i am a newbie at paint and body work,that said i did all the body work and primer prep for paint on my 68 mustang fastback,and had it painted dec 22.paint looks great untill you get up close and clear shows a roughness to it.so i want to cut and buff over a year after base coat clear has been done.can that be done this late?i tested the hood scoop with wet sand with 2000 and 3000 and 3m rubbing compound with a da buffer and its much smoother now and will use a finer grit no 2 3m polisher with a foam pad.the 3m has a 3 step products i am going to use.will i be able to remove all the swirl marks etc?
thanks for any help!

Do you know how many coats of clear they put on the car?

What you are looking at is called Orange Peel and to remove it you must sand the little bumps down even to the surface.

Generally, I wet sand using a small hard block and 1000 grit to level the surface.
Here you can see the beginning process of removing orange peel:


Next, I will use a small rubber block and go over everything with 1500 grit to remove the 1000 grit scratches and follow that with 2000 grit to remove the 1500 scratches.

Here you see the whole panel has been sanded with 1500 and part of it is done with 2000.


From there you will need a rotary buffer, a DA will not get the job done in my opinion.
I like to use Meguiar's M-100 professional compound and a twisted wool pad for the first go, followed by Chemical Guys V36 on a white foam pad, then Menzerna 3800 on a black pad.

Results:

wow thats a big improvement.i think he did 3 coats of clear.not sure of brand,but he said it was high quality .so you dont think its a problem being a 1 1/2 after it was painted?
i will have to look into a rotary buffer,but didnt want to be to aggressive on it.just learning
thanks for you input!

You'll want to wash it real good and maybe go over it with a clay bar first.

thanks for your replys.i tested on my hood scoop,but it still shows sand scratches in it.i wet sanded with 800 and 2000,and hit with 3m rubbing compound no 1,on a wool pad,and no 2 with a foam pad, and finished with menzerna 3800 on a black foam pad,it has a good shine,but still scratches.also,is this ok for a buffer? i used a decent quality da.
also,the car was never outside,and spent about 8 months in my enclosed car trailer,so very little dust on car

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hbstang wrote:thanks for your replys.i tested on my hood scoop,but it still shows sand scratches in it.i wet sanded with 800 and 2000,

that's a HUGE jump between grit. typically sanding goes through grits like 800, 1000,1200,1500.
doing what you did there's a high probability the scratches from the 800 weren't removed.
guide coat is your friend.

tomsteve wrote:

hbstang wrote:thanks for your replys.i tested on my hood scoop,but it still shows sand scratches in it.i wet sanded with 800 and 2000,

that's a HUGE jump between grit. typically sanding goes through grits like 800, 1000,1200,1500.
doing what you did there's a high probability the scratches from the 800 weren't removed.
guide coat is your friend.

Maximum jump in grits is 500. Which is what I used in my example. 1000, 1500, 2000.
You definitely have 800 grit scratches remaining and the use of a DA insured that those weren't coming out.
Had you followed the instructions given, you wouldn't have any scratches showing.

you are right about jumping grit.i need to get some sandpaer in the right grit.also.with this clear being 1 1/2 years old,could i use a da sander with the right grit or is that to aggressive?i am learning a lot from this forum!

can you post pics to the forum or do they have to be hosted?

You may want to consider shooting more clear if that's a possibility. Not sure where you are at with this project.

To post a picture scroll to the bottom of the screen when you are typing your message.

You will see an Options Tab and right next to it and Upload Attachment Tab. Click on that and a window will open.

Click the Choose File tab and find your picture on your computer and click on it and then at the bottom right Click Open. This will insert your link into the Choose File box. Then you click Add The File button.

It will take a bit of time depending on how big your file is. When it's upload your cursor will jump back to this text box. Scroll down and you will see the file and the option to Place In Line. Be sure to click in the text box and put your cursor where you want the file inserted before clicking that button.

Same process for each picture you wish to upload.

i am still in reassembly and making a lot of changes from where it was before.


this is what it looked like before i started making all the changes