Buffing frustration at meltdown stage---need help!

Discuss anything after that final masking comes off.



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:15 pm
Would appreciate assistance keeping me from turning my project car into a mushroom cloud. Here's what I've got: Finished BC/CC painting (dark green color). Put on about four wet coats of clear but didn't get to start buffing until about 8 weeks after painting. Lots of orangepeel to sand out. Began wetsanding w1000 grit, followed by 1500. Got orangepeel out but left lots of scratches. Began buffing w/3M Perfect It II compound and Finesse It finishing material. Got shine to come up but still mega scratches. Tried resanding w/ 2000 grit and rebuffing. Still scratches. Tried Meguiars Diamond cut compound and wool pad instead of foam. Same result.

My frustration is I don't know if I'm buffing in scratches or not getting the sanding scratches out. Thought about resanding with 3000 grit and starting over. Or buying a swirl remover to see if my problem is ham-handed buffing. I am cleaning the panel between steps with water/alcohol mix. Don't know what else to do at this point. Almost ready to repaint the #@$% thing and really start over.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 6:33 am
It almost sounds like the scratches are under the clear. When you wetsand do you keep the paper and body wet and wiped down? Dirty paper will scratch you work as well.



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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 7:34 am
Thanks for the reply. I'd hate to think I got scratches in the base before clearcoat. I don't think I did any sanding on the base before the clear and the panel had been dipped to remove all old paint before I started.

I've tried to be careful with a water/soap solution for wetsanding and kept the paper in a water-filled bucket (giving each new sheet about 15 minutes in the water before I start.

I guess it's back to trial and error. Is it feasible that the clear hardened over the 8 weeks since I shot it and that's what's making this so tough? Also, with four heavy coats of clear on this panel, how much risk is there in burning through by buffing multiple times with compound?

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 8:10 am
You have less of a chance of buffing through using the micro-finishing compounds you have been using. The other thing you can try is using very little pressure while buffing. Let the buffer do the work for you. If your scratches look like swirl marks then your using too much pressure on the buffer. If the scratches are in a different direction then the 2000 grit marks then they may be under the clear. I have seen many paint jobs with scratches under the clear. It comes from the before paint prep work. A lot of people final sand with 400 which is fine for a regular paint job. But for custom work I go upto 600 for my final sanding before base coat. I would also stay with the foam pads. They have less of a chance to burn through.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 1:44 pm
Might want to check out the pages on this website ie: do some reading.

http://www.repairnation.com/paint_n_bod ... ffing1.htm

Darker colors are normally harder to buff out. 8 weeks is indeed enough time for it to get harder to work with.

It may very well be scratches in the substrate showing up. Would be a shame if it is. Might if all else fails try re-clearing an area-panel to see if the scratches disappear.

Again check the link above and see if it offers any help because there are several pages to read through for more info. Do as the link suggests and work on a small section instead of trying to do a big area.



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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 2:43 pm
Thanks. I'll check it out. I'm hoping that it's not below the clear (obviously). The only thing I have to go on is that this is the fourth panel I've buffed out and the other three seem OK. I followed the same process for all. No body work done on this one and all sanding on the high-build primer was done with 600 dry followed by 1000 grit wet before shooting base. I'm getting to believe these are coming more from poor buffer technique (and my heavy as hell HF buffer).

Thanks for the quick assist.

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