PC 7424 for buffing new paint job?

TonyU · 03-10-06, 05:59

Over the winter I bought a turbine HVLP paint sprayer and a Porter Cable 7424. This spring I will be painting one of my cars (my first base coat/clear coat) and I am wondering if the 7424 is suitable for buffing the paint after it is color sanded.

Is the 7424 just a detailing tool, or will it work for buffing a new paint job as well?

Accumulator · 03-10-06, 06:44

You'll have to do the sanding with very fine paper (Meguiar's Unitgrit 3000 grit) if you want to remove the sanding scratches via PC. Other papers, and more aggressive grits, will almost always leave marks that are (at least close to being) beyond the abilities of this approach.

I've removed 3K (and even some 2.5K) marks with the PC and even by hand. It can be done but use the right paper to make things easy on yourself.

RAG · 03-10-06, 07:16

Welcome to Autopia Tony. Since you will be sprayinig your own ride, you're certainly capable of learning to use a rotary...so do yourself a big favor and do so. Even sanding with 3000 unigrit sometimes leaves a few deep scratches if you apply much pressure to the block/paper (necessary unless you plan on sanding for 10-15 hours). Even with a rotary buffing out an entire car is usually a day or two worth of work for a NUB.