Scottie Brown
New member
- Sep 21, 2016
- 60
- 0
Hello everyone,
I ran into a bit of a snag that i had never experienced before and wanted to know if some of you veterans could shed some light on this for me. I did an external detail on a Black 1981 Chevy Silverado a few days ago and found it a very difficult, tedious process. The paint looked like it had not been cared for in years and had hard water spots all over it. I started off with a 6" Lake a Country cutting pad and 3D HD Speed. It worked very well but after only 3 passes it had already seemed to dry, so I turned of the DA polisher and tried to wipe it off. I used the same amount of product I normally would use and the temperature was about 65 outside and I was in the shade (so I wasn't worried about the paint being too hot). When I went to wipe it off, I found it almost impossible. I decided to add a bit more product to the pad and try again to get the other product off and do a second round. After 3 passes I had the same result and this time it took almost 5 minutes to wipe the dried polish off. The paint looked great, but I couldn't do the whole truck like that. It was almost impossible to get the product off.
I cleaned the pad (on the fly as Mike puts it) and decided to try Megs Ultimate Compound since it seems to have a bit more fluidity to it (to me anyway). It did work better but I ended up only doing two passes per section and then having to wipe the compound off as quickly as possible to keep it from drying to the paint. That seemed to do the trick and was all that was really needed to correct most of the panels. I still had a lot of trouble getting all of the product wiped off each time; however, as it seemed to almost be adhering to the paint.
With all that said, my questions are was this experience due to a thin clear coat, the type of paint or something else that I am missing? Beyond that, should I have gone with maybe a finishing pad and a less abrasive polish perhaps? I'm still fairly new to the buffing/polishing side of things and was wondering if you lot would suggest a book, guide or thread with useful information about how to treat and approach older paint in the future when it comes to paint correction. Also, it looked as if it was the original paint and he said the previous owner said it had never been repainted.
Thank you!
p.s. I've attached a photo of the truck. There were a few etchings from bird droppings that I didn't fully get out (as you can see on the front right of the hood) but he didn't want to pay for or worry about me wet sanding those spots to reduce said etchings.
I ran into a bit of a snag that i had never experienced before and wanted to know if some of you veterans could shed some light on this for me. I did an external detail on a Black 1981 Chevy Silverado a few days ago and found it a very difficult, tedious process. The paint looked like it had not been cared for in years and had hard water spots all over it. I started off with a 6" Lake a Country cutting pad and 3D HD Speed. It worked very well but after only 3 passes it had already seemed to dry, so I turned of the DA polisher and tried to wipe it off. I used the same amount of product I normally would use and the temperature was about 65 outside and I was in the shade (so I wasn't worried about the paint being too hot). When I went to wipe it off, I found it almost impossible. I decided to add a bit more product to the pad and try again to get the other product off and do a second round. After 3 passes I had the same result and this time it took almost 5 minutes to wipe the dried polish off. The paint looked great, but I couldn't do the whole truck like that. It was almost impossible to get the product off.
I cleaned the pad (on the fly as Mike puts it) and decided to try Megs Ultimate Compound since it seems to have a bit more fluidity to it (to me anyway). It did work better but I ended up only doing two passes per section and then having to wipe the compound off as quickly as possible to keep it from drying to the paint. That seemed to do the trick and was all that was really needed to correct most of the panels. I still had a lot of trouble getting all of the product wiped off each time; however, as it seemed to almost be adhering to the paint.
With all that said, my questions are was this experience due to a thin clear coat, the type of paint or something else that I am missing? Beyond that, should I have gone with maybe a finishing pad and a less abrasive polish perhaps? I'm still fairly new to the buffing/polishing side of things and was wondering if you lot would suggest a book, guide or thread with useful information about how to treat and approach older paint in the future when it comes to paint correction. Also, it looked as if it was the original paint and he said the previous owner said it had never been repainted.
Thank you!
p.s. I've attached a photo of the truck. There were a few etchings from bird droppings that I didn't fully get out (as you can see on the front right of the hood) but he didn't want to pay for or worry about me wet sanding those spots to reduce said etchings.