Salvaging the paint

[SoCalManche]

For those of you that are rather knowledgeable about how paint works and what can and cannot be restored, I was wondering if there was something I could do to get this panel back to sheer beautiful color the rest of the truck is. For whatever reason, this panel is the only part of the truck that is extremely faded, and I'm just looking for tips on how I would go about bring some life back to this side. I'll be doing a full re-paint of her factory color far down the line, but until then, I'd love to remedy this.

 

Side note: you can see where I rubbed some of it with my finger and it seemed to return to normal, but that is merely temporary. Same occurs when she gets a bath once in a blue moon.

[Smokeyyank]

Just looks like a solid wax job might do the trick. 

I'm use chemical guys on my wife's gx 460 and my old X5.

 

https://www.chemicalguys.com/exterior/detail-and-polish/cutting-and-polishing/

 

If not you may need to wet sand and build it back up. Doesnt seem that the clear is gone just lost its luster. 

 

[OldSch88L]

Most body shop would use somehing like a 3-step deal (cutting compound, buffing compound, and glaze) with 3 different pads like 3M and such, really expensive but great results. However in your case, since we don't know how much paint thickness is left, I'd go more gently to start. Wash the area with water and dish soap to remove grease and wax residue first, and then, I usually get a pretty good job with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a double-action polisher, a cheap Simoniz in my case. Better safe than sorry, especially since I'm pretty sure Jeep used single-stage paint in those days, so there's no clear to burn through; it's a color coat and primer immediatly if you bust through.

[SoCalManche]

Thanks for the info, guys. I'll check this stuff out.

[SoCalManche]

Wow, it's pretty amazing what a little bit of love will do with that Ultimate Compound. Sun is out in full force today so you can't tell how much of a difference there really is, but this is one light coat thrown on. 

[Gjeep]

Looks good, but FYI it looks like a repaint area. That's why the difference. You also can see it it the photo you posted. topside above bodyline is original paint. Below is repaint area.

[SoCalManche]

Yeah, I'm just trying to get it to shine enough near original color so that it doesn't look as wonky, ha. A bit of an eye sore when it's the only part that's dull.

 

A full Colorado Red repaint will be in order much farther down the line.