Paint buffing question

[MrRevhead]

You're slowly getting a good finish.

If the pinholes are unable to be removed after a light sand and appropriate compound, you might want to consider getting a proper, more powerful DA polisher.

The Concourse 500 from http://www.waxit.com.au is what I have. For the price, the specs are great! Not to mention if you get it as a kit with top quality Lake Country pads and Menzerna compounds/finishes.

Although the initial outlay will cost more than your whole paint job, it will reward you for many years.

I don't have a super close up of my work, but this was the finish after a 'rushed' 8 hour detail (the polish, sealant and wax done by hand, compounding by DA).

[Giselle]

You're slowly getting a good finish.

DA? Dual action?

The polishing wheel that we have is pretty boss. It's not dual action and seems to be direct drive, but it's not one of the wussy ones from Repco. It goes up to 3000rpm, but we're using about 2000. Got a nice big wool pad too

I'm not convinced about the quality of the cutting compound though. I think it might be worth investing in something better.

We've only "cut" so far, with "polishing" down the track. With that in mind, I'm pretty happy

[MrRevhead]

You're slowly getting a good finish.

DA? Dual action?

The polishing wheel that we have is pretty boss. It's not dual action and seems to be direct drive, but it's not one of the wussy ones from Repco. It goes up to 3000rpm, but we're using about 2000. Got a nice big wool pad too

I'm not convinced about the quality of the cutting compound though. I think it might be worth investing in something better.

We've only "cut" so far, with "polishing" down the track. With that in mind, I'm pretty happy

It sounds like a rotary, which require a bit of skill to get a good finish. Same with wool pads, which at times (well most times), cut too much.

You need to progressively work your way with the pads from aggressive to mild (depending on the product you use).

Feel free to send Antonio some questions (and pics) from waxit and he will provide you with the right techniques and products to use to get your desired finish. He is great to deal with and very supportive

[droo]

For your cash costs in this, the results look sensational.
I'm really enjoying seeing your personal efforts embedded in this project. It's going to make the completion that much more awesome/sweet/MAAAAD!
I'm another one really looking forward to seeing the progress here

[malibu Q]

Kool stuff Giselle. I love to see people build nice thing using effort and inginuity instead of paying to have others work on them.

I have been working in autobody for 25 years, the last 8 teaching it, so a few tips from me.

Using the enamel add (hardener) is a good idea, without it enamel takes a long time to harden enough to polish it without leaving fine scratches. The longer you leave your paint to dry before polishing the better the gloss will be (within reason). Pop it out in the sun after a few days as the heat of the sun will bake it faster. For this reason I would concentrate on getting the car all painted as soon as you can to leave a longer drying window before final polishing.

If you do a good job on the paint, consider not final sanding or polishing it at all under the mid-body horizontal line. Its hard to see imperfections on the lower areas.

You must sand out the imperfections as shown in the boot lid. Polishers will not remove marks like that. They look similar to "fisheyes" from painting an oily surface. If they're really bad use a small touch up bruch to fill each one with paint before your next wet sand.

I would always use a block to sand a car. Use a semi-rigid block on most areas but a soft one to follow the shapes around flares etc.

I don't use wool pads anymore. They are very aggressive. For low budget you can get foam pads for your machine. At the moment I am using white and orange coarse foam ones, all my fine ones are black. Dark colours like yours require two stage polishing for quality results.

[Giselle]

Here's a photo I took for a fellow member which gives an idea of the gloss. It still needs a few more coats though to look any good.



I went to the marine shop today to buy another tin of paint and they had a tin of the discontinued International Brightside, which is what I actually wanted in the first place, until realising half way through that Toplac *isn't* a direct replacement for Brightside, like the guy at the shop told me.

Unlike Toplac, Brightside is polyurethane and should be much better, I hope

[booki89]

Any updates on this....?

[Xauterus]

You really need to sand it until its got no blemishes. Buffing paint with orange peel and marks will just give you shiny orange peel.

[greenltd]

I haven't read all of the posts in this thread so excuse me.

I used the bright side paint a few years ago, may have got the idea from the same forum.

I found after a little practice I could get a smooth finish with the roller, and some thinning of the paint.

For the price, I was very happy with the result. I didn't both with polishing the car, as mine was for club racing and I didn't really care too much, I just wanted a neat looking car.

I did find that after a while the paint went very chalky. Maybe this was due to the lack of sealer or polishing.

I also question how well the paint seals. I found I had a lot of rust come through, although it was mainly in sections I had done rust repairs to, so maybe I didn't do the best of jobs removing previous rust....

Having said that, good luck. Its worth a go.

[Mr Morlock]

this is all crazy- you paint cars with automotive paint i.e. a product made for the purpose. Painting cars with non automotive paints is misguided. Its going to be a far better proposition to buy auto acrylic paint and diy- there are plenty of guides on how to do it and equipment can be bought or borrowed etc- and the cost of a spray gun or a compressor is now affordable. In the very early days cars were hand painted but that was because the technology was not in place - no one would choose that route today for a number of reasons.

[green_comet]

Sounds like an Opticoat type product. These permanent sealants are alright but they're not the miracle products people make them out to be. If you're the type of person who's never going to get out and clean/polish/wax your car then it's better than nothing. If you like getting out and detailing your car then its not worth it. You'll still get contaminants on the paint, which require claying and decontamination to remove. You'll still get swirls in your paint, which require polishing to get out. Problem with polishing is it strips off the permanent sealant requiring it to be reapplied again at great cost.

Best thing to do is to just get a good quality normal sealant, it'll last for months on the paint and if you need to polish your car it's not a problem as you can easily reapply.

[Guy_Coles]

Don't forget, because it's marine paint you'll need to sand it back with Wet and Dry paper with SALT water or the paint won't sand back evenly.

[Old Dude]