Final gloss - struggling

[jimmy828]

Speaking up! Mine is "foggy" like your friend's. Which compound do you recommend? Thanks to all for the tips and suggestions!

I have been using Mothers from auto zone and does a good job. They have it in 3 stages., rough,fine and glaze . After wet sanding and using the Mothers i don't see the tiniest scratch. My biggest job was making sure all orange peel was out. I'm doing my in stages such as fender,door and so on. Being new at this also, i think it is turning out pretty darn good. It is taking a long time because i just do when i get out of the lazy spell of wet sanding. I wish i had a better camera to post pics. The camera i got want show the true detail of work. Good luck Sarge on your venture of painting/cutting/buffing. I know it is a learning curve for me.

[sargentrs]

So you use all 3 stages in sequence?

[jimmy828]

I started out with coarse cut then the fine cut with a pad for each one. That is after i wet sanded with 1500. I tried it later with just fine cut and i think it looks just as good without using the more coarse cut. I'm going to finish it out with the fine cut just because i'm satisfied with the results. I have not used the glaze yet but i will when time comes. To me wet sanding is one of the most important parts of the job. I have a friend that is in the body business and came over a took a look at work i was doing on the paint and he was pleased with it . I'm not looking for a expensive paint job but so far it is looking good considering i'm a first timer at this.

[sargentrs]

Thanks for the tips jimmy!

[hedz]

i like buffing dull finishes with wizards. good stuff

[stephen44]

This site has some good guys and useful info

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

[sargentrs]

Thanks Hedz! What's "wizards" and where do you get it?

Thanks for that link, stephen! I've been over there for the past 2 days talking to those guys. Great site!

[67 F100]

Autobody101 is a great site along with the SPI forum.

I'm sure you're getting all the info you need there but the only thing that I would mention is 600 is very rough. You would have to have severe imperfections to need to go that low. I start out high and see what the surface looks like before buffing. If I need it I go lower. I almost never use a wool pad either because I don't scratch up the surface in the cutting stage. I start with the yellow and then go to orange then white then blue or black. You can skip a pad here and there but you get the idea.

[sargentrs]

Thanks '67! Yeah, those guys were helpful. I might be ready to tackle it again. Here's what I'm looking at. You can see from the pics the orange peel is pretty bad. While sanding the driver's side dash, I cut through too deep and a line of white primer showed so I had to repaint it. Haven't touched it since I sprayed it. On the rest, I wet sanded with 600 followed by 1500 followed by buffing with 3M Machine Polish. I'm leery of sanding any more, afraid I'll cut into primer. Shot 3 coats on most of it but I had to sand pretty deep to get most of the OP out. Still looks pretty bad. I'm thinking about waiting till spring and repainting it all. Too cold anymore here.

[jimmy828]

Sarge, i had the same problem with OP when i first started and i was advised to use more reducer and shoot lighter coats. I shot 3 coats and a little more reducer sure helped. Just use caution when using more reducer, there is a greater chance of runs. I was lucky, i had no runs or sags. I just about got it where there is very little OP. Makes it a whole lot easier and faster to wet sand. If i'm not mistaken, it depends on what type of hardener to use for a more shine. Hope this helps.

[sargentrs]

Thanks jimmy! I'll try to thin it out more next time.

[sargentrs]

Maybe I'm getting somewhere. Spent about 10 mins this morning with the P600 carefully sanding the repainted bottom dash. Orange peel came out fairly easily. Hopefully get a chance to hit it with the P1500 and try buffing again.

[hedz]

sorry i didn't follow up with a link. here you go. no silicone. i hate products with silicone. keep those fish eyes away and keep paint adheration paramount!!

http://www.wizardsproducts.com/

i just remembered that deltron dx330 is my favorite wax and grease remover. i know that was random

[sargentrs]

Thanks Hedz! I'll check that out.

[PetesPonies]

I use one product, one product through the entire buffing process. All the rough cut this, fine cut this or swirl remover, etc . . is TOTALLY not needed if you use Sure Finish. This material is awesome and I swore off the typical products about 17 years ago after being introduced to this. Through forums, I have gotten others to try and and everyone was just as amazed. It is made by a person who details million dollar vehicles. It is sold through the web, isn't cheap, but is worth it. Just think about what can be saved when one product will do everything? And at low speed and with a small amount of material used?? Do a web search for SureFinish.