Is there ANY hope for this paneling? UPDATE!!! Hi guys, I'm looking at this wagon, which is in pretty good shape except for the wood grain panelling. What are your suggestions to get it look look good (even acceptable)? Thanks, Rod I tried some orange Pledge that I had around the house and was very impressed with the results. Take a look at my pictures. Yes I took the "after" pics at night, but you can still see the difference from the original. WOW!!!
JC Whitney carry that exactly. After you take off the trim, you've got to get the old stuff off and use a heat gun to apply the new stuff. If its always been a West coast car, you might be lucky to take it off with a heat gun, wash it down with Mineral Spirits to get the rest of the glue off, and repair any paint chipping or rust blisters. Then apply the new stuff. If it was in hot sun, its more complicated, but not that slow (maybe a day to remove), and the rest as stated above. You'd need one or two 1 litre cans of PolyStrippa (gel type), a box or two of cheap surgical gloves, 2 buckets of water (one for wiping the old stuff off as you go, one in case you get the PolyStrippa on your skin (Not Kidding!), a couple of thin putty knives with good edges. The last resort is using a heavy sand paper on a rotary grinder, meaning a new paint job.
What about "lemon Pledge" or some other type of wood oil? I have heard something about these somewhere on this site. Would that help?
Here's the company that used to make the Ford Woodgrain vinyl - Sharpline. They've got a PDF on caring for the Woodgrain vinyl panels. If all you're gonna do is try to clean off those white stains, I'd try mineral spirits, first. It won't harm your paint. The white stains are probably from different products that people used to get it to shine up. The problem with those is that the vinyl has a texture of fine grooves that fill up with the waxes and so on, and lots of them contain fine abrasives and silicone, which eventually erode the protective coating, which is a UVA and UVB sunray protector. What happens then, in hot sunlight especially, is the vinyl starts to checker and crack, forms blisters underneath and the car rusts. Like my oldman used to say, RTFM - Read the manual. I don't use anything, -just soap and water. If I get roadtar or something splashed on, I use mineral spirits. Lemon juice or vinegar might help remove other stains. If you still want a shine on it, use something like a vegetable oil. Here's Sharpline's link. They sold the Woodgrain line to Avery Dennisson: http://www.sharpline.com/enhance.html Here's what real woodies look like: http://www.socalcarculture.com/ http://public.fotki.com/wackydave/woodies/
Is the PDF on this site titled "Exterior Graphic Care," that's the closest I saw to anything on woodgrain paneling? Thanks
I've been using Maguires Natural Shine on mine for the past few months with very good results. No sign of any whiteness left at all.
Since I took my old wood off and replaced it, I've hesitated to put anything on it. When I started the Resto, I kept wondering how my original wood got so cooked and fried and only on the top rear driver's quarter. The woman that sold it to us, in Mexico, was a good friend, and told us that her mother used to wash it weekly until she was in her 80's. We bought it 7 years after her passing away. The car sat under a carport with that side facing the hot Mexican sun without moving all that time. I didn't notice any shine on the rest, or any wax residue under the trim, next to the wood, so I'm kind of stuck on why. My guess is that somebody spilled some chemical on that area and reduced its resistance to the Sun's UV rays. I'd like to try to get a little bit of shine on it though, without harming it. Thanks for the tips guys. Here's how it was (below the rear quarter window, Spring 2007: Roller painted: After, with the new wood: Two days ago:
Mine had a noticable "sunny side" as well, but never got that bad. By the looks of the shape and pattern of that faded spot, it looks like someone did some heavy scrubbing there, damaging the UV coating. My passenger side door had a scratch in the vinyl upon delivery and was replaced by the dealership. The color was slightly darker and never matched well. It is the only panel that did not stand up to time as the others did. The top edge now has many tiny blisters and a good deal of fading. Can't fix the blisters, but the Maguires brought all of the color back. Not enough info about it to know if it would be good for fresh vinyl, but has been quite impressive at reviving old vinyl.
I'll give it a try. I've got some. Thanks. The dashpad is gonna get the ArmorAll treatment starting in a few weeks (fall).
That came out looking great! That Orange Pledge must be way different than the original stuff. It was the worst stuff to use on good furniture - full of silicones. This one seems to have citrus oils that clean up and heal the surface. I'll have to check it out at the grocery store. Looks great!
Ford Woodgrain Actually, the original vinyl woodgrain on all of the Ford and Mercury vehicles was produced specifically for Ford Motor Company by the 3M (minnesota mining and mineral) company, not Sharpline. and it was called "Dy-Noc". The 3M company was making the woodgrain decals for Ford all the way back in the 1950's before Sharpline was even ever heard of. 3M stopped production of it in 1991 when the last Squires and Colony Parks were built. All 3M "Dy-Noc" was laminated to holdup to everyday abuse, high pressure car washes, road salt and dirt and grime. It had a 7 year warranty life on your car and should of been waxed just like the paint on your car. If well taken care of, it would or could last years beyond the 7 years depending on the part of the country you lived in. It didnt have to "breath" like most other vinyl because of the heavy clear lamination that Ford required on all their woodgrain transfers. It was only available from FoMoCo through their dealerships, it had a Ford part number and was quite expensive. Once the clear laminate on top of the woodgrain started to deteriate due to age and U.V. rays, the only alternative was/is to replace it because there is no bringing it back to life once that happens. Topicle solutions can give it a shine, but will only be a very temporary fix at best and the vinyl will soak it up and the dullness will come right back sometimes within minutes. I've seen people try to use wax, oil, brake fluid, armor all, tire shine, even clear paint but eventually you are just putting a "Band-Aid" on it, and not curing the problem. Vinyl is very acceptable to the sun and Ultra Violet rays. It's basically just like the vinyl on your dashboard, once it dries up, it starts to crack and needs replacement. Kenny.
Thanks Kenney. I must've got a good song and dance from Avery, because they claimed that Sharpline sold their big 3 business to them. Good to have that cleared up. Thanks again.
Hi Kenny and thanks. That is the most complete description of the FoMoCo 3M woodgrain that I have seen, and it explains something that I had been wondering about. I just purchased a 1990 Colony Park from Canada and was amazed at the condition of the woodgrain. I asked the seller how he had maintained its appearance and he said that he used a Meguiar's wax. I was surprised since I had always heard that waxes eat away the vinyl because they contain petroleum distillates. (I used to have a 1978 Cutlass Cruiser woody and would use Armorall or a now defunct product called "Shines like the Sun", and they really gave the woodgrain a deep, rich and shiny look.) So the clear lamination you mention must not have been too damaged by the wax. There were a couple of places that excess wax had gotten caught in and dried white (these were the intentional etched areas in the woodgrain which were probably done in the rotogravure production process to make the grain look more 3-dimensional). Just yesterday I used Armorall on the C.P. woodgrain to remove the excess wax and shine it up. Even though the woodgrain had looked great before doing the Armorall (especially for a 21-year-old car), the difference afterward was dramatic. The panels now have a high gloss, rich looking reflection (not greasy). It will be interesting to see how the shine holds up in the rain and with washing. FYI, my C.P. came with some extra 3M Di Noc rolled in a cardboard tube with the FoMoCo instructions (dating back to 1974) on how to remove old or damaged transfers and how to apply fresh ones.
