Color sanding, or other ways of bring back the black

[Deuce Rails]

For some forgotten reason, I chose a black car for my daily driver. It's spent the past four years either under trees or out in the open. As a result, it's looking pretty tired.

I hit the paint with an overspray clay bar, and I couldn't believe the amount of dingy crap that was trapped in the paint. There's still more there, but it seems stuck, or at least it didn't come out with more clay action.

Should I try to wet sand it with 1600 or 2000 grit paper? Or would it be safer to just use rubbing compound with my 9" Sears orbital several times? Are there any tricks out there for getting old, neglected paint looking good again? In particular, how can you bring back a black finish without the swrilmarks?

Any tips or links to websites would be appreciated.

--Matt

[flyin'eye]

If you use aggressive rubbing compound with one of those Sears orbitals, you're guaranteed to have swirls. Wetsanding with 2000 followed by some good compound on a variable speed buffer with a foam pad should do the trick. Just be careful on edges, or you'll burn through, especially if the paint is really old. As for compound, I like Meguiars diamond cut.

[DrJ]

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For some forgotten reason, I chose a black car for my daily driver. It's spent the past four years either under trees ...

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Tree sap is WATER SOLUABLE.
Just soak it with warm water...
Wet towel with some saran wrap over it will do the trick usually.

[lowsquire]

Before you put that orbital near the paint,make sure the rpm's are pretty low- less than 2500 or you'll burn the paint....I tried to buff a car with my dads 9inch years ago -it ran at 9000 rpms!!needless to say i fucked it up. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[CharlieLed]

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Just be careful on edges, or you'll burn through, especially if the paint is really old.

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Good advice, I don't know how many times I got caught up on a fender edge and burned through the paint with the buffer. Paint naturally flows away from sharp edges which makes it twice as bad when you buff. A trick I learned that has saved me a lot of re-spraying is to tape off the edges of the fender/body before you buff, that way you'll protect the paint from burn-through. After you've finished the rest of the car, removed the taped areas and go over them lightly to finish the job....

[customcarpainter]

I'd use 2500 or 3000 grit.you can almost hand rub the scratches out.Try and keep the RPMs in the 1500-1800 range.Takes a little longer,but is definitely safer.I use 3M compounds only. When your done buffing,be sure it gets a good coat of wax.You might try and find some wax products from Zaino Bros.Its supposed to be the berries on black finishes.Do a search on Zaino Bros.

[Deuce Rails]

Thanks for all the good advice, guys.

Should I do the sanding by hand? Should I wrap the paper around a sponge or something to prevent finger grooves (like you would for block sanding) or at 2500 grit does it not matter?

Should I replace my Sears orbital with a real variable speed buffer? Can anyone recommend an inexpensive one?

Thanks,

--Matt

[C9]

When I rubbed out the black acrylic lacquer on my 32 I knew I would get in trouble if I used the two speed body grinder/polisher.
Plus, it's heavy.

I bought a Model #943 Wen two speed polisher.
They're advertised as just the thing for "power waxing."

Mail ordered from Harbor Freight and they're not too expensive.

I figured with the light weight polisher I wouldn't get into too much trouble.
Been there, done that with the body grinder/polisher.

Since we have more time than the pro's, we don't need the HD capacity or speed of the bigger units.

That brought the paint out fairly well and waxing it 2-4 times a year has it looking pretty good.

Same thing happened with my little brothers drag racing Henry J when it was painted with black acrylic enamel.
He waxed it every time he went to the races - which at that time was probably 6 times a year - and it didn't take long for it to be looking good.

[customcarpainter]

There are actual soft foam blocks for sanding,but I imagine a sponge would work fine.I don't use one myself,I usually sand very lightly and in a crosshatch motion to minimize the finger grooves.