help with wet sand/buffing?

Discuss anything after that final masking comes off.



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:48 pm
hi guys. I just finished painting my car with omni base / clear. The car has a fiberglass body kit that i painted seperatley from the metal body. The fiberglass came out pretty smooth and reflective, but the body is heavily textured. I anticipated somthing like this because I am not very skilled with a paint gun, so i put like 4 coats of clear on it so i would have somthing to sand. Anyway all i have tried doing so far is to mist the car with water, and wet down my paper (1500) and sand, it smooths it out nicley but leaves the clear foggy. Could somone tell me what i need to buy, and the application process? I have a power drill with a buffing pad, and a turtle wax orbital buffer, but i would prefer to do this by hand if possible, dont want to sand too fast and mess up the base.

here is a picture of the car for reference, trust me there is clear on there, its just textured so it dosent shine very much.

Image

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:59 pm
Okay, here's a start at least. Lose the drill/buffer and also get rid of the turtle wax buffer, and forget about trying to do this all by hand too. Buy a rotary style buffer/ polisher that has at least a 1/2 horse or 3/4 horse motor. If you need to go on the cheap for this Habor Freight has a good unit for about $25 on sale or digital speed version of it for about $50. Probably the reason you are seeing the fog effect is because you are not developing enough surface heat to re-melt the coating and bring the gloss back 100%. A new coating needs to be aggessively compounded and buffed after the wet sanding process to bring back the brilliance and to achieve that final leveling of the coating. Foam pads work best for buffing. Do yourself a favor and do a search on this site and type in compounding or buffing. Also pull all posts by tricky fingers here. He had some sound ideas and great shortcuts on cutting and buffing coatings. I think compounding and buffing is a real art and you'll do yourself a favor by getting a strong machine to start with.
Here is some helpful advice tricky gave that does work great:


Hi everybody, I'm new to the board and figured I'd pass on a helpful tip that I've learned in the pass 18 yrs of doing autobody and paint here in Alaska.

If you have the time and want to save on materials plus the clear that is on your vehicle, please read on-

Usually after letting the clear dry (3-4 coats) for 12-24hrs, I'll wet sand the clear with 1500 grit till satisfied, wipe down with 50% alcohol and water and walk away from it (go work on another vehicle in the shop). I'll wait 6-12hrs or overnight before coming back to buff with the buffer (we use finesse-it II to buff with). Notice- no 2000 grit paper or rubbing compound . I've noticed that if you let the solvents evaperate between 6-12hrs after wet sanding with 1500 grit that it will also eliminate alot of scratches (seal-up and flatten-out) that where left after wet sanding. All your left with is buffing with the buffer to a wet-look shine. Doing it this way will leave more clear on the vehicle for durability and UV-protection plus save you in labor and materials. Try it, you won't be disappointed .
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 4:18 pm
thanks for the info, ill look around some more on the boards



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PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:24 am
U have a pm cmercer.

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