Here’s a little thing I learned the other day that might put a smile on your face. Originally, I’d planned to sell my Nissan pickup for whatever I could get. It needed a lot of work, didn’t look real good and I was very busy. There were other considerations that also needed to be looked at.
One of my businesses involves inventions and innovations involving increased MPG. I need a test vehicle, one that can be tied up, isn’t my wife’s car and doesn’t inconvenience her if she needs to go somewhere. I wanted something that had a carburetor and wasn’t late enough to have a computer. That way, with it and our computerized car, I can use what I find on fuel injection/computers and carburetor/manual timing vehicles. I needed something that looks good but didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I knew if I rebuilt the Nissan, even with close to 300,000 miles, it would be done right and be dependable. If I bought something else, I might be getting more headaches and less vehicle. So with that in mind, I rebuilt everything that needed to be done. I’d rebuilt the engine at 125,000 miles and that wasn’t necessary, all four cylinders have exactly 155 psi compression.
After the rebuild, I looked around for someone to do the body and paint work. I found it to be very expensive or of inferior quality, so I did it myself. My best friend some years ago did all our race car body and fender work and I’d hung out at his shop enough to at least have a few basic ideas of what I needed to do. Plus, I’d done some minor body and paint in the past. When it was done, I clear coated the color coat and the clear coat needed to be buffed out. I checked the prices for buffing compounds, usually a liquid that’s used with power buffers and not to be confused with the more abrasive rubbing compounds. I had a hard time finding anyone who even knew what I was talking about. When I did, they had to special order it. I didn’t want to pay the price, which was quoted at $25.00 per quart, and would take a week to get unless I wanted to pay the freight, another $7.50. So, I looked for other options. Clear coat, in my very limited experience, needs something to smooth it out, not rough it up, and all the rubbing compounds I tried were too abrasive. I’ve used pumice hand cleaner in the past to remove heavy oxidization from paint but it was also too abrasive.
What I was looking for was something cheap, worked great and, since my customers live in all corners of the world, it had to be readily available almost anywhere. Contemplating the problem, I came up with (how’s your smile?) toothpaste. It fit all the necessary criteria, so I tried it and here’s what I found.
Toothpaste works as well as the buffing compounds. The finished product looks great, the paint looks deep and has a durable and lasting shine. Toothpaste isn’t a heavy duty, chemical with warning labels all over it, even though in my opinion the fluoride type should have. It washes off easily with plain water, doesn’t pollute like the petrochemical based buffing compounds and is compatible with the waxes I’ve tried. I have a power buffer but found it threw splatter everywhere and that doing small areas by hand was easier in the long run. The total cost for a tube of toothpaste was, and I have half a tube left, 84 cents plus tax. If you can find toothpolish, it might even work more quickly, I couldn’t find it where we live. Try toothpaste on a small spot, somewhere inconspicuous, and see if it works for you.
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