What do pros use after a car comes out of the booth....

**qwik** · 08-16-2003, 10:48 AM

To bring the shine up? From what i`ve read when a car comes out of the booth it has a dull finish and needs to be rubbed out in order to achieve a glossy finish, what product(s) do they use for this? I have some dull spots on a freshly painted car (that are in hard to reach areas that i`m sure they forgot about) and want to bring the shine up. I was using 3M Finesse-IT II on some small inconspicous spots but now i just read that its for fully CURED paints (ack), so i guess thats not what they use when it first comes out of the booth...

**hondaguy2582** · 08-16-2003, 11:30 AM

take it back. You paid for a fresh paint job, its there responsibility to make sure you get a fresh paint job. There should be no dull spots, let them fix it.

**qwik** · 08-16-2003, 11:31 AM

Not a viable option. Precisely why i asked the question....

**Black Bird SC** · 08-16-2003, 02:04 PM

First of all, when a car is fresh out of the booth, the paint has a virgin shine. Since it has never even been touched, there are no minor swirls/scratches or marks of any kind to mar the finish. Now depending on the conditions it was painted in, there could be orange peel, a possible run, or dirt in the paint. These are wetsanded and then buffed back to a shine. I`m guessing they wetsanded areas and were not able to completely bring the shine back via buffing in those really hard to get to areas like you described. At the shop I work at, we use 3M Finesse-It II. I`m not sure where you heard that was only for fully cured paint, but I would have to argue that one. I would say if you can get to those spots with a rotary and Finesse-It, that would be your best bet.

**tangix2001** · 08-16-2003, 02:53 PM

Could be a spot missed by clear coat. The base coat has no shine, it`s the clear that gives paint it`s shine.

**qwik** · 08-17-2003, 11:41 AM

3M Finesse-IT II 05928 finishing material is what i was using and it did seem to work to bring out a good shine on somewhat dull areas. I read somewhere on the board that even when a car comes out of the booth with clear its not completely shiney and thus you need to buff it. I read this off of 3M`s site regarding the above mentioned product:

Designed for use on O.E.M. and fully cured automotive paints, can remove grade 1500 sand scratches and removes swirl marks after compounding, while leaving a glazed finish.

link

**chris0626** · 08-17-2003, 01:06 PM

Sad news, quik.

I posted a very similar question this month. See this thread. I also have those dull spots from a lousy paint job. (And the paint shop was so inept that, like you, I decided that taking it back was not an option.) Despite the advice I got in that thread, bullheaded me! -- I decided to try a little polishing. But it didn`t touch it. The runs and dullness are in the basecoat, which is covered by the clear; so the only way to restore the shine in the base would have been to polish thru the clearcoat, which I wasn`t stupid enough to do. So .... good luck! But I don`t think you`re going to have much luck.

**Deanski** · 08-17-2003, 04:23 PM

TAKE IT BACK!

It has to be wetsanded and then compounded, polished, then glazed. Once it is removed from the cure oven, it`s really cured. Todays paints cure much quicker than previous types and can be wetsanded,compounded, polished right away. This is done with a trained, skilled person and a rotary with wool pads first, then 3M foam pads later.

You paid to have it done correctly, bring it back and schedule for them to correct it.

Let us know what happens.

Regards,

Deanski

**qwik** · 08-17-2003, 05:46 PM

Ugh its going to probably have to wait than because they will take FOREVER. They always do. And i`ve wasted enough of the summer with it being there. See it was really fine when it was first painted but i brought it back to have the front painted with flames, but that fell through and they sanded the whole front before we really commited to anything, so they had to paint it back.

If the dullness is in the basecoat than what will wetsanding do? Won`t that just sand the clearcoat? Or will i essentially be erroding the clearcoat? I might try the wetsanding and the whole process in a small area on my own. Any more advice on what to do would be great. Thank you.

**jr weeks** · 08-17-2003, 06:03 PM

If the dullness is indeed in the base (what they could`ve done to cause this is beyond me-unless they tried to sand the base color due to runs etc. and didn`t recoat it) then you`re SOL i`m afraid. The only remedy is to wetsand the clear and repaint or reblend base in those areas and reclear the panel(s). If your dullness is in the clear they should be able to fix it by proper buffing.

Wetsanding fresh paint can cause "die back` from braking the surface tension when it`s soft, but you can usually always bring it back up after it hardens a bit. Sure sounds like it`s the basecolor.

Sorry you are going through this, best of luck.

**qwik** · 08-17-2003, 08:14 PM

Guitarman - in another post of mine i asked you about this, how good of you to respond here hehe. Anyway - ok lets try the clearcoat method first, should i go the wetsanding route with this or start less abrassive to see if its in the clear? Because if after i try your recommendations, plus wetsanding it is still not ideal it will go back towards winter. Let me know guys because i`ll go out tomorrow and buy what i need - rubbing compound? Polishing compound?? I have tried the 3M Finese-IT finishing material and it HELPED but its not great.

P.S. If this helps - when i got the car back there was some dullness in these concave vents i have on my fenders, when i used the finesse-it it brought the shine up greatly but after a few more times it didn`t do much else. Its still a bit dull compared to the rest of the paint but hopefully this means its in the clear, maybe i need something stronger? IF so what???

**qwik** · 08-17-2003, 09:05 PM

Would i achieve any results by using 3M Fine Cut Compound followed by 3M`s Swirl Mark Remover for dark colored cars? Doing this by hand of course, because like i said the 3M Finesse-IT II finishing material isn`t quite cutting it.

**chris0626** · 08-17-2003, 09:11 PM

qwik, are you reading the replies here? I haven`t seen anybody suggest you can fix it with FCRC/SMR or anything else. And I`m sorry to say that, `cause I have a car in similar condition to what you`re describing.

Sure would be nice if somebody would come up with a "miracle cure," but I don`t think it`s going to happen.

**qwik** · 08-17-2003, 09:17 PM

Well Lynn, of course i am reading them, i like to be thorough and be COMPLETELY POSITIVE before i attempt it. Guitarman said that if it is in the clear it can be properly buffed, which i move on to ask, with what....

And the other posts state that i might need to wetsand, compound and polish, i have danced around that hoping for a response regarding just compounding and polishing since the Finesse-IT FM brought some of the shine up, i thought perhaps its in the clear. Anyway, maybe your not reading the posts...??

Im not looking for a "miracle cure" just trying to cover all angles.

**jr weeks** · 08-17-2003, 11:18 PM

If you want to try, go for it...

I wouldn`t use anything courser than perhaps 3M Fine Cut rubbing compound, followed by a polish (Either - Meguiar`s DACP - 3M Machine Glaze or Finesse-It II Finishing Material should suffice).

If you see no improvement in the clarity, it`s the basecoat that`s the problem IMO. Nothing a compound or polish can do for that i`m afraid. Best of luck any which way.