On the table we have all of the Mothers products we’ll be using on Freiburger’s 1970 Super Bee. The paint is in decent shape, although it shows the scratches of every car wash it has ever had.
We washed the car, taped off a section of the decklid to show the before-and-after contrast, and misted a small area with spray detailer to act as lubrication for the Mothers California Gold Clay Bar. The clay pulls particles from the paint’s horizontal surfaces and traps them, making the surface noticeably smoother.
We worked in small areas to keep the clay gliding over the surface. When we were done with a section of the paint, the dirt in the clay was obvious. We folded the clay over a few times to reveal clean clay before moving on.
This paint had never seen a buffer, so we started with a rubbing compound and its matching Lake Country Manufacturing foam pad mounted to a Flex dual-action orbital polisher. We sprayed the pad with Instant Detailer for a little bit of lube and to keep the compound from soaking into the pad too much.
Rather than using a 90-degree handle that can lead to uneven pressure on the pad, we used the forward grip and kept the pad flat on the decklid. We used 50 percent overlapping passes and were especially careful near the vinyl stripes. We also checked periodically to see that we weren’t removing any color.
After two applications of rubbing compound, the oxidized surface paint was coming off and all of the minor scratches were gone, with only a few deeper scratches remaining. We moved to the final polish and let our wax fill in the much-diminished scratches. We switched pads on the buffer, sprayed on some Instant Detailer, and applied Finishing polish. The process was the same as before, with overlapping passes.
For wax we choose Mothers Synthetic Wax. It is applied using its own foam pad, and goes on just like the other compounds. A thin coat is left to glaze over before it is buffed off with a clean towel. You’ll know it’s ready when you can wipe it away with a finger without smearing.
With the masking tape removed, it’s easy to see the dramatic difference. Nearly all of the scratches and swirls are gone.
The Super Bee still has its factory chrome bumpers. To bring back the shine, we used 0000 steel wool and Mothers Chrome Polish. The ultra-fine steel wool knocks down all the surface contamination and oxidation but doesn’t harm tough chrome as long as you’re careful.
A before-and-after shows how much oxidation was removed.
Hard water had built up deposits at the bottom of the rear window. Mothers has products for removing this from paint and glass, but on glass, careful use of a razor blade is as efficient.
Mothers R3 Racing Rubber Remover is formulated to remove bits of stuck-on rubber and grime without harming paint. Several years of burnouts had been caked onto the rear quarter, and it didn’t want to come off without a fight. We soaked the rubber and let it sit a minute.
The R3 is clearly working, although we figured it would take several more applications for this much rubber.
We were impatient and decided the spray needed some mechanical help, so we used a plastic scraper from Eastwood to remove the softened rubber.
We finally turned to the wheels, where we used aluminum polish on the wheel hoops of the Weld Star GTs. Rather than use a rag or even a buffer, we’ve found that a heavy pair of rubber gloves makes a great applicator because the polish doesn’t soak in. After the polish, a soft cloth is used to reveal the shine.
The hoops are noticeably brighter.
