Update on abandoned truck

Nick was very gracious and stopped by on Sunday. I learned a lot from him. First, I wasn't putting enough material, second, I was working too large of an area, and third, I was not putting enough pressure on the buffer. No wonder there were scratches. It's pretty time consuming so I've done part of the driver's side bed and a little bit of the hood. This is going to take a long time.

Nick also did a little bit of the part he buffed with 105 and went over it with the 205. Honestly, I didn't see any difference but he said the paint looked deeper. I'm not crazy about this single stage paint either. It scratches very easily. Just rubbing the 105 off softly with the microfiber towel puts scratches in the paint. This is going to be tough to keep nice looking!
 
This is going really slow. I wetsanded the entire truck with 1500 and started buffing with 105 but the scratches are deep in some places so I suppose I'm going to have to sand the truck again with 2000 grit. The other little problem I'm having is that in the areas I've buffed that look good, the MF towels I bought put slight scratches back in the finish when I wipe the 105 residue off.
 
Jemo said:
This is going really slow. I wetsanded the entire truck with 1500 and started buffing with 105 but the scratches are deep in some places so I suppose I'm going to have to sand the truck again with 2000 grit.
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Hi Jim,

Thanks for the update. I think we talked about this over the phone, about spending more time upfront sanding to reduce the depth of your sanding marks to make the compounding step faster and easier versus leaving off at a low grit and then having to spend more time compounding to remove enough paint to remove all the sanding marks.

Sanding and buffing is a tough job. Here's a little behind the scenes story, out of all the wetsanding classes I've ever taught, all the guys pretty much say the same thing and that's something like this,


While I like having learned how to sand and buff I never want to do this again!


Jemo said:
The other little problem I'm having is that in the areas I've buffed that look good, the MF towels I bought put slight scratches back in the finish when I wipe the 105 residue off.
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Don't worry. Doesn't matter. These toweling marks will buff out during the polishing step. I often use terry cloth towels to wipe off compounding residues for the reason listed in the below article BUT after the compounding step switch over to my best microfiber towels so I don't inflict scratches back into the paint.

The 4 minimum categories of wiping cloths


Mike Phillips said:
Good Cotton Towels
While microfiber is superior at removing polishes, waxes and paint sealants off paint, and especially trace residues off smooth, high gloss finishes, there's still a place for good quality cotton towels. For example, cleaning you pad on the fly. Cotton towels with a large nap work better than microfiber towels. Some people prefer a cotton towel with a large nap to remove compounds because they offer a more aggressive bite but then switch over to microfiber for removing polishes and LSP's. Your good cotton towels should be clean and soft and worthing of working on paint in good condition or better.
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Note M105 can be difficult to wipe-off and that's probably what's causing you to put toweling scratches back into the paint.

When you finish the compounding step the next steps will be a lot easier.


:xyxthumbs:
 
Jemo said:
Nick was very gracious and stopped by on Sunday. I learned a lot from him.
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You will never find a nicer guy or a better teacher, Nick is truly one of the best in the detailing world.



Jemo said:
This is going to be tough to keep nice looking!
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Once you get a coat of wax or a paint sealant on the paint it will make the surface more slippery and this will help prevent toweling marks. Right now you're working on bare paint and it's very grippy.


:)
 
Thanks, Mike.

I'm going to the paint store right now to pick up some 2000 grit. It's not the Meguiar's...I think it's Norton but it will do. I don't want to wait to order it online right now...I've been working on this too long and want to get finished. These scratches can't be felt with my finger but look deep. I hope they're going to come out.

After doing this off and on for about 3 weeks, I've really enjoyed it. I can't wait to do my daily driver when this is finished. Before this experience, I thought once the paint is on, it's done but I'd say this is nearly as time consuming but very rewarding. Thanks for all the help.

Jeff
 
Don't worry. Doesn't matter. These toweling marks will buff out during the polishing step. I often use terry cloth towels to wipe off compounding residues for the reason listed in the below article BUT after the compounding step switch over to my best microfiber towels so I don't inflict scratches back into the paint.
Click to expand...
Mike, when you say "polish" do you mean the 205 with the tangerine pad? I only bought the 105, 205, and wax. I didn't buy any additional polishes.
 
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