Is the FLEX strong enough to buff out a freshly painted panel that has been color sanded with 1000 grit on a DA sander followed by 1500 grit on a DA?
I would be using:
CCS Orange Light Cutting 6.5 inch Foam Pad with M105
On fresh paint it probably will remove the majority of sanding marks and restore a high gloss finish but my guess will be if you strip the finish and look closely you'll still see sanding marks and likely pigtails.
Try it and see. I use wool on the rotary with that low of a grit.
I would finish out at as high of grit paper or discs I could afford and then use a wool pad on a rotary buffer too...
Sanding and buffing is hard enough... might as well make it as easy as possible... especially if the goal is 'good looks'.
I dont currently own one however, im interested in purchasing one if it could do the job. Id could even go up to 2000 grit if needed.
The key here is how fresh is fresh?
It's so funny, or weird or ironic, I'm not sure the right word, but all most all my posting life I have people post on the forum about working on
"fresh paint", and in my mind that means a few day old so it's in this window of time where the paint is still
"wet", not wet as in you could leave a fingerprint in it by touching it, but wet as in it hasn't fully hardened and buffing is going to be easier.
Then when I talk to the person, or via the forum post back and forth, it comes out that the
"fresh paint" is
"new paint" but it's not fresh paint, it might be 30 days, or 3 months or a year old and in the owner's mind it's "fresh paint", but by body shop standards it's no longer fresh paint as it's outside the window of easy buffing.
I talked to a guy just yesterday on the phone, he said he had a
"fresh paint job" , I asked him how old the paint was and he said about a year and and a half! He said the local high school painted it as a project and while it was a good paint job it was dull and hazy and he was looking for a way to restore some gloss... wanted to know of a cheap way to sand and buff fully cured paint.
I was trying to avoid doing a 4th pass with the DA nor did I want to have to start stocking up 3000 grit discs as they are a bit pricey.
If the paint is truly "fresh", that is still more on the soft side of buffing than on the case-hardened side of buffing, then you might be able to get away with it but again, my guess is by using a Flex 3401, even with M105 and a cutting pad that if you inspect the results carefully you'll see sanding marks or sanding haze left in the paint.
If this is just a daily driver and you're not going for show car results then go for it... the fastest and easiest way to remove those sanding marks however with currently available technology is going to be with a rotary buffer with an aggressive wool cutting pad.
We sell name brand rotary buffers but you could even rent a rotary buffer for a weekend or purchase a used one or even get a cheapie at HF and make the job easier and faster...
I always end up asking this question because I don't know if you're working on an original but freshly painted 1964 Corvette Stingray or a wheelbarrow?
What are you working on?
IF it's real important to you and you paid a lot of money to get it to paint... then spending a few extra dollars and finishing out at #3000 or even #4000 will be worth it.
If it's some project that's really not a big deal to you then weigh your options and go do some testing... who knows.. you might be able to sand the paint and make one pass with your Flex 3401 and Shazam! the sanding marks fly out of the paint... that's why I always post...
"You don't know what you can do until you try"
So go out into the garage and do some trying...
