Sanding/buffing/polishing clear coat.

buguy · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 6:51 pm Post subject:

Yep. Wool to compound and foam to polish.
Really the more aggressive the paper, the flatter the paint job will be. Just have to be sure there is enough material on there to get the scratches back out.
Also it should be noted, there is always what I call a "urethane wave" that no matter how much sanding you do will never go away. I dont really know what its technical name is, or if it even has one.

johndl58 · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:42 pm Post subject:

This is awesome advice. Unfortunately my buffing supplies did not show up yet and I'm home taking care of my wife after neck surgery and have some forced downtime. Sooo.....I need to take advantage of it. I think I'm doing a good job. I started with the 1000 and did 2 passes in a cross hatch pattern. I could see the peel as I went and could watch the lessening of it as I progressed. Some spots needed more attention than others and I adjusted accordingly. I then proceeded with 1500 and used the same technique. I can see this stage being a little more difficult because its harder to tell whether or not you're doing a good enough job of eliminating the 1000 scratches. Anything I should be looking for in this stage? My panels are about 90% peel free and I think Im in pretty good shape. I have to finish some 1500 on the hood and then going to 3000 with the da before starting the buffing process. All sanding so far has been by hand by the way.

wcfvw69 · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:44 pm Post subject:

far rider · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:42 am Post subject:

johndl58 · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:49 am Post subject:

Point taken. Honestly I have been monitoring as I go and cleaning and thoroughly wetting along the way. It looks pretty mint to be honest. When it dries I am able to see any left over peel easier than when its wet it seems.
As far as the 3000 goes, should I not do it? Should I do it by hand? Should I just 2000 by hand instead? I'm thinking another round of fine wet sanding can only help.

wcfvw69 · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:27 am Post subject:

Mike Fisher · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:55 am Post subject:

buguy · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 3:15 pm Post subject:

The only thing I might do if I were you is if your using a block, once you think your done, grab some 1500 and fold it in thirds and do a light sanding with your hand. Maybe even in a less cross hash pattern. Really once you have sanded with 1000 grit, your already done leveling and now moving on to getting those scratches out. So by hand is fine.

Also as clear coat cures, it gets harder. So while you can buff later, it will be more difficult. But nothing I would be super worried about.

And I would go ahead with the 3000 grit on a DA. Just a bit of water. You dont want it super wet. If you burn through with 3000 grit, your doing something way wrong! I would 3000 DA without much thought or concern. DA sanding with 3000 is way safer than a 2000 rpm polisher with a wool pad.

I keep a 3m squeegy with me when wet sanding to dry the area to see if the peel is gone. Really there is no real way to tell if you have the last scratch out. Thats why its nice to polish one panel as you do it. You will know right away if you have done enough or not and can adjust your technique as needed. But since you dont have the stuff, you cant do it and I wouldnt stand around waiting for it. I would just say when your sanding with 1500, when you think its good enough, then switch to the folded 1500 and go with your hand a bit more. If your doing it all with your hand, then when you think its done, just do a bit more.

When you start in with the 3000 grit, you will actually start to see it pick up a bit of a shine. Seems like you have a pretty good handle on it to me. Dont forget to do the inside too! At least the dash and area around the door panel where you will see it all the time and from the outside.

johndl58 · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 6:01 pm Post subject:

Thank you guys. I totally appreciate the entire spectrum of help. I like that everyone has their "own thing" yet excellent results seem to be achieved by all. My 3m perfect it stuff showed up today. Hopefully I can get my newly found buffer issues straightened out or I'll just buy a new one. Seems that my old one has the backing plate that attaches with a cup washer and regular screw and is just plastic with no hook and loop. No one near me carries anything remotely close to an interface.
Anyway, I did a quick test spot with the da and the 3000. Man does it smooth out the 1500 scratches nice. I'm almost wondering if I could skip the compound step and go right to polish. Anyone ever done that?

buguy · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:47 pm Post subject:

No you can't. But you might be able to skip the wool pad. You could try a foam pad with the compiumd, then foam with polish. See how it looks. Maybe do a side by side. One side wool pad first and one side foam.

buguy · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:50 pm Post subject:

Also don't bother buying a backing plate. Buy a quick lock adapter and double sided pads.

Or go spend big money and get a random orbit polisher. You would have better results if your going to sand with 3000 anyway. Maguires just came out with a new short through random orbit that is the bomb.

johndl58 · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 4:52 pm Post subject:

I'm done spending big money. No I'm not. Who am I kidding haha. Anyway, bought the cheapest polisher sears had, $80, and of course the backing plate didn't have hook n loop. Already had the the hook n loop 3m pads sooooo...went to CVS and bought some Velcro strips and stuck em on the backing plate. Off to the races. I didn't get thru the whole car yet with the compound but holy shit does it look awesome. I could leave it the way it is without the other 2 steps and be totally ecstatic with the results. I'll get some progress pics up in a bit.

johndl58 · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:03 pm Post subject:

This one of the doors half compounded half not.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

All the pics are compound only

wcfvw69 · Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:31 pm Post subject:

Looks good!
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johndl58 · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:42 am Post subject:

Thanks. Im psyched so far. Its not perfect. I didnt go crazy with smoothing out the body and addressing every little detail. Almost wish I had since its coming out so good. I really wish I had spent more time getting rid of the peel on the hood from my original attempt at painting it with a ss paint a couple of months ago(theres a whole 'nother thread on that in here. What a disaster.) It looks good enough for me though. I knoccked down most of the peel on it, I just didnt go full on since I only have 3 coats of clear on it.

wcfvw69 · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 5:27 am Post subject:

jspbtown · Samba Member Joined: January 27, 2004 Posts: 5192

Agreed! Everyone of my builds I would go around and point out the smallest imperfection. Not a single person would ever see them...but they drobe me crazy.

Every buyer loved the paint.

johndl58 · Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:49 am Post subject:

Funny. I have more time invested in the paint on this half Frankensteined bug than anything else. Its so damn tedious but I don't hate it. I guess because the results make me feel like I accomplished something. Plus I've learned a ton in the last 3 months.

buguy · Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:13 pm Post subject:

Thats right. You can stand back and look at it and say...."hey I did that with my own two hands!"
And now you will be less scared to tackle repairs and maybe even be foolish enough to do another car!
Turning out nice. Once you hit it with polish it will really look nice! Work that polish it well, you will get a nice deep gloss!

johndl58 · Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:06 pm Post subject:

So it ended up being about 30 hours of wet sanding, 1000, 1500 by hand, and 3000 with the da. Then probably maybe 8 hours of compound, polish. It was a total pia but worth it. And I probably could've spent even more time on it.
Few more progress shots. Trying to figure out what to do about the front marker lights. Since it has old style fenders the marker lights that fit are single bulb. But since its a '70, it is wired for dual bulb. Any suggestions? I now have 2 pairs of single bulb marker lights ( ordered new ones not thinking it through).


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