Hey all

just wondering what systems/brands/steps people use to finish acrylic laquer

can it really be done in 3 steps,
1 compound with cutting agent and lambswool pad
2 finish with soft foam pad and swirl remover
3 apply regular polish to protect the paint

? can it be done in less, are there reasonably priced products that are highly recommended?

also do people often bother going higher than 1500 grit sandpaper, is this too fine to knock down peel etc to start, should I go with 1200, or even lower?

what attributes do I need to look for in a swirl remover and what attributes in a polish?

You'd want to have an off the gun finish that is near perfect to get away with that.

Reality is that you'll need to go P1500 wet (maybe P1200 first) to flatten out the inevitable dry spots and overspray as well as dust nibs. Then P2000 wet and I like to then use 3000 Trizact. Then compound, swirl remover or finishing compound and then polish.

Industry standard compound is Farecla G3 but it can be hard to remove residues. I like the AutoSmart Sophisticut but 3M compounds are good too. A good compound should break down, becoming finer as you buff, leaving a nice shine and little residue. Lambswool can be fairly aggressive - a medium foam pad will give you better control albeit being a little slower. For swirl removal we use a Cyclo with medium soft pads with Gelson T47 or T57 which remove swirl and polish in one step.

hey thanks for the feedback

I have seen customspraymods on youtube use septone mr buff and a lambswool pad for cutting acrylic after sanding with 1200, apparently the mrbuff breaks down into smaller particles so you get a staged cut that works well, then you use a foam pad and a swirl remover and then finally a fine foam pad and polish, or apply the polish by hand...

Im not planning to clear the solid color metallic paint job to save money and time, will this present any extra / different challenges when cutting/buffing?

thanks

You really do need to clear coat any metallic or pearl, even acrylic. If you don't you will not be able to buff or polish it since you'll expose the flake and change the look. Solids, no. Just put on an extra couple of coats that you will sacrifice with cutting and buffing.

Can't comment on Mr Buff. Anything I've ever used that's been branded Septone has been ordinary so I'm not holding out for them to have a miracle cutting compound. That said, in competent hands, any compound can be made to work and you never see the edits that are cut out of a 5 minute YouTube video.

sorry I must have spazzed out writing the last post

they are just solids, not metallic or pearl colors... so leaving clear should be ok...

yeah you're right, even septones citric hand cleaner sucks haha, It just seemed like they had good results, and they use it throughout a lot of videos, it is cheap thats why I asked (15 bucks compared to farecla's $50)

thanks it seems like I see the gelson stuff pop up a lot, is that t47 57 stuff good for 1 and 2k or just acrylic,

the fact it does fine cut and polish sounds good, do I still have to put another polish protectant over the top or is the gelson sufficient?

thanks as always Chris!

I found contour buff pads, they have yellow white and black, (coarse med, fine) do you suggest a coarse instead of a lambswool?