Paint buffing question

[Giselle]

I'm testing out painting my car with marine paint and a roller. I'm all finished with the coats on the top panel, so now I just have to wait a month to buff it. I didn't thin the paint as much as the "$50 paint job" or even the other marine paint guide because It's a different type of paint. Also, I wanted to experiment with a less-work method (4 thick coats rather than 9 thin).

At the end, I've got the expected roller bumps. Being a high density foam roller and fairly thinned paint, the marks aren't too bad, but still visible.

How flat should I sand it before bringing out the buffer? I'm willing to put in the hours sanding it 100% flat, but I don't want to remove paint if I don't have to.

Also- will buffing return the gloss that sanding kills?

[DaveWA]

Pics?

[lizard]

I'm testing out painting my car with marine paint and a roller. I'm all finished with the coats on the top panel, so now I just have to wait a month to buff it. I didn't thin the paint as much as the "$50 paint job" or even the other marine paint guide because It's a different type of paint. Also, I wanted to experiment with a less-work method (4 thick coats rather than 9 thin).

At the end, I've got the expected roller bumps. Being a high density foam roller and fairly thinned paint, the marks aren't too bad, but still visible.

How flat should I sand it before bringing out the buffer? I'm willing to put in the hours sanding it 100% flat, but I don't want to remove paint if I don't have to.

Also- will buffing return the gloss that sanding kills?

Speechless

No It will look like a boat

[CaptainNate]

Will it float?

[davekmoore]

That's unusual.

[DaveWA]

Pics or it didn't happen.....

[meanmx]

I remember reading about this ages ago and thought it was interesting. Most paint finishes you can sand smooth and then buff out with a cutting compound but not sure about this stuff. Good luck and I look forward to the end results.

[Pamex]

Can't help you with your question, but ooh! Show us some pics when you're done. I've been tempted to try this at some point.

[Blip]

I don't know whether this is relative or not, but i found this video after looking for ways to do my rear bumper. He buffs it at the end and it really looks incredible.



If not, disregard!

[Giselle]

I'm going to post a full instructional when it's done.

When I bought the car it had a super dodgy spray can paint job. It also had some dents/rust/etc.

Figured I could take the opportunity to fix the imperfections and repaint it myself. Nothing to lose because the original paintjob was ghetto.

I posted up this pic a little bit ago. The paintjob was in 2 phases at this stage:
- The boot was sanded to primer, had 2 white undercoats and the about 8 coats of colour, sanded in between each, first 600, then 800, then 1000, 1200, 1500, 200 etc
- This method felt a little wasteful, so I decided to try something out on the rear quarters. Sanded through the spray paint, the clear coat and some of the original green paint. Applied a white undercoat and an undercoat of 50/50 undercoat/green (manufacturer's instructions). Then I've done about 4 or 5 colour coats with minimal sanding in between.

I figured that since it's my own paint job, I can easily sand back and restart one of the panels if one method is better than the others. I'm not going to start on the rest of the car until I see the finished results of the test panels. I won't be getting her on the road until early next year anyway.



This photo was taken after about 2 colour coats and now it has 4 or 5. The colour looks MUCH nicer in person.

--

For an example of how nice this paint is, here is a photo taken after the first coat. It's super blotchy because it was the first coat (of 8 or 9) with really thinned down paint. Pretty though, isn't it?


This gives an idea of how nice the paint should look polished. The paint is real fancy stuff :p

Here's someone who has already done it:
http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/holden-commodore-how-tos/76882-diy-painting-your-car-rollers.html

So I'm pretty hopeful. Like I said, the original paintjob is ghetto so I have nothing to lose. It looked SO much nicer already (in person) than the previous paint. One of the previous owners had put a spoiler on, removed it and left 4 holes behind on the boot, never bothering to fill them. Repainting has allowed me to fill the holes and fix a bunch of other flaws (paint chips etc that the previous painter just sprayed over)

[green_comet]

Nice work dude, its good to see people tackling jobs like this. Once you sand down all the orange peel and give it a decent polishing it should looks great. Good luck

Sent from my Nexus 4

[Pamex]

Very good. I particularly like projects like this when there is nothing to lose!

As an aside... is the sign across from your car from the famous Torbreck flats in Highgate Hill? I used to go past them on a daily basis.

[droo]

*following this with interest*
btw, spills wont be noticed, the carpet doenst need to have the newspapers covering it..

[Giselle]

As an aside... is the sign across from your car from the famous Torbreck flats in Highgate Hill? I used to go past them on a daily basis.

Oh no, I've exposed myself

[Pamex]

Those flats are awesome. A true Brisbane icon.

I was one of those fluoro green uniform wearers from a certain private school around the corner.

Sorry for the hijack. Back on topic now.