How soon can I buff fresh clear coat?

**madazskunk** · 01-21-2004, 12:23 PM

My black trailblazer had some repair done to the tailgate last week and they wetsanded and re cleared the whole tailgate. Well with all the swirls in it(dealership job) I don`t know if it looks worse now than before with the flaking. I know you have to wait to wax (bodyshop manager said 30 days) but can I try to buff out the swirls now? obviously they tried I only hope that they didn`t clear the swirls in as I spent a couple hours prepping it myself before I took it in.

**imported_COBRyan** · 01-21-2004, 01:31 PM

How long has it been? When I worked for a dealership, I would buff cars the day after they had been painted. Just dont be too aggressive with the buffer. If it were my car, especially in the winter time, I would wait a week or so.

**Jesstzn** · 01-21-2004, 04:58 PM

If the painter said 30 days .. wait 30 days .. If ya don`t and something goes wrong .. they will be blaming you. Drying time and cure time are different things.

Dealer shops will buff and use glazes immediatly to get jobs out the door.

**madazskunk** · 01-22-2004, 01:23 AM

It has been about a week. It looks horrible you can almost see the swirls in the shade. They obviously buffed so I figure I should be able to also, but I`ll probably wait another week or two. By the way they only repainted alittle spot like 4 inches long and 1/4 inch wide and then recleared the whole tailgate.

**Jesstzn** · 01-22-2004, 09:41 AM

Originally posted by madazskunk

It has been about a week. It looks horrible you can almost see the swirls in the shade. They obviously buffed so I figure I should be able to also, but I`ll probably wait another week or two. By the way they only repainted alittle spot like 4 inches long and 1/4 inch wide and then recleared the whole tailgate.

If its that bad take it back .. let them fix it up .

**madazskunk** · 01-22-2004, 01:08 PM

I`m thinking about that but I don`t know how much good it would do. I think I`d rather do it myself since I don`t have much confidence in them.

**Accumulator** · 01-22-2004, 03:04 PM

*IMO*, and I`ve had a LOT of paintwork done in the last 30 years or so, you CAN polish it now. The clear will continue to harden throughout the curing process and any correction will be harder to do as time goes by. But once the paint is "dry", you can polish (or even wetsand) it. The shop undoubtedly HAS already done this, just not too well.

*I* would FIRST take it back, show them what you`re angry about, and see what they say. Ask THEM if you can polish it. If they say "no", ask them how THEY would fix it. Try to get them on the hook to SOME extent.

The S8 just got paintwork following its "deer incident". They polished it when they were done. The Volvo recently had paintwork done, they used a rotary with a black waffle pad to polish IT. I can`t imagine why you COULDN`T polish fresh paint once it`s dry

Oh, and the shops that did my cars didn`t mess up the polishing either...they like my business