Scratches...Ugh

Discuss anything after that final masking comes off.



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PostPosted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:37 pm
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Ok So for my first paint job ever, I’m not too disappointed, but, daggummit! I didn’t think these scratches would be my problem. During my endeavor, I had plenty of issues, and thought I did everything y’all taught me. Keyword being “thought”. Primed, sanded with 400, sanded with 600 before basecoat. Got it painted, got the clear coat on, and things went well. I was pleased with it all. Then I waited a couple of days before my cut, buff, and polish. I started wet sanding with 1000, then went to 2000 wet, then 3000. I did use a DA with the 3000, but thought I handled the DA pretty well with the 3000. But who knows? Then I went with the Meguiars 105(wool), then 205(orange foam pad) with my Torq polisher. I was pretty disappointed to see all these scratched under the light. So I hit it again with the 105, then 205 thinking maybe I didn’t put enough work into it. Same thing.
I can’t figure out if I didn’t sand well enough in my earlier stages, or the clear coat. I’m pretty sure I hit it well enough with the polisher Sony guess is it’s in the earlier stages, or i believe that would be the primer sanding.
I will say this, you can’r See the scratches out in the sun. Which I’m pretty happy about. But still wanna know what I did wrong. Can someone give me their opinion so I don’t make the same mistake again. Hopefully my pics will show up this time. I’ve had some trouble uploading here lately

Thanks, Kenny
Btw, I did sand before the 400 and 600 after the primer was sprayed, I can’t remember what with, I think it was 220 maybe 180 grit, just so y’all know
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:54 pm
Check out page 11 on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=22145&start=100

If you want to make life easier, get a rotary buffer. Polishers may be fine for the last step but a rotary will get those scratches out.

I have switch from Megs 105 to the M-100. Much better product for the first round and a wool pad.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 7:05 am
if you want to stick with that polisher, try orange lake country pads with both the 105 and 205. with my porter cable 7424 it takes quite a long time to buff from 1500 sanding.
however, i suggest taking coronets suggestion of getting a rotary for the first pass. the 105 dusts horribly. i dont know why they changed the formula a few years ago but it isnt what it used to be. rotaries arent bad IF you learn properly. start with slow RPM's and use the back of your hand to feel the surface. that will tell you if your getting too hot. keep working up the rpms and let the rotary do the work. no need to add pressure and check the surface temp often.
i also highly suggest the M100. works a lot better than the 105. thanks to coronet suggesting it before i picked some up. excellent product.

then go to the torgue polisher and foam pads with the 205.



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PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:04 am
Ok, I will definitely buy a rotary buffer. I will say, after reading y’alls reply’s I searched for a rotary and it’s a bit confusing. Between rotary, orbital and dual action, my head is spinning! When I search for a rotary buffer, it seems a lot of dual action and orbitals will come up as well. Also, in the description of some of these, they don’t seem to always say what exactly they are. At least on Amazon and a couple of other websites.
I’m assuming it must say “Rotary” in the description. The rotary I did find were very expensive. A little out of my league at the moment. Even the. Porter Cable 7424 seemed to have say Orbital in the description. Maybe I looked at the wrong one tho.
Can y’all recommend a decent inexpensive rotary buffer?
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:37 am
These are all decent.

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWP849-7- ... B0052RXM10

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-9237C-Var ... B00LA6M64G

https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-5460-6 ... B00002247Y
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:56 am
If you're just doing this on your own vehicles as a hobbyist may I suggest the Harbor Freight rotary. I've been using it for several years and it works fine, I did change the backing plate though 6" and I use it with Hex Logic 6" foam pads.
It's very affordable and I have taken out 1500-2000 wet sand scratches with the correct pad/compound combo, currently using Jescar/Sonax.

https://www.harborfreight.com/power-too ... 62297.html



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PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:07 am
steel1 wrote:If you're just doing this on your own vehicles as a hobbyist may I suggest the Harbor Freight rotary.


funny you mention that one. years ago i had a hand me down rotary. think it was a makita. it stopped working on me in the middle of buffing out a paint job. didnt want to dink around trying to figger out what was wrong, had to get the job done, didnt have much $$$ to buy a new makita or time to dig and fix that one so off to HF. between paint jobs and paint correction that buffer has about 50 jobs on it.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:43 am
Generally the cheaper brands, Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, etc. are extremely heavy and tend to wear you out quickly.

Even if you only do one car, it will be much easier to sell a used name brand buffer than one wearing the HF moniker.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:10 pm
It is heavy I'll give you that, but it did outlast my Griots by a long shot.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:56 am
NewPainta wrote:Ok, I will definitely buy a rotary buffer. I will say, after reading y’alls reply’s I searched for a rotary and it’s a bit confusing. Between rotary, orbital and dual action, my head is spinning! When I search for a rotary buffer, it seems a lot of dual action and orbitals will come up as well. Also, in the description of some of these, they don’t seem to always say what exactly they are. At least on Amazon and a couple of other websites.
I’m assuming it must say “Rotary” in the description. The rotary I did find were very expensive. A little out of my league at the moment. Even the. Porter Cable 7424 seemed to have say Orbital in the description. Maybe I looked at the wrong one tho.
Can y’all recommend a decent inexpensive rotary buffer?


I am not a professional but I can tell ya from experience as a rookie what worked for me. I had a really bad paint job done locally, really bad orange peel, etc. and I hand sanded just like you did, up to 1500 grit , then I bought a Griot's 3" random orbital DA and sanded with 3M Trizact 3000 grit and Trizact 5000 grit. I pulled the trigger and bought a Flex 3401 dual action orbital polisher (not cheap) and used a wool pad and Menzerna FG400 polish. Then I used a Lake Country orange cutting pad and Menz FG400 to get the wool pad scratches out, Then you can finish it up with Menzerna 3500 and a Lake Country white pad if you want. If you have never used a rotary buffer before, make sure you practice on an old panel first, a rookie can burn through clear coat easy, and you can have a lot of holograms if not done right, ask me how I know...LOL The Porter Cable 7424 is a good machine but the Flex 3401 is a great all around buffer and when you get good at using it on your hot rod you will find yourself buffing the rest of your vehicles also ! There are a lot of good buffing machines out there now, it just depends on what your budget is and how much use you will get out of it.
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