Because I do so many car shows, I had no choice but I had to learn how to work on a hot car in direct sunlight. It is definitely NOT the way I do things if I can avoid it. It's way more headache than I care to deal with.
I had to work on a black Corvette all day yesterday in direct sunlight. Temperatures of black paint get up to 170 degrees not including any heat generated by the actual buffing process...
Black Car Paint Temperature in Full Sun
(And a few other colors too)
Here's a black Corvette that's been parked here since 8:00am this morning...
White paint on a Hyundai...
So if you have to work on a car in direct sunlight in hot temperatures you need to modify your techniques...
Tips for working in warm/hot weather or direct sunlight
Here's two tips I used yesterday while buffing out the black Corvette...
1. Shrink your work area down to a smaller size...
Anytime a product becomes difficult to work with, one tip you can try is to shrink down the size of your work area. This means you spread the product out over a smaller area
and only work this smaller area.
Be careful not to allow yourself to do what I call Buffer Creep. This is where you creep outward from your original
small section and end up buffing out a larger section. Avoid Buffer Creep. Especially if your product appears to be drying up and becoming dusty.
Why a smaller area?
Because when you're working only a small are you're continually engaging the working film of product over the area more quickly as you move the polisher and by doing this there's less time for the product to dry and dust.
2. Clean your pads often or switch to a clean dry pad...
It's vitally important to work clean and this means cleaning your pad often and often can mean cleaning your pad after each Section Pass no matter which type of polisher you're using.
Quote:
The definition of a pass
There are two definitions of the word pass as it relates to machine polishing with any type of machine.
Single Pass
A single pass is just that. It's when you move the polisher from one side of the section you're buffing to the other side of the section you're buffing. That's a single pass.
Section Pass
A section pass is when you move the polisher back and forth, or front to back with enough single overlapping passes to cover the entire section
one time. That's a section pass.
[video=youtube_share;Q70g83mnTn4"]
YouTube Video on How To do a Section Pass[/video]
In most cases if you're removing any substantial below surface defects you're going to make 6-8 section passes to the section you’re working before you either feel comfortable you've removed the defects or you're at the end of the
buffing cycle for the product you're using.
The warmer or hotter the temperatures and the worse the working conditions, then the more often you want to clean your pads.
Rotary Buffers
When cutting with a wool pad on a rotary buffer it really helps to have a pad washer, but if you don't have one you can get by with a Spur. When using foam pads you can use a pad washer or the
"Cleaning your pad on the fly" technique" using a clean, terry cloth towel.
How to clean your foam pad on the fly
DA Polishers - Porter Cable - Meguiar's - Griot's
When cutting with a DA Polisher you can get by with
"Cleaning your pad on the fly"
using a terry cloth towel, but a pad washer will clean a foam cutting pad better. Of course you can always switch to a new pad or a clean dry, used pad. The "Cleaning the pad on the fly technique" does not work with the Flex 3401 or the Cyclo Polisher. For these two types of polishers you'll need to use a pad washer, wash your pads by hand, or substitute clean new pads, or clean, dry used pads.
Keep in mind that anytime you us
ANY product that abrades the paint, you will have two substances building up on the face of your pad,
- Spent residue
- Removed paint
Both of these need to be removed as they build up before adding new product and continuing with the buffing process.
Back when cars were painted with single stage paints, you could easily see the removed paint build up on the face of the pad because it was pigmented or colored. This would be a strong visual indicator to help remind you to clean your pads often.
With modern clear coats, you're still removing paint when you're abrading or doing correction work but because the clear layer is clear, it just doesn't show up as dramatically as single stage paint. The important point is to understand that clear paint is building up on the face of your pad and to clean our pad often.
You also want to wipe off any residue from the area worked
before adding fresh product if you're going to work the area again.
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