Mike,
In other articles you recommend to stay off of body lines and/or apply protective tape on top of them.
I notice in this how to, you didn't apply the tape to the body lines on the hood. Did you compound/polish over top of them or avoid like your other articles suggest?
Good question.
When it comes to buffing on top of edges and raised body lines, while it's a good practice to not do it,
if you're working on a brand new car where the paint has all it's integrity, and using a dual action polisher, there's not a lot of risk.
If you're working on an older car and you don't know how many guys have buffed the car out before you, well now you don't know if they were careful.... or not....
And if "not" you don't want to be the guy to find out the paint was whisper thin on the edges...
Also, with a DA you don't have to worry about holograms or burn-throughs...
Also on that particular car I didn't use a compound. I used a medium cut polish followed by a fine cut polish.
And if so, can you go back over by hand to avoid a discolored line after the removal of the tape? .. i.e...
how do you blend the unpolished area with the polished?
Thanks.
If I tape edges or raised body lines I remove the tape before the machine waxing step and then let the spinning pad and wax remove the tape-line and also shine up the paint that was under the tape.
Not a perfect solution but the lazy man's solution.
Also, I don't get hung up on perfectionist detailing, especially on daily drivers like the one in this thread.
Here's an article I wrote and it borrows from what I already wrote in this article...
Perfectionist Detailing #1 - Compounding & Polishing right up to an edge
This is good info! I wondered why painters tape was used. So how do you clean or buff the body lines? I'm new to detailing so I apologize for my ignorance.
It's a great question and a common question. What you're talking about is called,
Perfectionist Detailing
While I don't have a dedicated article on this topic I've written about it a lot so for right now, I'm going to just copy and paste what I've already posted to the below thread with a similar question...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...g-around-clear-plastic-protectant-film-2.html
Different, but related question: do you guys hand polish body lines before or after taping?
Or asked another way before or after machine polishing?
After as then you can remove any tape-line residue.
I call this, Perfectionist Detailing, that is rubbing out the thin space of paint that runs along trim that was covered by tape. I actually discuss this in in this article I wrote after first coming to Autogeek back in 2009. All the information in this article is just as accurate today as it was when I wrote it and it's a re-write of an even older article on the topic.
Step-by-Step How-To use the Porter Cable 7424XP
Mike Phillips said:
Here we've taped-off the rubber gasket between the glass and the window frame and I'm pointing to show that there's about an 1/8th of an inch of paint that's not going to get buffed with either of the two polishing steps.
After the correction steps we'll remove the tape and carefully wax these areas for a uniform look that will match the polished areas next to the tape line.
While not
perfectionist detailing in some eyes, remember this is a daily driver, not a show car.
You can invest more time and just run the tape down the rubber and get it close to the edge of the panel if you want or just overhang a little like I did here. It's your choice based upon what you're trying to accomplish and how much time you want to invest.
The thing about
Perfectionist Detailing is that it is very time intensive. Here's the deal...
If it's your own car go for it as it's your time.
If you're detailing for money and you can get your customer's to understand the time involved to do this kind of detailing and to pay you by the hour for it... then again, go for it as it's a good gig if you can get it.
My experience is most won't want to pay for it for a daily driver and only a few will pay for it for SIV's and you still have to educate them.
Perfectionist Detailing
Haha oh well it's hard to keep up with this "detailing world"
