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'.