Caring for silver paint (fuselage)

ayilar

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Here is a question for the best and brightest. I recently acquired a 1973 NYB. The paint is JA5 Silver Frost Poly (aka. Dark Silver Iridescent in Dodge speak).

I like the color a lot, and it is a key reason why I bought this car. I therefore would like to take the best possible care possible of it.

I have a memory of reading some posts about EA4 silver's not being a very stable color, but I cannot track the original posts -- and I don't know if the issue (assuming that I am not dreaming and that unusual deterioration patterns actually are a real problem for this type of paint) continued through 1973. Regardless, none of the posts that I have read addresses the care to take with the paint.

@Imperialist67, who has kindly shared his experience with a gold '67 NYer, recommends nothing more abrasive than Ivory soap and wax -- no buffing. He and I are both keen on getting advice/recommendations.

PS: JA5 cars seem to be very few and far between. I believe that @bigmoparjeff owns a '73 Fury in the same color. @Wile E Coyote owns a silver Imperial, but the color looks darker and it's a '72 -- so perhaps his car is EA9 Charcoal rather than JA5 Silver Frost. Anyone else?
 
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This is the same one I went by. I followed some (but not all) of the steps, skipping the clay bar as I was advised it might remove the color on my older (than '73) paint finish, but this is a great tutorial..
 
Here is a question for the best and brightest. I recently acquired a 1973 NYB. The paint is JA5 Silver Frost Poly (aka. Dark Silver Iridescent in Dodge speak).

I like the color a lot, and it is a key reason why I bought the car. I therefore would like to take the best possible care possible of it.

I have a memory of reading some posts about EA4 silver's not being a very stable color, but I cannot track the original posts -- and I don't know if the issue (assuming I am not dreaming and it actually is a problem) continued through 1973. Regardless, none of the posts I read addressed the care to take with the paint.

@Imperialist67, who has kindly shared his experience with a gold '67 NYer, recommends nothing more abrasive than Ivory soap and wax -- no buffing. He and I are both keen on getting advice/recommendations.

PS: JA5 cars seem to be very few and far between. I believe that @bigmoparjeff owns a '73 Fury in the same color. @Wile E Coyote owns a silver Imperial, but the color looks darker and it's a '72 -- so perhaps his car is A9 Dark Silver rather than A5 Silver Frost. Anyone else?

The silver paint has a lot of metallic content which is why it is somewhat fragile. Use a high quality wax like Collinite 845 and avoid color sanding or buffing.

Dave
 
Use a high quality wax like Collinite 845

X2 on the Collinite wax. Excellent stuff with a long lasting shine. I think it is the perfect wax for an OEM or single stage paint.

I have used that with P&S Bead Maker on top of it and as a detail spray. You'll need sunglasses when done.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0779KCS7D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you can't find the Collinite locally.

https://smile.amazon.com/Collinite-...=1585001347&sprefix=collinite+,aps,170&sr=8-2
 
Dad bought a 1970 Catalina convertible new in December 1970 in Palladium Silver. I recall conversations back when about silver being a difficult color to keep, something about not enough pigment? Anyway the paint lasted until two years ago when he had it painted. I think the key is to keep it garaged, away from the UV rays. Dad has ~ 120,000 miles on it now, its spent a LOT of years in the garage with covers to keep the sun off. FWIW, YMMV, etc. 2¢
 
In general, the lighter the metallic paint color, the shorter it's "shiny time" would be. Especially in the southern USA regions (with a more direct sun angle). On those cars, the more horizontal surfaces would dull-out in about a year or two, as the vertical sides remained true-color and shiny. An uncle had a '68 LeSabre in (what I termed) "Light Pea Green Metallic" that this happened to (in Western Texas). The darker paint colors tended to fare better.

The lighter/normal silver metallic OEM paints all seemed to have issues with delamination from about 1977-1985, especially the GM (acrylic lacquer) paints.

Thanks for the links on paint care,
CBODY67
 
Dad bought a 1970 Catalina convertible new in December 1970 in Palladium Silver. I recall conversations back when about silver being a difficult color to keep, something about not enough pigment? Anyway the paint lasted until two years ago when he had it painted. I think the key is to keep it garaged, away from the UV rays. Dad has ~ 120,000 miles on it now, its spent a LOT of years in the garage with covers to keep the sun off. FWIW, YMMV, etc. 2¢
any pictures?
 
any pictures?

Nope, sorry I wish I did. I think I've only seen it once outside since it was painted, then I was putting shoes on the front, worst brakes I've ever driven, surprised I'm still alive. I think it says fade-o-matic on the brake pedal...if any car ever needed a disc conversion...
 
Ayilar - somebody here explained to me once about the First Alphabet Letter when you see EA4 or JA5 etc. The E, J, etc have something to do with when the color was released. The A4 and the A5 are the paint codes. IIRC, A5 was a 73 color that was available in 72. My Imperial is A5. My 74 Charger SE is A5. My Imperial paint is flat and has lost its shiny sheen. I removed the top and painted the top A5 so that when I put vinyl back on, it would have the most protection possible. So you can see the two color differences on the Imperial between 48 year old paint and new paint. My 74 Charger; ever since I bought it in 1993, I wasn't going to paint it silver. I already had a silver car (the Imperial), I never wanted a silver car, and I certainly wasn't going to have TWO damn silver cars. I was going with black, or dark green, or red. I dropped the car off in Feb 2017 for restoration. Eighteen months later, when it was time for paint, I had settled on black. The owner of the restoration place called me. After an hour of talks, I went his way with A5 silver. Holy moly, winner, winner, chicken dinner! Am I ever so grateful he talked me into staying with the original color. Also in the past 3 years with getting more into the internet and websites and Facebook, and posting pictures of my Imperial, I'm pretty doggone lucky to have a silver Imperial based on all the compliments I get on it just because its silver. Okay, I've rambled enough! I love A5! Thanks for mentioning me in your post so I could jump in and also watch and learn what you find out!
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X2 on the Collinite wax. Excellent stuff with a long lasting shine. I think it is the perfect wax for an OEM or single stage paint.

I have used that with P&S Bead Maker on top of it and as a detail spray. You'll need sunglasses when done.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0779KCS7D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you can't find the Collinite locally.

https://smile.amazon.com/Collinite-845-Insulator-Wax-Fluid_Ounces/dp/B000JK2D06/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3UGSF1290H54M&dchild=1&keywords=collinite+845+insulator+wax&qid=1585001347&sprefix=collinite+,aps,170&sr=8-2
I had been trying to find a good detailer (trying to improve, but I'm only so-good at getting wax residue...…) and this sounds like a good choice, especially for my original, single-stage metallic paint. THANKS.

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