Don't assume it needs new paint until you give it a shot with a good
polishing compound first. The paint is not clearcoat, so it is safe to polish it,
although be careful of edges where you can polish through the paint. I
have had good success with plain old Turtle Wax polishing and rubbing
compounds. Try the polishing first, if it does not get it all off, then use
rubbing (carefully, it is more abrasive and will strip paint faster). Then finish
with the polishing compound and a good wax. My '82 original paint came
up amazingly well this way.

On 24 May 2005 at 21:48, Rex Merriweather <hihorn@DSLEXTREME.COM> wrote:

> I picked up an 82' Diesel Westy cheap a few weeks ago. It has been sitting for
> 10 years. The white paint has become "powdery" and rubs off on you as I squeeze
> by it in the garage. I will probebly strip it down and paint it but until then
> is there anything I can do to stop this or clean it up a bit? Thanks in advance,
> Rex Merriweather www.stunttrumpet.com P.S. i just picked up an 84 Quantum TD to
> put in it....
>

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
 (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
'82 Diesel Westy