I need some product recomendations from my fellow HAMBers We recently completed our '50 plymouth project and decided to paint it Newbrunswick Blue. Its a deep, dark blue. We had some minor clear coat defects in the end so we wet sanded and buffed the entire car with 3M products. We started with a regular cut glaze and then finished it off with the "finishing glaze." Unfortunately the glaze did not produce a high gloss shine and it actually left scratches in the paint. there is a definate difference in the un-buffed paint vs the buffed paint areas under close inspection. We've tried to keep at it with the 3M finishing glaze but keep getting the same result. We are looking for a product that is reasonably priced but will take care of those tiny swirls and scratches produced by the 3M products and give us a nice, show car shine. We don't want to settle with the way it looks under a scrutinizing eye right now. since it is a dark blue; any defect is noticeable. We stopped in at a local auto parts store last night and Maguires sells a "Show Car Shine" glaze but didnt want to purchase it until we recieved some recommendations. Product suggestions??? TIA
thanks. yea we wern't happy with the way 3M products finished up but then again its probably a problem reverting back to our issues with the clear coat staying soft (thanks dupont), which is an entirely different issue
It might be time to consult the pros and talk to some top rate detail guys. It would cost a few bucks but find out who the high end and exotic car guy in your area take their cars to to have detailed and then talk to them about having the paint buffed out. Did you give the clearcoat time enough to fully cure before you started polishing on it? That may be an issue in it's self.
It sounds like a combo of top coat still too soft and maybe a too aggressive pad. If you have a few layers of material you may been in for a wait to fully cure it all. Don't think that 3M is the culprit just yet.
What grit sandpaper did you finish you color sanding with?? I usually start with 1500, go to 2000 next and then 3000 to finish. Cuts down your buffing time. The 3m products are very good. I use the white foam pads to compound with and finish glaze with the black ones. Like a few others have said, the clear might not be hard enough yet. Set the car out in the sun for a while to put a little heat in it. Let it cool down before you try to polish it again. Good luck with it. Dave
We were having issues with the clearcoat when we first painted it and it refused to cure. It's been curing for over a month now before we tried buffing. It might be too aggresive of a pad.
We are using the 3M foam pads that the body guys at the shop use. theyre high quality and $30.00 a pop. Start with the white pad with the cutting glaze and then finish it up with the 3M finishing glaze with the black pad. We used 2000 grit sandpaper on the entire car which did a great job. The cutting glaze came out nice but the finishing glaze just left these tiny scratches all over. from a distance the car looks great but once you stare at it up close and at an angle...it drives me nuts.
what kind of clear? sounds like either not enough or defective hardener in the clear. a catalyzed clear will cure hard enough to be buffed in 24 hrs, laquer clear is 48 hours. if it hasnt cured you have more serious problems.
The car has been set out for 8 hours a day on multiple occasions and it seems cured now. after 2 weeks you could still stick a finger nail in it and make a dent. You can't do that anymore but for some reason i think the clear is screwing with us still. We're going to try the maguires n0.7 finishing glaze with a softer pad and we'll re-sand the car with 3000 grit this weekend and re-glaze. We clean the car fully before glazing and sanding to ensure no dirt contaminants are getting in the way and we still end up with a crap result. The car was painted end of april/beggining of May and we're still having issues. Maybe its just us but i can't figure out where we screwed up. haha this clearcoat battle is never ending
Can you push your thumnail into the paint even now? That paint if catalyzed properly should be hard as steel. Why don't you tell us the exact paint products you used and how it was applied, numer of coats of base and clear. OK you type faster than me, this is what I would do First take your 2000 paper and sand the deep scratches out, then I would buy a good wool pad and buff with 3M5974 then blackfoam pad with 06070 then hand glaze with 5990 That should make it shine good luck!
When you are talking about cutting "glaze"...is it a glaze? or a cutting compound. If you sanded the entire car out, you need to compound it first, then use a liquid polish, THEN a glaze. Sounds to me like you're using a finish product to try to 'cut' the paint. Maybe supply the actual product part number for us?
Meguire's #7 is not agressive enough to polish a sanded paint finish. Try the diamond cut sompound, or 3M's Perfecti-it compound first.
yes i know. we've been fighting with our paint supplier (main paint supplier in this area) and dupont over our clear issues. (we had cracking in the clear). We were able to strip those areas back down and fix them up just fine. It's been a very frustrating battle. We used a top notch clear that was given to us by our paint supplier and we spent A LOT of $$$$$ on the clear. Our paint was mixed using dupont products by the paint supplier of my b/f's auto body shop to match the original color. Everything was done by the book and correctly and the clear wouldnt cure. Paint went on great but the clear screwed with the paint and cracked in spots and then wouldn't harden. some spots buff out great but the majority of the car is scratching and soft.
Im not sure exactly as I'm posting for my boyfriend and he painted the car. 3 coats base paint and 3 coats clear. Done by the book. Properly prepped and etched. The last time i tried to put a finger nail in it; it didnt occur. Ill try once more tonight. We'll try the other 3M product mentioned above "perfecti-it" and see how it goes. all the products used are professional body-work supplies and its still not cutting it for us
Also get 3m machine polish its the last polish I use and it works great. Three steps 3m compund 3000 and then 3m perfect it 2000 and then the 3m machine polish all 3m products The machine finishing polish comes in a purple bottle and is light blue in color. And I use a wool pad first and second then a foam pad for the last. Hope this helps.
thanks! We'll give this a go. We'll compund it and then throw in some machine polish and glaze. Maybe if we add one extra step in our process it will eliminate some of the scratchyness I can tell you all that the clear we used was very heavy and went on very thick. even-so...it should be hard by now
i sent this thread to my boyfriend who did the paint and clear and maybe he'll chime in and tell you exactly what products we've been using. I can tell you the basics...he knows the hard details
I use Wizards products and have for a long time. 3M changed their formula a while back and I haven't been happy with them since. I switched to Wizards under the advice of my paint supplier and have been very happy. http://www.wizardsproducts.com/ They have 3 mixes, a cutting compound, a final glaze and if you want to go a step further a micropolish that is awesome.
so am i to understand that you put dupont clear over ppg paint? that in itself can be the cause of your problem of the clear seperating or "cracking" as you call it. sounds to me like you have a solvent issue from mixing products. i know some people will say that you can mix and match products, but for the best result, you should always use the same product line from start to finish just to be on the safe side. keep us informed.
if it was mixed dupont/PPG then its the paint suppliers fault. we told them what we wanted, we wanted to match the original color AND we wanted a high gloss/top quality clear. When they were done mixing and ordering our products we requested, they dropped them off at the shop and we went from there. i think they ended up telingus you couldnt mix 2 products we used (once we started complaining)....and yet; they were the ones who supplied us with those products from the get-go.
Smokeybear, thanks for the plug. We recently came out with our Nano-Technology abrasive compound and machine glaze. Mystic Cut and Mystic Polish. Followed up by the Shine Master Polish and Breathable Sealant, it can't be beat. Check out this link to read more about the Mystic products. http://www.wizardsproducts.com/inde...ss-releases/81-new-magic-potion-from-wizardsr As always see my signature for a HAMB discount. farmergal -- or anyone else for that matter -- give me a call at the office and I'd be happy to make an appropriate product suggestion, offer some tips or help you walk through the questions. 800-356-7223 (8:30-5:00 Central time) and ask for Adam.
If you put too much hardner in the clear it will never cure. I know it sounds funny but too much catalis will cause the paint to keep softening. I dont know everything about painting but I've had about everything happen to me in the last 49 years of painting
As chopolds said you probably need to do a 3 step process compound with compound pad, glaze with glaze pad and a finishing polish with finishing pad. It sounds like you are using a product and pad that are not aggressive enough to take out the scatches left by the compounding stage.
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