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tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:53 pm
by bolts
Hey gang so i finally got to spraying my front end hood and fender. Used tamco 2100 clear. So now i wet sanded 1500-3000 and got to polishing only to find out it is very difficult to polish. I have been going over it multiple times with a wool pad and it still shows scratches and looks hazy. I think i got the fender to look pretty good but it took many times polishing. So my question is, what am i doing wrong and how can i get it to polish? do i need to wait longer before i polish? or is the 2100 a very hard clear that is hard to polish? any help is appreciated. mahalos

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:39 am
by NFT5
What kind of buff are you using, what compound and what at what speed?

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 9:52 am
by Imatk
I always start with a square section, take some tape and make a square and then use that as your test before you try the whole panel.

Make sure your pad is clean and if it is beyond cleaning, use a new pad. I rarely use wool pads, but any pad you use can get loaded up with polish and or paint and it just won't cut like it should.

My most aggressive combination of pads and polish is the Meguiar's M105 and a Yellow foam cutting pad but I rarely if ever have to use the yellow pad.

I find most jobs can be tackled with an orange cutting pad and the 105.

I use Lake Country pads, but any of them will work.

I also use a Metabo Rotary... not sure what machine you are using.

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:03 am
by '68 Coronet R/T
Imatk wrote:I always start with a square section, take some tape and make a square and then use that as your test before you try the whole panel.

Make sure your pad is clean and if it is beyond cleaning, use a new pad. I rarely use wool pads, but any pad you use can get loaded up with polish and or paint and it just won't cut like it should.

My most aggressive combination of pads and polish is the Meguiar's M105 and a Yellow foam cutting pad but I rarely if ever have to use the yellow pad.

I find most jobs can be tackled with an orange cutting pad and the 105.

I use Lake Country pads, but any of them will work.

I also use a Metabo Rotary... not sure what machine you are using.


You should try Megs M-100 and a twisted wool pad. Runs circles around M-105 in my opinion.

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:06 am
by '68 Coronet R/T
bolts wrote:Hey gang so i finally got to spraying my front end hood and fender. Used tamco 2100 clear. So now i wet sanded 1500-3000 and got to polishing only to find out it is very difficult to polish. I have been going over it multiple times with a wool pad and it still shows scratches and looks hazy. I think i got the fender to look pretty good but it took many times polishing. So my question is, what am i doing wrong and how can i get it to polish? do i need to wait longer before i polish? or is the 2100 a very hard clear that is hard to polish? any help is appreciated. mahalos


1500 is find to start with IF you don't have a lot of orange peel, dust or dry spray.
Jumping to 3000 is too big of a jump in grit. You should move up in 500 grit increments: 1000, 1500, 2000, etc. I rarely need to go beyond 2000 as the Megs M-100 and a twisted wool pad on a rotary will take care of that easily.

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 5:32 am
by HudsonStudeguy
bolts wrote:Hey gang so i finally got to spraying my front end hood and fender. Used tamco 2100 clear. So now i wet sanded 1500-3000 and got to polishing only to find out it is very difficult to polish. I have been going over it multiple times with a wool pad and it still shows scratches and looks hazy. I think i got the fender to look pretty good but it took many times polishing. So my question is, what am i doing wrong and how can i get it to polish? do i need to wait longer before i polish? or is the 2100 a very hard clear that is hard to polish? any help is appreciated. mahalos


We went thru this process a couple of years ago with 2021 tamco clear. It was well cured. It took me a full day experimenting with different machines, compounds, pads and color sanding products to figure it out. The toughest buffing job I have ever done. Turned out like a mirror.
During the process I used Abralon in grades 1000 to 4000, Menzerna 300 and 400, Rotary buffer with wool pad and Flex 3401 using foam pads.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlqXTowCsi4Ur3l5chfiain3_stl

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:16 pm
by DarrelK
So hey, while you are here..... Our industrial sandpaper supplier is a large Mirka dealer and has brought up the subject of the Abralon papers several times.....Did you use them just this time or have you used them several times over the years? Just looking for some real world feedback.

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:15 pm
by HudsonStudeguy
DarrelK wrote:So hey, while you are here..... Our industrial sandpaper supplier is a large Mirka dealer and has brought up the subject of the Abralon papers several times.....Did you use them just this time or have you used them several times over the years? Just looking for some real world feedback.


I started using Abralon pads to color sand clear coat 6 or so years ago. A very good product I think. I learned about it after reading about polishing bowling balls using it.
I also like that it comes in multiple grades. I have directly compared Abralon to other look alike brands, but they don't hold up like the Abralon does.

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 3:40 pm
by DarrelK
Yeah, oddly enough I had read that reference to the bowling ball thing......hmmm, when we go to put in our next wood sandpaper order I think I'll have them throw an assortment of the Abralon on there as well. Maybe he'll even "promo" a few grits for us.....

Re: tamco 2100 clear hard to polish

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:23 pm
by chris
It doesn't buff like some butter-soft clears meant primarily for trailer queens. But it shouldn't be hard to buff either, so something must be up with your process.

I'm not great at buffing trust me on that but I was able to get very good results with the HC-2100. Using Wizards products.

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