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Technical Single stage paint buffing

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 57chevymadman, Aug 31, 2022.

  1. On urethane single stage paint, I'm seeing what is wet sanding scratches which only show up under LED garage lighting can't really see them under natural sunlight. As an alternative to machine polishing can I hand polish them out?

    I already tried using meguires ultimate polish and it helped but wasn't aggressive enough to get to all the scratches.

    What is safe to use by hand that is aggressive enough to remove the wet sanding scratches all the way?

    Thanks
     
  2. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    By hand? Seriously? Wool bonnet to cut, foam pads to polish...on a buffer, not an orbital "wax on, wax off device". Rotary, multi speed, slow start buffer. Lee Majors might have been able to do it by hand back when he was $6,000,000 shape ( I saw an episode where his hand sounded like an air impact hammer removing automotive lug nuts...not sure why the air ratchet sound tho)
     
  3. Trying to avoid swirl machine marks
     
    Bandit Billy likes this.
  4. NoelC
    Joined: Mar 21, 2018
    Posts: 668

    NoelC
    Member

    The first thing that came to my mind was using a cheaper abrasive caused that. Now you need wet sand some more with a better quality one to fix it. Or more product on top.
    Guess it depends on what you see, how deep it is, was. When was it put into the finish? Was there any inter coat scuffing going on that left it behind?
     

  5. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I know, but like Blue Oyster Cult said, "Don't fear the buffer"

    I recently painted my truck myself and I sanded it down to 2000 in steps and I am in the process of polishing it. So my comments are well qualified. You won't get those scratches out by hand. Shit, it is hard with a machine.
     
    SS327 and Just Gary like this.
  6. Not sure what was used to wet sand it with, thanks for the ideas
     
  7. Really depends on what you want to spend to get it done correctly. Wool pads and rotary machines are old technology these days with paint correction. Random orbit machines and progressive foam pads are the way everyone is going. It's pretty rare to see a detailer in a decent shop that is not using that process now regardless of whose products they use. They will obviously still work but they take way longer to achieve good results and have way greater chance of burning through the paint. You will probably have to go at least one step back with your polishing to get the deeper scratches out and then go back to a finer product but you need to have a pad that matches the product you are using.
     
  8. Jones St.
    Joined: Feb 8, 2020
    Posts: 3,364

    Jones St.

    Pix the surface. How many layers of color have you put on it? Use a rotary polisher for the cut stage sparingly. Follow w/a orbital tool like the Porter Cable. s-l1600 (47).jpg s-l500 (2).jpg
     
  9. Fortunateson
    Joined: Apr 30, 2012
    Posts: 5,331

    Fortunateson
    Member

    I had the exact same problem! I went over the paint with #1000,1200,1500,2000,3000, and finally 8000 the last two steps Trizac. I did this three or four times! Then a discovered a product called “Bugger It”. Sanded with 600 and re-primed and I’m painting it Wednesday. Under the LED light I just couldn’t make any headway. I highly recommend “Bugger It”! LOL
     
    anthony myrick likes this.
  10. The paint was applied 11 months ago and wet sanded 5 months ago, just before I finally broke the car out of paint prison. 20220830_220728.jpg
     
  11. Hollywood-East
    Joined: Mar 13, 2008
    Posts: 1,993

    Hollywood-East
    Member

    Unfortunately... No way around a machine, The heat is what is removing the swirl's..
     
  12. Hollywood-East
    Joined: Mar 13, 2008
    Posts: 1,993

    Hollywood-East
    Member

    Of course it's near an edge..
    Find a buddy that does paint work if you're not comfortable... Sound's like you waited long enough to get it.. Another option would be to go to harbor freight an buy a cheap air power hand held buffer ...
    Has about a 3" pad an is adjustable in speed, Lot easier to manage if You don't do it for a living
     
    osut362 likes this.
  13. Happydaze
    Joined: Aug 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,903

    Happydaze
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Check out a company called Lake Country on YouTube. There's some great tutorials, especially one long one which goes through 3 different regimes. Any sell is very soft!

    I've never painted much and never previously polished any paint but I'm truly astounded with the results I've achieved recently. I'm in the Trizact to 8000 followed by 2 foam pads and 2 compounds on a direct drive da polisher (safest for novices). Way to inefficient for professional shops that need throughput, but not exactly that slow either.

    On the wetsanding, I've been starting by hand with 1500 wet then using dry guide coat and 2000 wet by hand. Therafter 3000, 5000, 8000 Trizact on a da sander with a little water. Trizact is horribly expensive but seems to last forever. I've nearly completed a full car and have only used on of each disc. I suppose they last well as in reality they're not doing that much, but what they are doing is phenomenal!

    Chris
     
  14. Fine sandpaper. If the paper isn't getting rid of the scratches, you need a courser paper then go to finer and finer paper as you continue with the wet-sanding process. I would argue that if you can see scratches from the wet-sanding job, the wet-sanding was either done poorly or simply not finished (are you sure you aren't seeing scratches in the primer and they are now visible due to the paint having time to shrink?). Once polished correctly, finish the job with an actual polishing machine, I would NEVER attempt this job by hand. I used a 7" grinder/polisher with two different grit foam pads and liquid compounds. Last step for me was using a product called Swirl Mark Remover. That being said, I never had my car under LED lights.

    To your original question ... if you can see scratches and they are definitely from wet-sanding, I believe you need to continue wet-sanding. I don't believe you can polish those scratches out by hand with any product.
     
  15. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 12,286

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Many schools of thought on this one. I have painter friends that go 500 wet and follow it with 1200 wet and fire up the wool bonnet. I at least go to 2000 wet so it takes less rubbing compound and less effort on the buffer. Some go to 3000 wet. If you aren't sure what it is sanded with I would fix a bucket of water with a drop or two of dishwashing detergent in it, soak your paper in the water overnight. Go 1500 and 2000 with a soft block and then start the polishing.

    My cab I sanded to 2000 wet and just the rough cut done so far with wool bonnet on a rotary buffer, speed around 5, 3M compound. Bottom of the doors aren't polished yet next to the lift arms so you can see a bit of the contrast. This will still get a foam pad on the rotary and then final polish with a orbital. There are no swirl marks already even at this stage.
    upload_2022-8-31_11-29-36.png
     
    Chucky and Hollywood-East like this.
  16. We just got a random orbital polisher set up.
    Mmmmmmmmm
     
    jimgoetz likes this.
  17. New painter nailed it!! Used a wool pad on a high speed buffer, then a foam pad, then a random orbital, PM me if anyone needs really good affordable paint /bodywork in norcal, no paint prison, 1 car at a time with a maximum 6 weeks turnaround time. Did my quarter panels in 4 days. 20220831_130029.jpg
     
  18. Jones St.
    Joined: Feb 8, 2020
    Posts: 3,364

    Jones St.

    Surface is surface. Even if you cannot reach the deepest swelling scratches, the surface will still benefit from a proper wet sand & polish.
     
  19. 2OLD2FAST
    Joined: Feb 3, 2010
    Posts: 5,216

    2OLD2FAST
    Member
    from illinois

    Like my pal joey said ,if they look too close , punch ' em in the eye !
     
    SS327 likes this.

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