Rookie need help with freshly painted car

J

Jemo

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Hello,

I need some help on what to do next. I bought a cheap used car and had it painted with paint from TCP Global. Not PPG but priced good and looks fine. I didn't pay much to get it painted and partly because I told the painter I'd buff it out since I've done this once before.

I wet sanded it with 1500 and 3000 best I could then used my Flex 3401 and attempted to use with Meguires 105. It looks terrible! ha. I'm kind of in a catch because I didn't want to really sand on it a long time because of the scratches. I learned from the first car when I did sand it completely smooth that the scratches took FOREVER to get out since I don't have a rotary polisher. Not being a show car, I didn't want to spend 50 hours on this commuter car.

I've read about these denim pads that do the same thing as wet sanding without the scratches. Since I've already started sanding and buffing on it, is it too late to go back and try the denim pad? Will it work with a 3401? The other thing I've wondered is maybe a new purple wool pad would cut these scratches out better than my used one.

Help please! I want the car to look nice but it is just something I drive to work so it doesn't need to be show car quality. Right now though, it looks pretty bad when it's out in the sun.

Thanks.
Jeff
 
Did you make sure that all the 1500 grit scratches were gonna before trying 105? And you are using a used purple foam-wool pad? Are you sanding by hand or with a DA? And, did you do a test spot before attempting the whole car? Guessing not since you are asking for advice now.:)
 
How much paint are you working with overall thickness?

What is you overall goal for this job?

What is your process for wet sanding? Machine or hand? How many passes with each grit?

What pad did you use along with the m105 and the 3401?

The CarPro denim pads are great from leveling costume paint jobs. What they do is level the peaks of the orange peel with the bottoms of the canyons of the paint giving a more uniform look.

Mike has done a write up on the pads and the application was with a DA
How To Remove Orange Peel Using a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher

Just remember that though was done on a custom paint job.

As for what you have done all ready, are you sure that you refined your 1500 grit sanding marks properly with the 3000 grit?
 
Thanks for all the help.

I can't say for sure I'm sanding properly because I'm really new at this. I do it by hand with 3M 1500 and 3000 discs on a pad that I hold in my hand.

It's a '94 Integra (red) but don't have any pics at the moment. It had a LOT of orange peel when I started working on it. Now it's just full of scratches and uneven amounts of orange peel.

I don't have a way to measure the paint/clear thickness but I haven't burned through any spots yet. My goal is just for it to look back to factory level of smoothness with no scratches. When I wet sand, I keep a spray bottle filled with water and a little bit of dishwashing soap and just keep it saturated while I'm sanding.

When I buffed with the 3401 and m105, I used a purple wool pad that I bought from Auto Geek. I don't remember the brand but it is used. That might be part of my problem?

No test spot, Shaun! :)
 
I wouldn't be too concerned about the PFW pad as long as it's clean. You say "used" but i have about 6 "used" (and old) PFW pads that still perform nicely. Love em actually and for deeper cutting.
 
So, you said you used (sorry if I misquoted)

1500
3000
Purple Wool Pad
3401
and 105?

I tried this combination but found the DA did not offer enough "cut" per se.

I just switched to a Rotary. (not saying do this btw)

I found using a DA after wet sanding is good for working small areas but not so much so for entire cars.

Also, M105 works great. I really like the Menzerna FG400.

I think your problem might be (sorry don't know the "proper" wording) that you did not get enough "cut" from the 3401 and Purple wool pad.

I really liked the blue hybrid pad a lot better than the purple wool pad after using the 2
 
What process did you use for that 59 pickup?
 
yep, on the '59 truck I did, it was my first try. It took H O U R S! ! ! probably because I don't have a rotary polisher. Just doesn't cut fast enough with the 3401.

I guess I might try the denim pads and see how that turns out.
 
Why don't you try doing a test spot with 2000 grit paper and make sure all the 1500 marks are gone. Then remove all the 2000 marks with 3000. You could remove the 3000 marks with a 5000 grit disk. Then compounding to remove the 5000 grit marks would be easy.
 
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