Buffing paintwork

[sphell]

Well while I'm waiting around to go to the Commodore Cruise tonight, I may as well share my experiences with buffing paint

A while ago I rubbed back my bonnet with 1200 grit wet and dry then buffed it with Autoglym cutting Compound....it turned out fairly well but you could still see the paint had a slight orange peel to it. I left it like that but after a few months and washes, the rub marks came back and the paint dulled right down again.

I decided I wanted the 'flat as glass' look so I went to the paint shop and bought some 3M Microfinishing compound (not cheap at almost $90 a tin), some finishing glaze, a yellow foam cutting pad, a black foam polishing pad and some 1500 and 2000 wet and dry paper.



In the background is an Ozito variable speed buffer and a respirator which is recommended by 3M as the airborne particles may be cancerous. The lady at the paint shop was also reluctant to sell it to me for this reason.

When I got home I rubbed back one side of the bonnet with 1500 wet and dry until there were no shiny spots left. This ensures the paint is completely flat and free of 'orange peel'. After rinsing and drying the bonnet, I applied a few dabs of the 3M compound. Using the buffer set to around 1800rpm I buffed it until the pad started to 'stick' cause the compound had dried up. By now it had a mirror shine

To finish it off and get rid of the swirl marks you always see on second hand dealership cars, I washed the bonnet again then dried it and applied a few dabs of the glazing compound. I used the black polishing pad on the buffer and buffed it again until the compound dried up.

Here is the finished result. It's hard to see cause it's dark, I'll get some daytime pics tomorrow. You can see the reflection of the garage light and roof perfectly in the paint though. On the other half of the bonnet, this reflection is blurry. I only did half so I could compare results and see if spending $170 was worth it!




It's going to take ages to rub back the whole car and buff it but once it's done it should have a 'show car shine'.

[EFFalcon]

GOod stuff Doug!
I'll check it out tonight, cya at doncaster :P

BTW: Mind if i put this on the deleted link website as a bit of a tutorial?

[sphell]

yeah no worries....I can do a bit more of an in depth one if u want? I'm gonna get stuck into the guards and stuff tomorrow when I have more time.

We're taking sunny's car tonight, my car's a mess...that's why I decided to fix it up again. Not rocking up with a half buffed bonnet and rubbing compound all over the guards lol ;) c u there.

[EFFalcon]

Haha fair enough
All depends if u can be bothered writing it up something more detailed
I look forward to seeing the results, one thing i wish my car had is good paint work.. but no chance of that atm :P

[Damo]

doug what time you leaving ? I wanna come too just for the first meet point. Wanna meet somewhere before hand ?

Oh and good stuff with the polishing.

[LUXO_8]

the 3m stuff works great hey doug... paint polished up a treat.

haha, we use all the stuff in the pic to repair headlight lenses....
those polishes and buffing pads work just as good on plastic.

[Damo]

I saw the little section last night, looks bloody mint, so flat and shiny. Shame about the little scratches. :(

So much for taking Sunny car eh. lol.

Not much happening in e-series, so i thought i'd bump this thread back up.

[dansedgli]

Mmm shiny. Doug-you can do mine when your done yours!

[Racecraft]

It not the buffing that is the painful part back the rubbing back..

With the few long weekends I have just finished doing my EL again...



A few things I have noticed that might be off interest.

Forget the 1200 and 1500, I find if you persist with the 2000 grit paper you end up with alot less scratches after you buff it.. I personally only use 3M sand paper as it doesn't fold and wrinkle up under your block like the cheap-*** paper does.

Remove as many trims as you can because it is really really hard to a) get sections flat if there is a door handle or washer jet in the way. And the compound is really hard to get out of little grooves and off the rubber seals on the door handles for example.. Warm water and a toothbrush gets tedious after a awhile.

I have a spray bottle to lubricate the compound as it use it. Seems to reduce the scratches you get from the lambswool pad I use on the buffer, I found the foam pads are good but easier to burn thru the paint

Be prepared to do it twice, do it once, wash and dry then in different lights you pick up scratches and swirls that you should get out before you re-assmemble everything

Most important BE VERY CAUTIOUS near the edges, the buff can go thru the two-pac like nothing else if you are not wary.

I use Meguirs swirl remover by hand after the compound then fininsh off with the QuickWax

Once you are done, you have a glass finish that makes a factory car look like the surface of the moon

[Damo]

got any pics of the finished product Tibbo ?

[Racecraft]

Same as Sphell unfortunately by the time is was done it was dark, all i got was an outline of my car with an over exposed image of my cameras flash.

I'll nip down to work tomorrow and take a daylight picture..

Its still not back together as I am repainting the roof due to some possum shit I didnt wash off leaving a mark that I couldn't even buff out..

Either way you can see the difference in the reflection without any orange peel..

[sphell]

some good points there racecraft. That must have taken you AGES!! That's gonna look mint when u buff it.

Also another tip for people buffing near edges....it's a good idea to prop open any panel so you don't buff paint off the edge of the adjacent panel....for example, prop up the bonnet a bit so the buff doesn't turn into the edge of the guard and take the paint off.

Also I was under the impression that foam pads are gentler on paint than lambswool?

[LUXO_8]

yes they are gentler, well at least they are on plastic lenses - i'd presume the layered plastic that makes up a headlight lens would be like the layers of paint on a car...

we've only just discovered using the foam pad's, bloody hell they polish up so much better than lambswool its not funny.
also they dont clog with polish and scratch the paint like lamswool does... i think thats the biggest problem witl lambswool

[gtfpv]

must admit i'm using an expensive lambswool mcguiars mit recomended by them to wash my black gt i am pedantic about the paint and it is leaving micro scratches on the paint which i have to polish out is there anything better i can use to wash a car?

[Racecraft]

I agree about the lambswool leaving fine scratches when washing but as far as buffing goes when you lubricate it with a mist of water the wool seems to cut out the wet and dry marks alittle faster. As far as shine goes I don't doubt the foam can produce a deeper fininsh but the two times I have used the foam I have nearly burnt the paint.
Perhaps I should ask about the RPM settings betweeen the two e

I might do a half half job like Doug did comparing Foam and Wool and see if I can get a slightly better finish.

[sphell]

The first time I buffed my bonnet the lambswool was definately the G-O. I had a foam pad then too but it was sh*t compared to the lambswool. It just didn't seem to cut much at all compared to the lambswool. But this time I bought a different, bigger foam pad with a waffle pattern and it beat the lambswool hands down....the best feature is it's just velcro on and off....no need to tie the pad to the backing plate I had the RPM on about 1800 when using the foam pad.

Hey racecraft, do u have any finished pics yet?

[Racecraft]

Originally Posted by sphell

Hey racecraft, do u have any finished pics yet?

It was raining and overcast today so it would of been an injustice to how it looked in natural light... ASAP when it is nice and sunny

[xr6freak]

the best way to use a foam pad is with a mist of water.
keep it moving at all times though.
the reason wool burns especially on 2 pack is friction.this causes heat then burns.
foam pad does not create heat and has less friction. i am a painter /detailer and all of 2 pack paints i rub back to mirror with 1200 wet and do not get swirls or paper scratches using max green cutting compound then wet look wax/polish. have done heaps of custom paints and plenty of blacks. trick is apply preasure when compound wet then reduce weight of buff when to just holding the unit and let the buff weight do the work.
takes practice but practice makes perminate. do not need to do it again later .hopes this helps.

[Sundeep]

1% done Douglas, 99% to go lol.

Sundeep

[CATman]

Most of the time, people will tell you don't touch a 2 pack paint job with lambswool because that can be dangerious, as XR6freak has said. There are 2 different foam pads usually are use for different reasions. The smaller flat foam one is used with a harsh cutter such as a farecella(spell?) G3 for the first cut, to get out ALL scratches. Then after that is done you will have some crazy ammounts of swurl marks, for that you will use the bigger foam waffel with a different compound for getting out the swurl marks. Then the usual polish and stuff after that.

[sphell]

so racecraft, how's those pics comin along :P

yeh come on guys would love to see the outcome

[Racecraft]

Ok i fired up the camera at last, the car's not finished yet but considering the paint is nearly 2 years old as has been subjected to shopping cente idiots you'll get the idea
clickie for bigger images





You can see the peel in image 1 in the recess for the door moulds and below.. If you look carefully you can see the difference in my reflection

[StarkEA]

looks good tibbo, a good thread to follow guys, picking up tips along the way...

mite cya round somewhere tibbo, like at harry's again, hehe...

keep up the good work guys, making ford owners look proud