Can you cut and buff factory paint?

DanMcG

DanMcG

Promoted Users
Is there enough clear to remove scratches and scuffs?
This is a 07 honda that I'd like to make look more presentable for resale, and also give me some practice with a wool pad and 3D 500.
 
DanMcG said:
Is there enough clear to remove scratches and scuffs?
This is a 07 honda that I'd like to make look more presentable for resale, and also give me some practice with a wool pad and 3D 500.
Click to expand...

Factory paint can be anywhere between 4 to 6 mils. The best way to know how much paint you have is to get a mil thickness gauge. It won't be dead on but, close enough for what you want to do. Good paint detailers use one before cutting and buffing out deep scratches.

I bought this one earlier this year, and have been keeping mil thickness records of the work I've already completed, which includes epoxy and filler.

My main reason for getting it was to know how much clear is on the car before cut and buff. I'll record the mil thickness just before spraying clear. Once cleared, subtract the previous mil thickness from the sprayed clear. That should give me a ball park mil thickness of the clear coat sprayed.

Here is a picture of the gauge I bought, with a mil thickness from my wife's factory painted car.

20221008_101416.jpg
 
Typically it's not a good idea to color sand factory paint much. You might get away with a slight texture reduction with no coarser than 2000. Never try to sand it flat! Problem with a mil gauge is it counts all the undercoats too, so you never really know what you have until you buff through it.

But, even just buffing a scratch makes it look a lot better. Reason being is that the rough clear down inside the scratch will get polished a bit, which takes away the white look and makes it transparent again. It's not necessary to completely sand out a scratch to make it almost disappear when seen in normal daylight.
 
DanMcG said:
Is there enough clear to remove scratches and scuffs?
This is a 07 honda that I'd like to make look more presentable for resale, and also give me some practice with a wool pad and 3D 500.
Click to expand...
If you had this car since new and have not done much polishing on it then you should be fine, If it has been through several owners then you won't know unless you use the gauge that MJM is referencing. If it has been buffed many times over the years, then a good glazing product will help without removing much of any of the original material. The areas easiest to reach will usually be the thinnest as those areas got more attention in the past also.
 
Don't sand, just buff it. Any type of sanding will kill the clear in short order. Try it first with a foam pad and the 520. Wool and 500 is super aggressive and you will then have to go over it with 520 and a foam pad anyways. If you have a lot of spider web scratches the 3M Ultrafina and the correct Ultrafina pad work really well. Only 3M product I still use.
 
The Ultrafina pad use to be light blue and years ago was the Best for Black .
Kinda like buffing 'grease' rather than compound.
 
I do it everyday. I use a guage just to see how much I'm taking off. If the initial reading is less than 3.5 I use 2500g just to round off the edges then I'll buff then touch it up. Spray the scratch with 710 first. If it disappears, then it's removable most times. It's better to err on the side of caution than to go for perfection.
 
I have a 2018 Toyota Avalon and the paint and clear are very thin. I know this because my wife got too close to a mailbox and scratched the paint off the car.
Personally, I would not risk sanding. Most polishing compounds will easily handle 2000 grit scratches and if you have any much deeper than that, they will definitely be less noticeable as Chris said.
 
Thanks for all advice, I guess I'll start with 3D 520 and a foam pad and see what happens.
 
What I did on an 01' black 300m when new the wife had was lightly hit it with a festool 2000 grit mesh paper & then a hint longer time with their 4000 grit before hitting with meguiars diamond cut, which is a diminishing type of compound. I still like it today for time vs results on quick cleanups. Used coarser foam pad first, then finer foam pad. I carefully hand hit a few factory runs with coarser wet paper & small stick first. When sold in 2014, it still had a better than new gloss. Point here was to knock down the worst of orange peel flatter without removing too much paint from sanding or heavy compounding.
Not what I'd do with new freshly sprayed paint for a show finish, but worked appropriately for the situation. That was back then. Now I might use 3-m trizact 3000 / 8000 grit dry paper, again going a little light in time usage with the 3000 in favor of retaining paint thickness. Would hand use pads over sensitive areas. The 3000/8000 grit system needs much less buffing with a lighter compound. As stated , would not use a wool pad here.
 
One time for fun on a junk car I had (2000 lincoln town car), I took 2000 grit to the side mirror. I went back and forth about 20 times, and it burned thru the clear and the base, with 2000 grit. I was pretty amazed at that.
 
Off topic a bit?
I have looked at paint thickness gauges for several years and on the low end they all seem to be a variation of the same thing.
To those that have them can you recomend what paint thickness gauge to get?
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