If it has paint... it gets polished...

[sullysdetailing]

Great Job Mike

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Oooops..sorry. That's not exactly what i meant. Sorry for the confusion. What i meant was that the Unigrit # categories for cutting are also the same as those of regular sandpapers. Like if i were to use it by hand, 3000 megs Unigrit cuts the same as 3000grit of 3m sandpaper.
:dblthumb2:

It would apply when comparing Unigrit to Unigrit but probably not when comparing conventional wet/dry paper to Unigrit. Even if a conventional paper is #2000 and you compare to #2000 Unigrit, they are going to cut differently because of the control over particle size and distribution.

A paper that has more precise control over particle size and distribution is going to cut faster, usually longer and leave behind a more controlled sanding mark pattern than a paper with less control over it's particle size and distribution of particles over the working surface of the paper or interface medium.

 

[rohnramirez]

It would apply when comparing Unigrit to Unigrit but probably not when comparing conventional wet/dry paper to Unigrit. Even if a conventional paper is #2000 and you compare to #2000 Unigrit, they are going to cut differently because of the control over particle size and distribution.

A paper that has more precise control over particle size and distribution is going to cut faster, usually longer and leave behind a more controlled sanding mark pattern than a paper with less control over it's particle size and distribution of particles over the working surface of the paper or interface medium.

Understood, crystal clear. Thanks.

 

[detaildave]

Excellent work Mike!!! I can't wait for the Meg's sanding disc to be stocked.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

**Update***

Just finished machine polishing each panel using M205 on a W8207 Foam Polishing Pad on the Rotary Buffer at 1500 RPM.

The previous step was to compound each panel to remove the #3000 Unigrit Sanding Marks using M105 with a W5000 Aggressive Wool Cutting Pad on the Makita 9227C Rotary Buffer at 1500 RPM. This removed the sanding marks but left shallow Rotary Buffer Swirls throughout the finish.

Before removing the swirls over the entire car I first did a test spot, (Although I already did this previously on the hood and roof), just to check my process again, this included machine polishing with the M205 with the W8207 with the rotary buffer and the wiping with Mineral Spirits and thin inspecting with the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light.

Before starting with the polishing process I de-taped the car and hand rubbed any residue lines off using a microfiber applicator pad with the M205 by hand, then afterwards, as I moved from panel to panel with the polishing process I used the RB to carefully massage the paint where the residue lines were to insure there were no toweling marks.

Each panel was carefully polished section by section, panel by panel to remove the swirls left by the compounding step. After removing the swirls at 1500 RPM I would wipe the panel clean, then clean my pad, then re-apply fresh product and re-polish each panel at 600 RPM, slow and methodical, using light pressure.


If it has paint... it gets polished...
Buffing out the major panels is alway easy, the lower panels take just a little more time and effort but complete the job. If you don't have a hydraulic lift to bring the car up to you, then you need to bring yourself down to the car...

After machine polishing each panel, the Brinkman Swirl Finder light was used to insure no sanding marks were missed and no swirls were left behind.

For really low panels, if you hold the light down low and at just the right angle it will shine just right to show the "surface" condition of the paint, this is the area you want to be looking at when inspecting. The part of the light I'm using in these shots is the small lit up area that's is the reflection of the bulb in the paint, not the large blown out area lit up by the light.

After Shots - This is after all the rotary buffer steps...

The rotary step are finished, next up will be to re-polish each square inch using a foam finishing pad and M205. After a Mineral Spirits wipe-down I couldn't see any swirls left in the paint but to insure there are no swirls I'm going to re-polish each panel and change the action of my tool to a oscillating action and this will insure there are no swirls. Plus, in the video this is what we demonstrated so to stay true to the video, each step that was demonstrated in video was purposefully applied to the rest of the El Camino.

 

[pushtiulk]

great work

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Next I Machine Polished with M205 on a W9207 Foam Finishing Pad on the 5.0 Speed Setting using the PC7424XP

I followed this with a machine applied application of M21 Synthetic Paint Sealant, for this used the Meguiar's G110v2 with another W9207 Foam Finishing pad on the 3.0 Speed Setting.

Note the placement of my left finger, I'm stabilizing myself as I lean out to seal the center of the roof but instead of touching any painted portion of the car I'm using the trim surrounding the window. At this point there are not defects in the paint and any new defects will show up like a Sore Thumb.

Shake shake shake... a small circle of product onto the face of the pad

I use the "Kissing the Finish" technique when machine applying a liquid wax or paint sealant, that is instead of taking the wax you see on the face of the pad and simply squishing it up into the foam by placing the foam pad flat against the paint, the Kissing the Finish" technique is where you touch down just an edge of the face of the foam pad and deposit a little of the wax to a portion of the panel you're working on.

Then after you've Kissed the Finish in a few places, take what's left and place the face of the foam pad against the paint and THEN turn the polisher on and begin making overlapping passes over the paint.

UNLIKE removing swirls with a DA Polisher where you only want to work a small section at a time, (about 20" squarish or so), if you've removed all the below surface defects and now you're just applying a wax or paint sealant, you can work a section as far as you can reach as long as you have ample product to spread out. For the hood of this El Camino I can easily reach and work on half of the hood so I use enough wax to coat over half of the hood and move the pad over each square inch at least 2-3 passes to sufficiently work the sealant over and into, (to whatever level possible), the paint.

As I come up to a dab of wax from where I "Kissed the Finish" with my pad, I tilt the polisher, lifting the leading edge of the pad but maintaining constant contact with the trailing edge of the pad and then run the pad over the dab of wax and then immediately lay the pad flat again and then work new territory with this new dab of wax.

Tilt the polisher a little to lift the leading edge of the pad...

Then lay the pad flat and begin working the wax or in this case a synthetic paint sealant over the paint.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

And here's what an ample but thin, well worked-in coating looks like after machine application using a DA Polisher.

I'm using the Flash to highlight the coating of sealant otherwise it just doesn't show up very well...

Next I'll remove the dried sealant and let the protection ingredients left behind fully set-up over night and the next and almost last step will be to hand apply a layer of Füzion.

Then re-attach any trim components, check for wax in the cracks, (shouldn't be much), then take some after pictures and some after video and then return the car to the owner.

 

[LincolnZephyr2006]

Owner will be astonished!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Let the 1969 El Camino sit in the Autogeek Garage all night after wiping off the initial application of M21 Synthetic Sealant. Swung by the garage today to pull her out and take a few pictures...

Here's the cake... cake is good... cake is even better with frosting on it...

Tomorrow we'll put the frosting on the cake...

Note the chrome trim around the side marker lights is still missing...

Note on the front fender the chrome trim for the side marker is still missing...

 

[z06meister]

Nice job Mike. Love the El Camino, is that your car or a customers car?

 

[Grizzly]

Very nice job Mike!

Every surface of the El Camino looks fantastic!

What did you use on those tires? those nice deep rich looking tires really compliment the awesome work you did on the paint.

 

[rohnramirez]

Holy Cow! That just looks awesome! I'm speechless, Mike! Stuff like this just makes me more and more excited to get my hands on the DA!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Nice job Mike. Love the El Camino, is that your car or a customers car?

Not mine, I prefer the 1966 for the more squared up roof lines...

This 1969 El Camino is one of Matt's customer's...

What did you use on those tires? those nice deep rich looking tires really compliment the awesome work you did on the paint.

You're going to die when I tell you... I did nothing except wipe the wheels and tires with a spray detailer and a clean, but tatty towel from the Tatty Towel Collection. To be honest, after this paint polishing portion of this project, I was pretty much ready to turn it back over to the owner. It has Post-it notes on it right now as it sits in the AG Garage that say, "Don't Touch", because even fingerprints show up easily to the eyes. The wheels need to be polished and the tires need to be cleaned, white letters spruced up and then the tire dressed fresh but that's another day and another project. I just gave them a good wipe down and what you see is whatever dressing was applied by someone else.

Stuff like this just makes me more and more excited to get my hands on the DA!

You can definitely do a lot of correction with a DA Polisher but the grunt work on this project was done using the rotary buffer.

Here's the deal, as Joe Fernandez pointed out at least a year ago if not two years ago... it used to be it would take years of practice to acquire the skills to turn out a really nice finish on a car but those days are behind us now. Technology has come a long way and now days the buffing pads available, the chemicals available and the tools available, (tools includes both the different polishers as well as discussion forums where you can get information), make it easier and easier to get professional results for just about anyone.

It's just a matter of,

• Evaluate the condition of the finish
• Choose the right product for the job
• Use good technique

Another thing I've seen that's different now days is that there are plenty of talented professionals always willing to share what they know to help bring others further up the road.

Each one teach one...

 

[Meghan]

Owner will be astonished!

I think he will flat out be floored, this car looks showroom new!

It has Post-it notes on it right now as it sits in the AG Garage that say, "Don't Touch", because even fingerprints show up easily to the eyes.

I went in the garage and saw the notes, really made me want to touch it but I didn't!

 

[Mister B]

It would apply when comparing Unigrit to Unigrit but probably not when comparing conventional wet/dry paper to Unigrit.

I would think that the new unigrit foam finishing discs might even be a tiny bit less aggressive than just the unigrit sandpaper itself without the foam backing. For example 3000 grit unigrit foam finishing disc vs. 3000 grit unigrit sandaper. Would you agree? Maybe the difference is hardly noticeable, but I was just curious what you thought or if you have even compared the two, foam backing vs no foam and both grits being equal?

Thanks.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I would think that the new Unigrit foam finishing discs might even be a tiny bit less aggressive than just the Unigrit sandpaper itself without the foam backing. For example 3000 grit Unigrit foam finishing disc vs. 3000 grit Unigrit sandpaper. Would you agree? Maybe the difference is hardly noticeable, but I was just curious what you thought or if you have even compared the two, foam backing vs no foam and both grits being equal?

Thanks.

Your observation actually sounds good on paper but on paint what I noticed is machine sanding with #3000 removes more paint faster than sanding with #3000 by hand.

My guess is this is merely a mechanical difference as when you're machine sanding you have equal pressure over entire face of the paper and the disc is spinning against the paint. when hand sanding you can try as hard as you want to apply equal pressure over the face of a backing pad but it's a little tricky to do and then the sanding action comes from --> you <-- and you and I usually are not as even or consistent as either an air powered DA Sander or an Electric sander.

The picture below was taken from this article,

Basic Hand Sanding Techniques

Another factor that needs to be counted is whether or not you're using a foam interface pad between your sanding disc or film. "Generally speaking", a foam interface disc will bring the aggressiveness level of a grit size up one level to the next grit level.

So if sanding with #1500 and no foam interface = #1500 grit, then sanding with #1500 with a foam interface = #2000 grit. This isn't a perfect science but the bigger point being that a foam interface reduces the aggressiveness of a paper.


That's why if you're in a body shop and you're removing surface texture like mottling, DIP, or Dirt in Paint, Orange Peel, Runs and Sags, etc. you would tend to not use a foam interface pad and instead of using a foam backed disc you would use a film disc, (film = no foam backing on the sanding disc)

 

[Mister B]

That makes sense. I would agree that machine sanding would remove paint faster than doing it by hand.

I guess my next question would be in what case would someone choose the Unigrit foam backed disc over the Unigrit film disc (no foam)? With both grits being equal what are the advantages and disadvantages of one type over the other? Just trying to better undersatand them.

Thanks

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I guess my next question would be in what case would someone choose the Unigrit foam backed disc over the Unigrit film disc (no foam)? With both grits being equal what are the advantages and disadvantages of one type over the other? Just trying to better undersatand them.

Thanks

Great question!

I think I answered this somewhere on the forum but not sure where?

Here's why though, the film disc will cut faster and level the paint flatter better, (that's two things), so it's really not for factory paint it's for use in body shops where the paint will be thicker and supposedly the end-user will be experienced and trained for using a faster cutting disc like the film disc.

I certainly wouldn't use this on factory thin paint. Remember,


"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

 

[dorramide7]

WOW! I have to get those, this'll make my life so much easier. Thanks for the quick reply (that was fast)!

Since you mentioned it cuts through paint quite fast eventhough it's just 3000grit, would you equate it to a regular sandpaper with 2000 grit as far as cutting is concerned? Or it cuts that fast because you're damp sanding?

I've wetsanded with 2000grit then 2500grit then applied compound and polish, all by hand, but it just takes forever to finish a whole car.

Does AG sell the foam finishing discs and anything else needed to attach to the DA?