Clear coating over patina: anybody done it?

I love the patina on my ‘78. But it takes a beating, and in some places I’m starting to get pitting, rust, and even a few pinholes. The paint is so oxidized that it leaves a chalky tan residue on your hands. I don’t have a garage or carport, this truck lives outside in the Texas sun and elements. So, I’ve been thinking of getting the paint cut, polished, and clear coated to protect and preserve it, and also give the truck a bit of visual pop.

Anybody here done that? Are you happy with it? Have you experienced any peeling over the more heavily patina’d areas? Is the Texas sun going to wreak havoc on my clear coat and make me regret it 5 years down the road?

From
https://www.gmsquarebody.com/threads/69-c10.36295/page-6

DO NOT CLEAR OVER THAT PAINT! While there are some guys that do it and it's fine for them, I've seen and heard more horror stories than anything. My '85 got cut down, paint spotted back in and the whole truck clear coated before I bought it. Looked great at first, 4 years and 40k miles later (and lots of outside time, it's not an indoor trophy queen), the clear is lifting and flaking off left and right. I wouldn't have bought it had I known then what I do now.

Please for the love of god, just cut/buff and keep it waxed. Or get some Patina Sauce from Sweet Patina. Blake over there is a super great guy and that's a quality, non-permanent coating. Stay away from Poppy's Patina also, lots of people have had their paint start lifting all the way down to metal after a while with his stuff.

The driver's side and hood is the worst one right now but it's starting on the pass side and the roof too.

The problem with clearing over patina and old original paint is you can't truly get it clean enough to not react with the clear. You also can't really rough the surface up enough to properly get it to adhere either, cuz then the paint under the clear would look bad. It's just a bad combo all around.

TotalyHucked said:

Looked great at first, 4 years and 40k miles later (and lots of outside time, it's not an indoor trophy queen), the clear is lifting and flaking off left and right. I wouldn't have bought it had I known then what I do now.

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This is exactly what I want to avoid, thanks for sharing and my condolences on the situation you’re in.

I do wax my truck from time to time (it’s newly waxed in the first 2 pics above) but it’s just a pain. I enjoy doing it when it’s not 103 degrees outside but it’s hard to find the time to, especially now that I have a 4 year old. No time to wax when you’ve got Monster Jam tickets!

Looked a bit at all the patina products out there… patina sauce, penetrol, seems like every time I look somebody has a new special sauce out there. Can you apply those without waxing? Are they pretty fast and easy to put on? And how often do you need to reapply?

EastAustinSawdust said:

This is exactly what I want to avoid, thanks for sharing and my condolences on the situation you’re in.

I do wax my truck from time to time (it’s newly waxed in the first 2 pics above) but it’s just a pain. I enjoy doing it when it’s not 103 degrees outside but it’s hard to find the time to, especially now that I have a 4 year old. No time to wax when you’ve got Monster Jam tickets!

Looked a bit at all the patina products out there… patina sauce, penetrol, seems like every time I look somebody has a new special sauce out there. Can you apply those without waxing? Are they pretty fast and easy to put on? And how often do you need to reapply?

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I've just accepted it at this point. As the clear blows off, I just buff and wax the areas underneath and it all kinda blends together. The truck's got a unique look this way, so it's not the end of the world. Definitely understand about the waxing, I used to love to detail my cars but it's such a chore now and I hardly have time.

Any of the patina products, you don't apply over wax. Whatever you go with, you'll want to do a strip wash with Dawn dish soap and water. Probably wash it twice for good measure. Personally, if I were looking for something like this, Sweet Patina would be my choice. I know Blake that invented it, he was one of the original guys to come up with this stuff. He and his family are great, trustworthy people. He does the show circuit with us and is fantastic to deal with. That goes a long way in my book, plus it's a small mom and pop operation, so I like to support those kinda places when I can.

This is their Century Polish, it will give you a shinier appearance, almost like a clear coat but not permanent. The orange duster in the pictures is our buddy Cale's car and it looks fantastic with this stuff. Personally, this is the route I'd go with your truck, though it's a little more labor intensive.

Or if you want a slightly more matted "sheen" instead of a shine, the regular Patina Sauce is a great product. That's my buddy Ivan's Ford in the pictures, it looked awesome too. This stuff is super easy to put on. Do the intial wash, apply it, let it sit for a bit, buff off and wipe it with the final product and you're done.

I just went over mine with the meguires ultra cut compound and a dual action polisher from Harbor feight and it's like night and day. I plan to go over it again with a polishing compound but as it is the water beads up and has a nice shine.

Decided to bite the bullet and get ann exterior detail to see what the paint really looks like in its best condition and it came out real nice. Found a great detailer in Austin called the Wax Shack. The guy who runs it, George, has been doing it for decades. He did the whole 9 yards: clay bar, cut, polish, wax. I reckon moving forward my best bet is to wax it myself once in the winter and pay somebody to do it the summer, since i don’t have a carport or garage.

Man, that truck looks great!! You might need to buff it again every few years but yeah, wax every 4-6mo ought to do the trick

I need to wax mine. Been too long since the last one.

Made a huge difference with my 85...Used a Milwaukee orbital polisher, and polish, then carnuba wax. I plan to wax it at least twice a year maybe more. Only takes an hour, and uses 1/4 the wax, makes ya feel good, doin' the ol' truck right.

Craig Nedrow said:

Made a huge difference with my 85...Used a Milwaukee orbital polisher, and polish, then carnuba wax. I plan to wax it at least twice a year maybe more. Only takes an hour, and uses 1/4 the wax, makes ya feel good, doin' the ol' truck right.

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WOW!

TotalyHucked said:

DO NOT CLEAR OVER THAT PAINT! While there are some guys that do it and it's fine for them, I've seen and heard more horror stories than anything. My '85 got cut down, paint spotted back in and the whole truck clear coated before I bought it. Looked great at first, 4 years and 40k miles later (and lots of outside time, it's not an indoor trophy queen), the clear is lifting and flaking off left and right. I wouldn't have bought it had I known then what I do now.

Please for the love of god, just cut/buff and keep it waxed. Or get some Patina Sauce from Sweet Patina. Blake over there is a super great guy and that's a quality, non-permanent coating. Stay away from Poppy's Patina also, lots of people have had their paint start lifting all the way down to metal after a while with his stuff.

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Any experience with the VGG stuff? It's more of a protective coating than a permanent clearcoat isn't it?

78_c10 said:

I just went over mine with the meguires ultra cut compound and a dual action polisher from Harbor feight and it's like night and day. I plan to go over it again with a polishing compound but as it is the water beads up and has a nice shine.

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Yeah definitely like the white stripe better than the crème one.
Nice truck!
Used polishing compound on mine and yours looks just as good. I was using a rotary polisher so rubbing compound ate this soft paint too fast.
Paint looked just like yours. Oxidized but not trashed.

Clear coating can often create more problems than it solves. I think temporary protective coatings like the various waxes and wax-like products on the market are better for preservation than more “permanent” products like the various clear coat paints. It sounds easy enough to just “cap” existing rust and paint fade and never have to touch it again, but ironically it was the degradable nature of “permanent” automotive finishes that gave vehicles “patina” in the first place.

A bad/degrading clear coat job on top of original finish is like a retired super model that still looks decent for her age, but proceeds to wreck herself with a botched facelift and implants that defy the laws of physics and ultimately makes herself less attractive in the end.