1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Dampsanding, Cut & Polish

[Matt S.]

1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Dampsanding, Cut & Polish


This is a bit of a work in progress thread...I washed and clayed the car last night, and when I got here this morning Mike asked if I wanted a hand. We decided to damp-sand the entire car with 3000 grit and we are now going to finish it up with the products shown (can't tell you what they are just yet).

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...you can see this baby was in need of some real TLC! This repaint of 20-25 years old according to the owner, but my Defelsko gauge told me that it had anywhere from 12 to 18 mils of paint...

We started at 9:16AM, and finished around 9:42AM. Under 40 minutes to damp-sand an entire car this big, and we only used (2) sanding discs (1 each)!

 

[Nissaner]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Looking forward to seeing the final product!

 

[JohnnyC]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Can't wait to see the out come and can't wait to find out the product line

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

What speed do you use on the PC to wet sand?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

What speed do you use on the PC to wet sand?

I think we were on the 4.0 to 5.0 Speed Setting, faster for flat surfaces and then bump it down a little for getting into curves and contours... Keep in mind you need to keep the disc rotating but it takes less power to keep a sanding disc rotative as compared to most foam pads.

 

[jpegs13]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Beautiful car, can't wait to see the final results

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

I think we were on the 4.0 to 5.0 Speed Setting, faster for flat surfaces and then bump it down a little for getting into curves and contours... Keep in mind you need to keep the disc rotating but it takes less power to keep a sanding disc rotative as compared to most foam pads.

Cool, thanks. Cant wait to see the finished product! rops:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Here's a few shots I took with a Canon Rebel T1i


Here I'm using a small piece of detailing clay stuck to the hood to give my camera something to focus on and the using the flash to expose the swirls. Without the clay, a quarter or nickle, or my finger the shot would come out all fuzzy because the camera wouldn't be able to focus directly on the surface.

This is a very nice 1956 Chevrolet Belair but the paint was thrashed...

Damp-Sanding with Meguiar's Unigrit #3000 Unigrit Finishing Discs

Matt and I used 2 discs to sand down the entire car...

Here's Matt damp-sanding the roof...

Hey Matt, I have to leave now... something suddenly came up...

Normally you would want to wipe off the sanding sludge as you work around the car but it makes for a more cool photo to leave all the sludge on the car. Here we've wiped the car clean and we're ready to start compounding.

#3000 Grit leaves a flat sheen that's easily buffed out...

It's vitally important to always work clean, anyone that's worked with me before knows I'm a little on the D.O. side when it comes to working clean and that includes cleaning pads during the compounding process. To keep our wool pads clean we're gong to use the System 2000 Pad Washer which works great for cleaning wool pads with a rotary buffer. I cleaned my pad once or twice for for each panel and then spurred it using a steel spur. And of course a pad washer is useless without the right non-foaming pad cleaning solution, for this we used the DP Polishing Pad Rejuvenator.

Mix well before re-installing the base with the pump drive wheel and cleaning spurs...

Ready to go...

After compounding, polishing, and applying the first coat of a paint protection product, we "edged" the car, in this example edging means to open all the doors, trunk lid and hood and wipe out any compounding or polishing residue in the cracks and crevises...

Edging....

When you open the car all up for any reason and take a picture, this is called stretching, kind of like you when your spread out your arms and stretch out...

Stretching...

I brought in 3 cans of Mountain Dew and by the time we were through I had one can left and I was sooooo thirsty, it was all I could do to set up these reflection shots not drinking the cold refreshing Dew in my Autogeek Insulated Tumbler...

Fear not for the paint...
After taking the hood reflection shot, I cut a small square out of a Cobra Indigo Microfiber Towel and created the first official Cobra Indigo Microfiber Coaster.

All finished in around 8 hours with two guys working in the garage... you know, 2 Guys Garage... in Autogeek's Show Car Garage...

Parting shot...

Time to close down Autogeek's Show Car Garage...

 

[jpegs13]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

As I said before, Beautiful car. After the work you guys did, absolutly stunning. WOW

 

[rohnramirez]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Beautiful finish. :dblthumb2:

 

[Meghan]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Amazing work, the boys are back in the garage again today finishing up a few things on that beauty. I must say its really awesome to have that garage to work in, Max did a great job with building it.

Looking forward to more pictures from the boys!

 

[sullysdetailing]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Hmmmmm unknown products for this project. Maybe DP came out with a compound and polish????

Great work guys

 

[HighEndDetail]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Hmmmmm unknown products for this project. Maybe DP came out with a compound and polish????

Great work guys

DP used to have a compond/polish a few years back. I have them at home, I think the compound was called super swirl remover, can't remember the polish name.

 

[RaskyR1]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Great work Matt and Mike! The car looks amazingly smooth too! :dblthumb2:

 

[Matt S.]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Got it all finished up today. Unfortunately I'm very busy answering all my e-mails and stuff from the weekend (plus the phones don't stop ringing!) so hopefully I can get the rest of the pics up tomorrow!

 

[Dubbin1]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Simply amazing work you two :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Continued...


This is Matt putting the frosting on the cake, for frosting he's using Wolfgang Fusion and applying by machine...

If you look at the front most overhead florescent lights you can see a clear circle where he's broken the wax open... we show this technique here and here...

Wearing Microfiber Gloves and using a Cobra Deluxe Jr. 600 Microfiber Towel to remove the Fusion...

Thin coating...

Fold your microfiber towels 4-ways to give you 8 wiping sides and plenty of cushion to spread the pressure of your hand out...

Finish shots...

Here's Yancy having way too much fun...

 

[Alex Boyce]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Great thread, great pics, great work. Fantastic job guys!!

Can't wait to see what products were used.

 

[jmp09fg2]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

NFW.

Damp sanding materials are going to be on the way to my house in the next week. That is just too good to be true. Wow! Great job!!!!

 

[sullysdetailing]

Re: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Damp-Sanding, Cut & Polish

Car came out great guys