A million years ago (OK, 35 years ago), I was an auto body tech and for polishing single stage and base/clear paint, we swore by 3M products. Basically two products, there was a heavy duty compound for bringing down 1500 and greater wet sanding (can’t recall the exact name), and we’d finish with a machine glaze, which was a dark gray, watery compound that was pretty good for removing swirl marks. We would do all of this with various “wool” bonnets on right angle buffers (spinning only, no orbital action).
So, I have a pretty old respray on my ‘71 that I want to clean up. The shine is there, underneath the swirls and scratches and everything else over the last 20 years or so that I suspect it’s been since it was sprayed. I suspect also it is single -stage, but I have to verify.
My question is: are the “old school” 3M products still the best bet, or is there something better? How about the buffer itself? What are people using and what pads? I have a cheap old large diameter random orbital that is only good for applying wax —maybe. It’s garbage for what I want to do.
Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

You will probably get more response if you move your thread to the CAR CARE Forum...................

 

Cool…how do I move a thread? Moderator?

 

3M is right up there when it comes to buffing products as are others now for mainstream, today's 3M is different from what your talking about like using "super duty" orange compound which was all grit so it cut mechanically with tiny triangles and only a mechanical cut... today's compounds cut with more synthetics and work more to re-flow the top of the materials.
what you want to use today depends allot on the paint your trying to buff, older synthetics and acrylics and lacquers respond better to mechanical cut while urethane responds better to synthetic cut but requires very specific heat, pads and buffer speeds so they need to match up, I use Maguires 100 and 105 for cutting (wool or white foam pad) and both use different speeds on buffer from 1200-2000, I use a 3M polish or Maguires 2 with black foam pad for polish and Maguires 9 for final with a black foam pad... I get zero swirls even after detergent washes.

Again paint, compounds, pads and buffer speeds all work together and dont overlook that nor should you overlook directions of today's compounds, old school guys still think they can grab a compound and turn up the buffer to 2500 rpms... some compounds won't work that way today at all.
clean pads play a big part as well as clean surfaces, if you buff with compound and leave the compound dust on the car or in the jambs... when you move to polish and polish pads and the pads pick up compound they don't create enough heat to break down the compound and will swirl the car... you can actually swirl a car more with polishing than buffing... keep the foam pads clean and new, the low spots on that waffle pattern hold air and act like little coolers while buffing and polishing.

Hope this helps.

 

Check out autogeeks forum. Lots of new products these days. 3M is still good too.

 

Good stuff, gang, keep it coming.
I used to tape all the high spots and jamb openings before starting, I assume that’s still SOP?
Do the speeds recommended by the compound mfgr relate to wheel size? Meaning, an 8” buffing wheel will have significantly more surface speed than a 5”’at the same rpm.

 

Well, actually it would depend on what condition the paint/clear coat is in which would dictate what you need to use. A wool pad is NOT the way to go to just polish minor scratches and bring the luster back to life. A wool pad would only be used if the paint was really trashed and you just finished color sanding and needed to do the cut. If only minor polishing is needed, IMO there is only one buffer to get...FLEX. There are others that will do the same job like Porter Cable, but your hands will be vibrating the entire time and it will take twice as long to get the same finish as a FLEX. I used various machines to include the Porter Cable and the FLEX orbital is the best really unless you want to take the chance on burning through using a standard rotatory buffer like a DeWalt. FLEX is by far the best unless you spend much more dollars. FLEX is professional grade buffer. The FLEX will run $400 and change, they have gone up a bit in price since I bought mine, but again IMO, worth it.

As far as product goes, When I repainted my C3, I used 3M products (Profect It II) which work just fine if you are compounding and polishing after the cut. Otherwise, I use Adam's products which work great. Their white polish and white foam pads work very good and you should be able to buffer out any light scratches or swirl marks. Their system is all color coded, so you shouldn't get the wrong items. Another great product, but a little pricey is Wolfgang...LOVE Wolfgang. Use the Total Swirl Remover 2.0, works like a champ with maybe a little bit more aggressive pad if needed. You only use the least amount of pad and product to get the job done and that's it. Their wax is premium quality too and so is the price. I did a cut/buff on my C3 and the panels look like glass and no swirl marks anywhere. The choice is yours. GL

 

I followed every step in the 3M process, all their compounds, all their pads. Same thing with the PPG basecoat/clearcoat system.

Read every data sheet anybody had and I did what it said. One can wing it but I can't understand how that can be better than doing what the manufacturer says.

I think at the limit as to "what is best" any difference is marginal.

 

Lots and Lots of options today. You have experience with a rotary, and certainly seem to know how to handle one. Many detailers today do NOT, and utilize only orbital buffers. Orbitals have come a long way - and they do work well, but a rotary is unquestionably faster, (but also has to potential to destroy an edge in a couple of seconds if not used properly). Let's put it this way - in the pro environment - you aren't going to see many shops using DA's after watersanding clear coat....

IMHO - if you already have a rotary, get a few foam pads for it - even aggressive foam pads cut a bit slower than wool - but give you a fair amount more margin. The less aggressive foam pads cut even slower, but are better able to "moderate" the cut of the compound that you are using. I'm a fan of Meguiars Mirror Glaze line, but 3M, Rupes, Adams all put out good products, the key is to figure out which product in the line to use, and how to read the way the finish is responding to the work you're doing.

If you're up for trying a orbital - you can go for a higher end unit like a Flex, or you can start with a cheap Harbor Freight orbital (maybe take 10 minutes to pull out the crap grease they supply in the unit, and replace it with some decent grease in the gear case), and see what you think. Orbitals are going to be WAY slower than the rotary - but they are nearly foolproof, and don't require the control that the big rotaries do. I tend to think that they will allow you to get finishes better than a rotary can deliver with the finer compounds. I'll also suggest that if you're goin to go down the orbital road, watching a few You Tube videos showing the use of the orbitals, and the various compounds out there. Autogeek is a good source for pads / compounds and detailing info.

I always tend to try to get away with the least aggressive compound that I can, and only resort to more aggressive stuff when the less aggressive compound just isn't doing the job I need it to. You didn't give a great description of what you've got - but I would probably start by trying Meguiars Fine Cut compound with a medium foam cutting pad on a rotary, and see how that does. Or you could go with M110 Compound on am Orbital with an aggressive cutting foam pad (or even a microfiber pad).

 

You're getting good advice here. The one thing I can add which I don't see is don't cut anywhere near the fender lines and panel edges, tape those off, it is easy to grind through any material there.