wet sand

[Polish Painter]

Finished painting a 97 dodge intrepid ( black ) using 1000 grit da finishing film , 1500 trizact da wet , by hand 1500 any blemishes not removed. Then da 3000 wet.

Compound wool, Meg 105. Then foam ( compound sure finish ) , black foam with dark glaze and then blue foam pad with 3m ultrafina polish .

Looks beautiful, Question : I timed myself usually takes me 1.5 - 2 hrs per panel to wetsand and buff. Am I slow or is this about average for you guys ?????

Thanks .

[JCCLARK]

That's fast for me, but I always thought I was
slower at everything.

[Robert]

But, IMHO, you're not using your materials as efficiently as you could.

By sanding with 3000 trizact at the end, you've made using the 105 unnecessary. Sure Finish on a wool pad - look at the classroom on swirl removal and scratch removal - followed by Sure Finish with a foam pad should get you done.

If you had a Makita BO6040 dual action polisher, the move would be - cut with Sure Finish and a wool pad on your rotary polisher to remove the sand paper scratch. Then, go over that - don't even wipe the panel - with the Sure Finish on the orange foam pad using the Makita, wipe and you're done.

Using the 105, you should use solvent to remove the residue before you apply the Sure Finish so it will cut faster and cleaner.

Robert

[Henry]

Finished painting a 97 dodge intrepid ( black ) using 1000 grit da finishing film , 1500 trizact da wet , by hand 1500 any blemishes not removed. Then da 3000 wet.

Compound wool, Meg 105. Then foam ( compound sure finish ) , black foam with dark glaze and then blue foam pad with 3m ultrafina polish .

Looks beautiful, Question : I timed myself usually takes me 1.5 - 2 hrs per panel to wetsand and buff. Am I slow or is this about average for you guys ?????

Thanks .

Before I switched to Sure Finish I used the 3 step Presta Products which is good stuff. One time to experiment I did half a car with Presta and half with SF. Gotta tell you I learned that the different make-up of the chemicals did not act well on my surface since I used the same pads.

Not sure what MEG 105 is (Meguiars 105-??).
Do yourself a big favor and use Sure Finish with wool to start. I then like to change to the SF "ORANGE" pad, then foam (again with SF). Important to use a MICROfiber cloth to wipe when done (does wonders). SKIP and FORGET about the 3M stuff. If done correctly then SF is all you need. Try it, you'll like it.

Your times are about right for me for a larger hood. Keep us posted please. Henry

[Robert]

I was in one of the top body and paint shops in Beverly Hills doing a consultation. I'd been in there before and showed them how to get their cars scratch and swirl free with no comebacks so I went by to check out how they were doing.

Looking at the panel their polisher was about to start buffing, I could see he hadn't removed all the scratches as he went from grit to grit. The scratch from 1000 was clearly visible even though he'd gone over it with 2000 then 3000 trizact on a random orbital sander.

Like Henry said, there's no reason for a harsh abrasive if you sanded to a real 3000 grit scratch. I picked up the sander and went over the panel again, hitting the worst spots just a bit harder and then feathering out from those places. Then, I took the wool pad and cut the scratches.

In my method, I start at the top right corner of whatever area I'm working on and cut a clean spot. Then, I work down and across the panel taking my polishing my product off as I go so I leave the panel clean enough that wiping between the two steps isn't necessary.

After I cut the scratches, I polished out my swirls with the dual action Makita and an orange foam pad, wiped off the residue and was finished.

The moral of this story is finish one step, or at least be within range of the next step, before you take that next step.

The way I see it is this. I get all the cutting done with the first, most aggressive paper. Whether I start with 600 or 1200, that determines the final look of the paint, how flat and distortion free is the image is determined by that first cut. That's where the final outcome is determined. Every thing after that is just about refining the scratch to the point where, when the polishing is done, the paint looks like it came out of the gun and laid down that way.

The best detailing/colorsanding is invisible. I want the car to look like it was beautifully manufactured then never touched.

Robert