Is it too early to buff?

B

breakneckvtec

New member
My car was hit on Dec 29th



The whole front was repainted in early January



Is it too soon to buff it with a mild abrasive to get some fine wetsanding swirls out?
 
Also, I was thinking of doing the car with 3M SMR, then I thought about trying DACP, and then I thought I would do 3M Machine polish. I dont know what to try, I dont think the swirls will be hard to get out at all. They are rather fine looking, dont appear deep and can only be seen at certain angles. I think its from when they wetsanded the new paint. What do you guys recommend?
 
You should be fine. MANY shops (including the one that just fixed my S8) polish fresh paint with fine abrasives. No problem. In fact, it's gonna be a lot more gentle than the wetsanding that you suspect they already did!



Use something that's "bodyshop friendly" (i.e., no wax) so you don't interfere with the paint's curing, and only use as aggressive a product as you need to remove the marring. You'll probably be able to use a milder product than normal as the fresh paint (probably) isn't fully hard yet, so go easy. *I* would probably use 3M's PI-III MG (pn 05937). The shop that did my S8 used the PI-III *RC* :eek: (pn 05933) in a few spots and it turned out OK where they did it. I found a couple of fine flaws and they hit them with a 2K grit uniblock, then with the 05933. I might polish them a little more sometime, but they look fine as it is.



BTW, that uniblock is pretty slick for aggressive leveling (like touch-ups). They gave it to me and I used it to (*VERY* carefully)level some touch-ups that I'd been afraid to wetsand. Worked like a charm (I followed up with some 05933 and 0537).
 
*I* might take it to the shop and ask them about it. Nothing wrong with putting them on the spot since they've put YOU out. But don't let them con you with some filler-rich glaze that only hides them.



If they are rotary-induced holograms, you just need to polish them out with something abrasive enough to level the clear (at a very fine level). Those holograms are the CLASSIC difinition of "swirl marks", they're just another form of marring that needs to be abraded until it's gone. Generally, something like DACP with a random orbital should get them out, but you might have to work the paint for a while. Just don't get carried away and remove too much clear, the holograms probably aren't all that deep. One of the problems, especially this time of year when it's hard to pull the car out into the sun, is knowing when you've really removed them. Follow up with something milder than the DACP if needed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top