New Paint!

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by djerickd

Well I ended up picking up some Meg's Deep Crystal #2 and did the car, I don't see any holograms but are they really there just covered up? As I understand it this polish just fills them in vs. actually removing them...

Yeah, they're still there but they're hidden by the DC#2 (I gotta remember that A21 designation). No point buying the #5 now that you have the DC#2, so just get something with abrasives in it to remove the holograms permanently. You might want to do thate before the paint finishes curing so it'll cut a little easier, but I often wait unless they really look awful.

[djerickd]

it's not bad at all, they were minor in my eyes... I see cars eveyday with worse! Now the car is almost perfect, except for the right rear quarter panel that I guess the body shop TOTALLY missed with the wet sanding and buffing. It looks like a silver orange skin... arrgh. I may have to break down and get a Porter Cable buffer and wet sand and polish that spot myself. Sooo aggrivating.

[skipperw]

I called F1 and they told me I could use 2180 on fresh paint. What do you guys think?

[Reflections]

Originally Posted by djerickd

I took a look at my paint the otherday and I saw a TON of swirls going from the front to the back of the car. All I've done since the car has been painted was wash it using NXT car wash using a soft wash mitt and drying using my absorber chamois, AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG to cause all these light scratches? You can only see them in the right light they are so fine, but they are all over.

Accumulator has a lot more experience than I do, but in MY humble opinion, I bet the body shop polished it with a heavy glaze and now it's worn off. I see this a lot on friend's cars that come from the dealership. I rarely give any body shop or dealership enough credit to do proper paint correction instead of hiding (or creating) problems. A photo of the swirls would help though.

[djerickd]

I *think* the product they used was 3M Perfect-it or Finesse-it. Does that sound about right after wet sanding is perfomed? I'm thinking now, I should get some thing like this or a Meg's equivalent and wet sand the peel myself with some 200 grit, does that sound about right?

Thanks for everyones help!!

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by skipperw

I called F1 and they told me I could use 2180 on fresh paint. What do you guys think?

I'm not familiar with the 2180,is it a sealant? I've never received a good explanation of how a sealant can permit outgassing so I just stick with the glazes. The logic behind such claims eludes me and IMHO that's always a pretty good clue as it's not like I can't follow the reasoning behind this stuff

Remember to take anything a vendor tells you with a grain of salt...it's not *their* paint that might not attain maximum hardness

[djerickd]

Accumulator, any tips on wet sanding? I may just do this myself, can't be too hard eh?

[skipperw]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I'm not familiar with the 2180,is it a sealant? I've never received a good explanation of how a sealant can permit outgassing so I just stick with the glazes. The logic behind such claims eludes me and IMHO that's always a pretty good clue as it's not like I can't follow the reasoning behind this stuff

Remember to take anything a vendor tells you with a grain of salt...it's not *their* paint that might not attain maximum hardness

Thanks for your help. I guess I will stay with the Megs 5. After 90 days I will give Scottwax a call and let him do his magic!!

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by djerickd

Accumulator, any tips on wet sanding? I may just do this myself, can't be too hard eh?

Not too hard conceptually but people tend to get in over their heads when it comes to actually *doing* it.

Only use Meguiar's Unigrit 3K. Follow the directions and know what you're doing before you start (don't just spend a few minutes on this, actually *study* it). Inspect after *every* stroke. Quit before you want to, you'll be glad you did. Follow with something aggressive enough to remove the 3K scratches and remember that this product will take off a fair amount of clear too, and will require even more polishing with a milder product.

Ignore all the above and just don't do it I'm serious.

I can't count the times people have botched this up, so while many folks do it, I really hesitate to recommend it. In almost every case, I'd say "better thick but imperfect clear than drastic measures like this". Just because somebody else has done something with good results, that doesn't mean everybody oughta try it.

[djerickd]

thanks I'm going to stop by Proper Auto Care/Classic Motoring Accesories ( http://properautocare.com/ ) in Tampa today at lunch I'll have the guys take a look and see what they think. I've watched the bodyshop guys do it and it seems pretty straightforward, sand then buff out... I had them touch up a few spots from the last time they painted the car.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by djerickd

I've watched the bodyshop guys do it and it seems pretty straightforward..

Heh heh, I've watched guys do surgery, and that looked pretty straightforward too

[djerickd]

LOL, oh yeah no problem I could do that too! haha!

Well I stopped by CMA and talked to the GM, Phil, he reccomended the best body shop in town (Gene Perez body repairs, inc.) take a look at the OP, they told me that the car looks good and that if they sanded it it would look like glass and wouldn't match the rest of the car, he wanted to respray it then match it to the next panel, but he reccomended I "save my money, get it out of my mind, and don't worry about it since I am the ONLY one who would notice it" since it truly isn't THAT bad. I guess I'll just live with it...

CMA (Phil) did suggest Menzerna products for my silver metallic car and told me about hitting the slight peel with a mild Menzerna abrasive to knock it down a little vs. taking the plunge with the 2000-3000 grit.