Disambiguating the buffing ambiguities

Lizer

Lizer

Mad Scientist
This fall I painted my 67 Mustang, it's Viper blue (ProSpray base...thanks Chad), with SPI white lemans stripes (thanks Barry), and UV clear (thanks Barry). I put three wet ass coats of clear on it, judging by all my flow indicators. But I'll be damned if I have hardly any orange peel.

I'm finally getting around to wet sanding and buffing. I've done a little of this before and it was long ago. I've read a lot and that's what seems to be making it worse. I've talked to Shine on this some and I'm using the new Chemical Guys compounds, probably with the Hexalogic pads--orange and black since a lot of people seem to like these as much or more than Lake Country.

Using Meguiar's paper, starting out 1000, 1500, 2000, then still need to decide what to do from there, may get 2500.

I saw on Hotrodders some people were cutting up to 1500, then buffed with the first Chem Guys compound to remove 1000/1500 scratches. Then they did 2000, buffed again, and so on. They said it made the process so much faster.

And then I see people say to not buff until you've moved through all your fine grits. In this case, how many different buffing compounds are you still using? Just a single compound and then a polish? Really confused on these because going from a final sand of say 2500 grit to a buffing compound to remove 1000/1500 grit scratches would seem like a step backwards.

I'm ready to order my material, just trying to figure out exactly what I'll need to order and when and in what order I'll use them. IMG_2901.jpg

IMG_2923.jpg
 
Never buff and then sand more unless you missed a defect by accident. Refine your grits to the finest you have, then buff. A lot of guys here swear by the really fine Trizact pads like 3000 and even 5000, but I sand out to 2500 wet by hand and do OK, but I am old school. What grit you can stop sanding at somewhat depends on what compound and pad you have, how hard the clear is, and how much you want to work. Finer is always better.
 
i use all the grits , all 4 compounds and the orange and black pads. there is no reason to skip a step .
 
i use every grit . 1000/1200/1500/2000/2500/3000 . i have not tried the 5000 yet but will .
never start buffing until it is time . going back and sanding just means you did a poor job of sanding.
at 3000 the vseries from chemical guys will make buffing a joy. there are no fillers in chemical guys compounds .
 
How much commission you make from Chemguys? I'm so intrigued to try this stuff. I really like the stuff from Malco. I have enough product in my cabinet that I could open a store.
 
Nothing wrong with really liking something. None of us would even be on this forum if that wasn't the case
 
I don't claim to know much on the subject, but I can tell you that with the Euro clear of the UV clear, going to 2500 wet by hand then using the chem guys V series with orange and black pads will get you where you wanna be. I am sure the 3000 and 5000 would only make it easier. If you go to 5000 I would try a small place starting with the V34 on orange and see how it goes. You likely would not need the V32 if you sand that fine, but I have never tried the 5000 so I can't say for sure.

Kelly
 
What do you guys do for LeMans stripes? My stripes are 2 coats of the SPI white painted directly over the blue base, and then 3 coats uv clear over everything. I did not clear, then do the white stripes, then clear again. As it is now, there is a small ridge but it's pretty smooth. I don't care if the ridge is there, I kind of like a bit of a ridge actually, but what I am concerned about is how sanding is done over the ridge. I'd be afraid it would burn through on the area of the ridge since it is like a tiny corner. I was going to stay away from hitting the ridge with my grits all together and maybe just buff over it, but not sure if that is a bad idea...
 
put some painters blue tape down the edge. when your ready for final polish remove the tape and polish it.
 
Lizer;34244 said:
What do you guys do for LeMans stripes? My stripes are 2 coats of the SPI white painted directly over the blue base, and then 3 coats uv clear over everything. I did not clear, then do the white stripes, then clear again. As it is now, there is a small ridge but it's pretty smooth. I don't care if the ridge is there, I kind of like a bit of a ridge actually, but what I am concerned about is how sanding is done over the ridge. I'd be afraid it would burn through on the area of the ridge since it is like a tiny corner. I was going to stay away from hitting the ridge with my grits all together and maybe just buff over it, but not sure if that is a bad idea...
Click to expand...

3 good coats of clear should be enough if the color buildup on the stripes wasn't excessive, most will shoot three coats of clear and sand the surface mostly flush so there is no or little tape line left then shoot three more coats of clear before the sand/buff/polish. If the tape line isn't a concern just sand the stripes by hand or use a soft pad to remove any peel and don't worry about sanding the tape line flush-if you're only removing enough clear to remove orange peal then there won't be any worry about sanding through. When done the line will be barely felt. hope that made sense.
 
Do you guys complete one panel at a time or do you like to go around the entire car at one time with a single grit?
 
I just tried using my Trizact pads in the last week or so and am impressed, I have all the grits, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 and 5000. I think for me to get it really flat I like to start with 1000 grit wet sheets by hand blocking to get rid of any orange peel and flatten the surface out, then change to the 1500 Trizact and go up from there. It might pay to do the 1500 by hand blocking too, but so far seems ok. The 3000 is probably far enough before polishing, but I've been taking it right through the 5000 and the polishing is pretty minimal from there. I don't tend to get any small scratches using the trizact that I sometimes get with hand sanding. The Trizact pads work great by hand in tight curved areas as they don't have any sharp corners or trailing paper.......but remember I am a rank amateur, so my opinions may not be the best to follow.
 
all good info, thanks everyone. I was originally going to do one panel at a time, then thought it was probably stupid and would cause more problems doing it that way so I have the driver's side sanded down with 1000 grit. However I also have the door in 1500 grit so will just continue on with the door only until it is finished.

I have very little peel on the car so that is making this quite easy, a little dry spray from overspray in some spots, but the lowest I am starting with is 1000 grit. However I've read before to not let a single grit take care of all the imperfections, such as 1000 grit, but to remove most with 1000 grit, 1500 will get a little more, and eventually the imperfections are completely gone as you proceed with additional grits and you end up not removing as much clear as you would if removing all the peel with 1000 grit. What I'm having a hard time figuring out is by what grit should all the peel be gone. This is probably why it's best to do one panel at a time.

I'm blocking 1000 with wood block, and then 1500 up is my thin rubber Durablock.
 
If sanding and buffing is new to you start with one panel untill the proceedure is down, better to refine and perfect your technique before you make 10X the work on the rest of the car.
 
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