the clearcoat in places and now it only looks oxydized. It might be salvageable, depending on whether or not you went all the way through the clearcoat, but I would have a body shop look at it.
You might also be able to get away with just having it re-clearcoated, which would be a whole lot cheaper than a respray.
You have to go to a auto supply store that carries body shop supplies like Dupont. The NAPA stores carry body shop supplies around here. A quart will be about $20 and I mean a real buffer, not the dual action vibrators, with an aggressive dark red foam pad or wool pad. Another $20-30. Lay a bead down and go at it a small section at a time at about 1200 rpm until dry keeping the buffer moving constantly. No point putting one wax on top of another until the surface is polished smooth and shiny. Might want to just have a detailer have at it for a hundred bucks maybe.
Once its polished and shiney, change foam pads to a white polishing pad, another $20, and use the polish the same way to clean up any swirls and give it a higher gloss. After that you can glaze it for extra shine and follow at the end with the protective wax.
Thanks Bing. I think your idea of having a professional take a look at it might be my best bet. Thanks for your help.