On a 16 year old car it is probably more about preservation than perfection.
!!THAT!! Although, gee....my wife`s A8 and my Tahoe (our two dailies) are that old!
But anyhow...For starters, I wouldn`t remove factory orangepeel (henceforth "op" in this post), not even on my S8 with it`s relatively thick oe paint. NEVER on a Japanese vehicle. Period. I know some people here do it on some vehicles (hey guys!) but I`m all about long-term preservation.
Second, I wouldn`t remove it with M105/yellow or orange cutting pad. That combo is, IMO, too likely to follow the contours of the op; resulting in taking off a WHOLE LOT of clear while removing very LITTLE op. I`ve utterly hammered a lot of cars with M105 and it never removed op for me on b/c paint (made it a bit better if I *really* got aggressive, but not much and it`s a different story on some single stage). There are pads specifically designed for op work *IF* you want to do it that way instead of wetsanding (which can be MUCH SAFER if done correctly, but that`s an involved topic).
And yeah...use an ETG if you have any doubts about what you`re doing. And find out the oem`s specs for clearcoat removal (if they`re available). The ones from Ford are kinda scary and Fords have pretty much clear to start with.
And if ya can`t see the marring on silver/etc., IMO you oughta sort out your working conditions/lighting before trying something as advanced as op removal. I mean..walk before you run. The lighting that shows op is generally *VERY* different from the lighting that shows swirls/etc. Just (once again!) IMO, but having a vehicle basically marring-free is a whole lot more important that trying to redo the quality of a factory paintjob by altering its texture. Some people would even say that the original texture is part of how the vehicle is supposed to be (originality-wise). Fix the op on some classics and you`ll kill their value; they`ll look too different from how they orignally were.
Manix- Aw jeeze, the above probably sounds like I`m flaming you, and if so I apologize. Didn`t mean it that way but I saw a lot of red flags. I`m a bit of an originality nut and I`m really cautious about precipitating clearcoat failure (easy to do these days what with stuff like M105/etc.). I`m cautiously hopeful that you haven`t already gone too far, but I`d save every remaining micron of that paint for regular marring-removal. Most people can`t go very long before their paint needs corrected, and that car`s probably close to the "uh-oh!" point of Thin Paint already. Take off a bit too much and it`ll fail in the sun.
I think you have a *REALLY* great vehicle there in that Mitsu wagon! Not at all a common ride and IMO they look GREAT. Oh man, I`d be all about just preserving it so it can last forever...with its original paint if at all possible. Repainting stuff properly is generally a 5-figure proposition that people usually try to have done cheaply...with predictably sorry results.
OK- here`s some good news! If it still has marring like "swirls" then you might have enough remaining clear to be OK. Leveling it enough to fix the marring will generally require less cutting than leveling the op, at least IME.
Again, sorry if I came across like a [jerk]. Oh man, I bet my dogs would love that wagon....
