HI

Alright i have finished painting on my 74 and colorsanded up to 1200.

I then used 3M perfect it rubbing compound which takes out 1200 or finer scratches and finished up with turtlewax polishing compound but its not near as shiney as i think it should be and i still have swirl marks.
i have not waxed it yet.

im going to go ahead and give it a couple more coats of clear just to be safe and then go for colorsanding and buffing again so ill be starting fresh on the finish.

what do you guys reccomend as far as products and steps to really bring out a shine?

THANKS

 

What paint is on it?

 

3 coats bright yellow base

3 coats of 498-00 Nason Clear
i bought the paint from a friend of mine who is a professional painter and this is the product he reccomended so i know i have a good base to go on

 

you might be heading for trouble re-clearing considering where you are now. test a very small area for fisheye and adhesion.

 

check with your painter friend..

 

well that was going to be the first person i went to..... but hes on vacation right now in cali........ perfect timing on his part.

i shouldnt have any real adhesion problems yet because i only tried to buff the rear deck. im only re clearing because i think it ended up really thin on the side panel and dont want to risk a burn through.

is there a swirl mark remover that i should use before polish or is there any specific products that anyone recommends for use w/ electric buffer.

also what is a really good wax for protection and shine. price wouldnt really be an issue for this as long as it works. i have well over 200 hours into the paint i want it to be as protected as possible!

 

Almost all painters I have talked to do not recommend Nason. For what reason, I do not remember.
Good luck,
Mark

 

Polishing compound is still pretty course stuff. I would now go over it with a finer polish.

 

Your only "BUFFED" it to this point, now you have to polish it. what kind of pad are you using? I think you should invest in a black 3m polishing pad (foam) and a good polish. I have used some of the maguires scratch x polish with a black pad before and it shines very well. If the paint is not at least 90 days old, I wouldnt wax it yet anyway, needs time to vent solvents before you seal it with wax, then use a carnuba wax when you do.

 

so far i have only used a wool bonnet for both rubbing and polishing compound

should i be using a different kind of head for these products?

ill also try and get one of those black foam pads you mentioned w/ the scratch X for the final finish when i get to it

 

Save the Turtle Wax polish for wheels or valve covers, it's not designed for polishing new paint or caring for your paint in the future.

With todays urethanes, it's okay to start wet sanding with 1200 if you have a lot of orange peel or dry spray but it will leave too many scratches that polishing won't be able to remove, which makes it impossible to get a clear looking shine beyond what a production shop can achieve. If you polish after 1200 the finish will look hazy due to all the fine sanding scratches that still remain. Especially if you started with anything coarser than 1200. I usually start with fresh or worn out 2000 grit. The grit you start with depends on how much orange peel you have, but ultimately you want to end up block sanding wet with 2000 minimum or worn out 2000 or 3000 before hitting with a power buffer, these finer grits will remove the coarse sand scratches. Each of the following products will gradually increase the gloss by reducing the scratches from 2000 and 3000 papers.

Use a wool cutting pad on a rotary style buffer with a fine cutting polish such as Meguiar's Fine Cut Cleaner. This will immediately bring a high gloss after the first application, or second if needed. In your case you may need to use it until the sanding scratches are minimized by eye. Follow that with Meguiar's #3 Machine Glaze one or 2 times as needed to get a clear shine with fewer fine scratches. Now with an orbital machine and a firm pad use a swirl remover once or twice until the scratches are almost non-existant. If your paint is at least 90 days old, follow with a good long lasting carnuba wax such as Meguiar's Hi-Tech Yellow Wax, applying very slowly with the orbital and a soft pad, then remove the wax by hand with a micro-fiber towel. This wax applied at slow speed and moving the polisher slowly will further reduce the scratches and swirl marks. If your paint is newer than 90 days, you can keep it fresh and glossy looking by applying the #3 above by hand or obital until it's time to wax.

This procedure uses readily available products and will leave you with a very reflective surface and a clear haze free shine, but it all depends on how well you wet sand the surface and your ability to handle the polishers. With a little practice you can end up with a shine like the one below.

Here are basic tools and products you need............A variable speed rotary buffer will make your job much easier.

 

What ahoover said, the hint you may have started with too coarse a paper is "and colorsanded up to 1200" up to... What did you start with?
Also buffing techniques can have a lot to do with how well you succeed. In the old days we started with the compound and worked it until it disappeared then kept working it to melt the finish down.
I've found with these new finishes you need to work the compound wet and it actually seems like grinding down the surface as oppose to melting it.

 

AH,
Thanks for that real clear explanation and the picture showing all the products and equipment. It all made sense!!!
Regards,
Alan

 

thanks for all the replys!
well i went from buffing the rear deck to trying different methods on a t-top.

what ive been doing is ill sand lightly to w/ 1000 to knock everything down and then finish up w/ 1200. ive then been using 3M perfect it rubbing compound which removes 1200 and finer scratches but i figured if i had sanded to 2000 and then used the rubbing compound i would just be backtracking. i then went and picked up some of that McGuire machine glaze followed by swirl remover and that really brought on the shine! i could set this up and shave in it now.

thanks for all the help and replys!

 

Nice job laying out the materials in the photo! Just for clarification, the smaller Porter Cable buffer has the soft pad on it and the firmer pad is to the right of that? I use a swirl remover with the pad to the right, I am hoping that's correct. I usually wax by hand, can any carnuba wax be used with the machine?

 

Thanks guys, there are many methods and products to use for this work, I just wanted to present a fairly simple procedure that I've proven to be effective.

The swirl remover works best IMO with a firmer white pad like on the right. Not sure about other brands of wax, I've been using Meguiar's products since the the late '60s and don't deviate too much because like most tasks, you learn what works by experimenting and stick with it. The High Tech Yellow wax (liquid form) stays wet for a long time so you can really really let the machine work it on the surface slowly without the wax drying which in the end produces a very high gloss and removes those hair line scratches. I've used this wax on all types of paint for about 20 years (I think) and it's my favorite for a long lasting high gloss wax. I usually apply it twice.

I have not applied wax by hand in several years, this tool really takes the physical work out of the job and the results are much more dramatic.