New Paint (compounds, Polishes, etc)

Hi everyone.

I figured I would join here to get some knowledge on some good products to use.

I recently painted my project car (Ford Sonic Blue) and I need some suggestions on recommend products to use to bring out the shine.

I am wetsanding the clear to get rid of any orange peel and I need suggestions on brands/products, and how many steps I should take (i.e compound, then polish, then wax, or take more steps between compounding and polishing).

I have a polisher as well as a DA polisher and polishing pads already.

How aggressive are you wetsanding? What type of pads are you working with?

I am starting with 320 wet, 400 wet, 600 wet, 1000 wet, 2000 wet

I put on a lot of clear to make sure I had plenty to sand down (first time painting a car). And I got a few minor runs in the clear, so I was getting good results from starting with 320 wet.

The pads I currently have are the Orange, Blue and Black

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ggrant3

I am starting with 320 wet, 400 wet, 600 wet, 1000 wet, 2000 wet

I put on a lot of clear to make sure I had plenty to sand down (first time painting a car). And I got a few minor runs in the clear, so I was getting good results from starting with 320 wet.

The pads I currently have are the Orange, Blue and Black

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Congratulations on painting your car !! That is a big deal !

Assume you are using a good, flat, rubber Block, right ??

How smooth was the car after your last wet clear coat ??

Keep the water flowing the whole time if possible to help speed up your process and keep the panel and paper clean..

I just buy a cheap 1/2" hose, cut off the metal end and that way I can have it on the vehicle and not scratch it with the hose end..
They sell these nice 6-12` hose extensions for a few bucks at H/Depot, etc..

Assume you have a Rotary ? How much experience with it ?

Your pads - what brand and how many of each ??

Do you have any wool/foam blend pads ? How many ?
Good luck with this !
DanF

Thank you.

I wanted to do everything on this car knowing that it may not come out perfect, but I am not planning on it to be my only one, just the first one. And from what I have been told by people walking by (even paint/bodywork guys) they said I did a real good job for my first time painting a car.

Instead of the flat rubber block, I have been using one of those sanding foam sponges with the wetsand paper wrapped around it. I guess the block would be better, huh? I was just worried about it digging in too much.

The clear coats came out a bit wavy, which doesn`t bother me because I put on four coats of clear in case I had to do a lot of sanding. And I have worked on the drivers side fender and was able to get all of the waves out and now have a real nice smooth finish and shine.

Good tip on the hose, I was just soaking a rag and holding it over the area I was working in and squeezing out as I go.

I used my DA (Porter Gable) to polish the paint on my last car to remove all of the swirls in the "black" paint. And that came out great, but that was my first time using it. So I wouldn`t say I am a pro by any means, but I have some positive experience with it.

Pads, I have no idea what brand, but I only have one of each.

And wool/foam blend pads, no, none.

I was using my neighbors high speed polisher and wool pad for the drivers fender and it really brought out the shine. But I wasn`t sure if the foam pads would be better. He was telling me the wool pad and high speed polisher is better for the cutting/compounding to bring out the shine.

Btw, I did fine with the high speed polisher also. No burns or anything like that. He showed me how to hold it and move it along to avoid burn mark`s

ggrant3 -

The purpose of a flat block is to keep the sanding process flat..

It does not dig in literally, but sands the surface evenly and flat. If you press down hard, you will remove more product faster, than if you pressed down moderately to lightly..

No matter how you hold anything other than something hard and flat, you may not get the surfaces perfectly flat.. If you used a guide coat and a sanding block when you wet sanded down the last primer coat, you have a much better chance of having very flat panels to begin with..

When you look down the side of a perfectly flat sanded, painted black panel, you see no ripples, waves, low and high spots...

Flat surfaces especially dark and for sure black, will be as close to a mirror as possible and the look is stunning especially in the sun..

All Painters worth their salt will always wet block sand any painted surface to yield the best possible result of all the work it took to get to the final stage..
If the painted surface is in between other surfaces that are not repaired and painted, the Painter will sand just enough to closely match the surrounding panels, so as in Detailing, it all matches panel to panel... And all surrounding panels will be compounded enough to bring out the best possible result and again, so it all matches, panel to panel..

Your DA will have a hard time correcting the paint, and as you have already found out, a Rotary is the preferred machine to use for the initial correction of the wet sanding you did before.. You need pad rotation to get the compound/s to break down and work the paint surface smooth and remove all imperfections..

You are using a true Rotary, right ? It would be possibly, a DeWalt, Makita, etc...

The oldest secret ever for using a Rotary is --- Keep the Rotary ALWAYS MOVING...

When you get enough years experience, you can change this a little because you have years of experience..

You do not need high speeds to get excellent results with the Rotary, as we had to do in the 80`s on...

The outer side of the spinning pad is going faster than the center area of the pad, so remember that and always, always, note where the end of the pad is when you are using this machine..

You have not nearly enough of any of your pads to do this job..
And you need to get a good pad cleaner - one that is low foaming, and rinses completely out..

I would try to use backing plates and pads that are in the 5" or so size, as they will rotate faster with your Porter Cable, and are much easier to control with either machine..

You can of course, be very innovative, and use what you have to accomplish everything anyway..

The results you are going for may not be the same as what others are seeking or may exceed what others are trying to accomplish..

Sounds like you have a great skill already going on and a very positive attitude, so keep going - Forward !!! :)
Dan F

I should have pretty flat panels. Because I did do a guide coat on the primer and sanded down the primer to make sure the panels were flat. Now, I`m not going for a show care finish, so there may be some flaws, but they "should" be minimal. I also used the high build primer to help fill in any minor imperfections too. And I color sanded the base coat before I cleared the car.

I just bought some professional sanding blocks, so hopefully that will help smooth out the clear quicker.

I was able to get the drivers side fender nice and smooth, like a mirror when looking from an angle. And it was just as wavy in the beginning as the rest of the car is. So I am 99% sure the waviness is just the clear. I purposely laid the clear on thick, so I had a lot of room to sand down and make it look nice.

Yes, for the compounding I have been using a Milwaukee Rotary with a wool pad (my buddies pad though). And I have been keeping it moving, while holding a lot of the weight of the machine off of the painted surface.

What kind of pad should I be using for the initial compounding after sanding (with the rotary)? Should I be using that wool pad that I have been?

Then what? move to the DA? Or use some foam pads with the rotary? And what kind of products do you like to use (from compounding to final polishing)? I have been using the 3m Rubbing compound (#05973) and then 3m machine polish (#06064)

And what is a good pad cleaner? How many pads do you think I should have?

I appreciate your help with this, its rewarding seeing a nice smooth surface come out after sanding and polishing.

ggrant3 -

Congratulations on getting this far and sounds like its coming out great ! We are all so proud of you !

The 3M (usually) black rubber flat block that has a way to attach your paper to it will really help cut down the clear fast and give you flat panels again..
Keep the water on it as you wet sand (just a little dribble adjusted to your sanding speed) and it will just fly by..

For Compounding with the Rotary, I would use any of the Lake Country purple foam wool pads which not only cut fast but leave a really nice finish afterwards that will amaze you.. It might even cut out a full step out of the process, depending on the amount of work needed, the product used, the hardness/softness of the paint, and lastly, the skillset of the user..

I never start any big correction process like this without having at least 10 pads or more..

After getting the sanding marks out of the paint, I like to switch to foam, and again with the Rotary, you can see some amazing clarity and gloss come from the Lake Country Hydro-Tech Pads - Cyan (blue) color for more aggressive correction that will finish down incredibly smooth, or the Orange color for less aggressive correction and even a higher level of clarity, smoothness, gloss...

And you may need at least 6 or more of each pad, preferably more..

You can use the DA after all the correction is done and it should bring good results but will of course, take much longer than the Rotary... You need Pad Rotation more than anything to get good correction, polishing, jeweling, etc., and since the Porter Cable is random-orbital, not forced random orbital like the Flex 3401VRG, it will just have to take longer if you want to use the Porter Cable..

However, if you want to experiment with the Milwaukee, and can keep the pad always flat, and make smooth flat movements all the way across the paintwork, you can get a perfectly clear, glossy finish without swirl marks in the paintwork...

No matter what anyone says about Rotaries and swirling, I do not get any swirls ever and know dozens of Painters that routinely do what you are doing after painting a vehicle and dont get swirls either..

You have to have great light and look at it from every angle and be sure you are not leaving anything in the paint but clarity, and then move on the to next part of or the next panel..

Stay away from edges anywhere, except to just touch them very briefly and lightly and then stay away - especially minding the edges of your rotation pad so that it is not on any edge as much as possible..

Yes, you will go over them because they are there and what I always do is lift up on the machine as I make that transition over an edge so that the pad does not catch the edge and dig into it.. Its simple, just use common sense here..

There are at least a dozen pad cleaners out there including using APC, etc., and after years, I have personally settled on Snappy Clean Powder in these little envelopes..

You just put half an envelope or more into about 3 gallons of water or so, in a 5-gal bucket, throw the dirty pads in there, push them down so the soak up the soapy water, and clean them at the end of your work, or whenever you want...

Another reason for having a lot of pads, get it ? :)

I just knead them, squeeze them, sometimes I might use a soft nylon brush carefully, but mostly just bend the pad in half so that the foam sides are touching each other and rub them together for a little bit and all the junk comes off...
Then squeeze them, rinse them in clean water and squeeze them twist them like you are wringing out a towel, put them on the Rotary and spin them at 3000 for few seconds to get a lot more water out, and set them on edge somewhere warm so that they dry out fast..

I like this brand cleaner because it absolutely works does not make a lot of foamy soapy sudsy water that you dont need, does not hurt the pad or the backing, and rinses all out, so there is no soap in the pad to interfere later when you want to use it again...
Years of using it and I have not ever hurt any pads, etc., and never had to resort to any other stronger, etc., pad cleaner..

Great Job !!!!!
DanF

Great (and very detailed) information Dan!

Thank you for your help, it is exactly what I needed to know.

One more thing.

Do you have any recommendations in regards to the actual polish/compounds to use?

Whether it be a brand in general of a mix and match or different brands.

I am using 3m Rubbing compound (#05973) and then 3m machine polish (#06064) so far.

But I was wondering what you may like or prefer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ggrant3

One more thing.

Do you have any recommendations in regards to the actual polish/compounds to use?

Whether it be a brand in general of a mix and match or different brands.

I am using 3m Rubbing compound (#05973) and then 3m machine polish (#06064) so far.

But I was wondering what you may like or prefer.

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The 2 - 3M products you have, the compound and the the Perfect-It machine polish will work just fine if you know how to use them or are willing to learn how..

I was using those products in the 80`s in Auto Body Shops..

There are a few other products that are out there, but you already have good ones here..

And you have already been using at least the # 05973 compound, right ?

So just keep going with what you already have would be my advice..
Good Luck !
Dan F

Okay I will keep them.

And yes I have been using the compound and wool pad right after wetsanding