We bought a 69 RR that had been parked under a carport. It has water marks and spots on parts of it that was exposed. We don't want to sand it because we are afraid that it doesn't have very much clear coat on it, is there any thing we can do to try and clean the paint up? The car looks good except this. Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ronnie in Okla

the only way to bring it back is to polish,light sanding with 3000 grit would help alot ,but before you do any polishing, use clay bar, it will take off alot of dirt and mineral deposits that has stuck to the paint surface which just won't wash off with soap and water

The clay bar is what I'd use first, too. If the car has its original paint, there's no clear coat, and likely not a lot of paint either, if it's been cut & polished a few times over the years. If that doesn't work, try some 3M Finesse-It polish. If you need to use 3000 or 2000 grit sandpaper on it, use plenty of water with a few drops of dish detergent added.

It was repainted about 8-10 years ago with base coat clear coat. It was not taken care of just parked in a carport where part of it was exposed to the weather. We just don't know how much clear is on it but I don't think there is much maybe 2 lite coats. Itwould still look decent if we could get the spots off the top of the back fenders and trunk lid. We tried a clay bar but didn't do any good. Any other ideals? Thanks Ronnie

Try paint cleaner or cleaner wax by hand, and if there's water spots use a liquid polish by hand after the paint cleaner/cleaner wax to remove them and get the shine back.

I like the paint cleaner for trying to save stuff like that, it chemically removes the oxidation without using compound which cuts down the surface.