help with buffing after wetsanding

S

sweetextreme

New member
hello everyone, first of ill say i have about 5 years buffing experience. a freind of mine just got his car painted and the painter is going to wet sand it and he wants me to buff it. my quistion is what compound should i use and what buffing pad should i use. id love to here your advice tips and tricks on this. i have wet sanded and buffed scratches but never a full car.
 
sweetextreme said:
hello everyone, first of ill say i have about 5 years buffing experience. a freind of mine just got his car painted and the painter is going to wet sand it and he wants me to buff it. my quistion is what compound should i use and what buffing pad should i use. id love to here your advice tips and tricks on this. i have wet sanded and buffed scratches but never a full car.
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what kind of machine(s), pads, & products do you have ... or were you looking for complete suggestions from beginning to end?
 
i use the dewalt buffer, im not sure what model it is i would have to check. and i typically use the 3m 3 step process its compound polish and glaze and i use foam pads from automagic heavy cut, light cut, polish, and finishing. im wondering should i use foam or wool and should i use differant compounds?
 
What grit(s) is the painter going to use to sand the finish? The finest grit he's going to end with will dictate what you should be using to buff it out.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
What grit(s) is the painter going to use to sand the finish? The finest grit he's going to end with will dictate what you should be using to buff it out.
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He is right.

It would also help to know the number of coats of clear. The grit of paper he is starting with and stepping up to. The brand of paint. Is it going to air dry or be baked? Also of importance how long after he sands will you get the car?
 
Concours.John said:
He is right.

It would also help to know the number of coats of clear. The grit of paper he is starting with and stepping up to. The brand of paint. Is it going to air dry or be baked? Also of importance how long after he sands will you get the car?
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and he's right too :D
 
the paint is dupont chroma something, the color is snakeskin green. he used 3 coats of nason clear i no he is starting with 1,000 grit. i personally think 1500 would be good but then again iv never done a whole car. what grit should he go up to? i was thinking 3000? also. i think im buffing it the day he wet sands it. the car has been painted for a month now.
 
I sand and buff Nason clear all the time at work. Most body men use 1000 or 1500 and that's it. VERY few body shops are going to spend the extra time working their way up to 3 or 4000 grit when there are compounds like 3M Perfect It 2 that will easily cut 1000 grit scratches with a wool pad. I've tryed the "sand for 2 days with 5 differant grits" method and to be honest there were no differance in the results. If you've got a rotary and wool pad, and know what your doing, just do it. Yes its going to swirl up, but that's what foam pads and high quality polish like Poorboys SSR line is for. If the shop is already going to have it sanded down to 4000, a fine compound such as 3M Perfect It 3, or an aggressive polish should work just fine with a foam cutting pad. Wool won't be nessessary for such fine scratches. I'm not in any way trying to start a wetsanding war in here..for the record. Just my two cents from years of experience in this field.
 
Assuming the wetsander knows what he's doing, I would go with the M105/205 combo. I had one of my cars repainted (Just a Maaco job. It's my beater car.;)) this summer. After the repaint, I wetsanded the car with 2000 grit. Afterwards, I polished with M105 with an orange LC pad on my FLEX 3401. I then used M205 with a white LC pad. That pretty much did it for me. I didn't totally get rid of all the orange peel, but it was pretty close. The paint job looks way better now than when I first picked it up from Maaco.:)
 
well if you are going to have it sanded out to 4000 grit then with the system you have, stay away from the wool and start with a light cut foam pad and your polish not compound. Then finish up with your glaze.
 
thanks for all the advice. im going to see the painter tomorrow to find out more details. this is going to be a show car so it has to be perfect its going into the buffalo convention center next month so i cant afford to eff it up
 
also. what do you guys think i should do after the buff. like what products. is poor boys black hole a good one to use on that color? its called snakeskin green its on the new vipers. its a very bright color. then maybe a wax like pro yellow wax?
 
I've always been told to wait 30 days after painting before waxing. Something about outgassing. I do like Blackfire and Fuzion after 30 days though.;)
 
sweetextreme said:
also. what do you guys think i should do after the buff. like what products. is poor boys black hole a good one to use on that color? its called snakeskin green its on the new vipers. its a very bright color. then maybe a wax like pro yellow wax?
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Pro yellow is a good wax but if its a show car I'd go for something really glossy like EX-P topped with Nattys Blue. I've yet to find a wax with more gloss than Nattys. I've not tryed Black Hole yet but I've used Pro Polish and SSR2 on green, both with great results.
This sounds like a great project for a write up btw :bigups
 
mrclean81 said:
Pro yellow is a good wax but if its a show car I'd go for something really glossy like EX-P topped with Nattys Blue. I've yet to find a wax with more gloss than Nattys. I've not tryed Black Hole yet but I've used Pro Polish and SSR2 on green, both with great results.
This sounds like a great project for a write up btw :bigups
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I was going to suggest Natty's Red for that color, but we're close to being on the same page. A show car definitely deserves a higher-end wax.
 
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