Trying to get a show car shine on my Mustang (fresh paint)

Mark Preus

Mark Preus

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Hello all! Mike I was at the detail gtg at Nicks. Thanks you for all the knowledge you passed along. Very good gtg for learning from a expert. I just painted my 86 Mustang. The paint is around a month old. I plan on taking it to shows and enjoying it on nice days. Its all PPG paint and I put on a extra coat of clear cause I knew I was going to wetsand it down and buff it. What would be the best steps as far as polishing goes to get the paint to really pop and have that show car shine? Ive been to hundreds of shows and im quite suprised at how many cars that are in the show that have not show quality paint. Swirls and such. I dont want to be one of those people. I have a rotary buffer and a DA. I am very fimilar with both. Learned lots of tips though from Mike at the GTG at Nicks. Here is a pic of the car. Any help help and guidance would be appreciated. Also, great website with lots of good info. I plan on adding it to one of my daily web surfing sites.


bitchen.jpg
 
Ill leave your question to the pros. But thats a nice 4eyed fox ya got there. I love seeing a nicely restored Stang like that. Keep up the good work!
 
02blackout said:
Ill leave your question to the pros. But thats a nice 4eyed fox ya got there. I love seeing a nicely restored Stang like that. Keep up the good work!
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Thank you. Im debating on painting the headlight buckets and trim flat black. Cant decide though
 
Nice Stang. I take it you know how to wetsand? Polishing will depend on what grit you end up using. For example if you end with 2000 you will need a compound and then a polish and then a final polish. If you end with 3000 you might not have to compound and just polish. If you do all the polishing steps correctly then your last step is to jewel the finish down with Ultrafina using a Ultrafina blue pad at 1800 rpm on a rotary. You have a big job ahead of you my friend, so take your time and do it right the first time. Too many guy's will start out slow and careful and after a few day's start to rush it to get the job done. Good Luck!
 
Mark Preus said:
Thank you. Im debating on painting the headlight buckets and trim flat black. Cant decide though
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I'm right there with you on the headlight buckets, would definitely look killer in a matte black. Otherwise, great color choice, the car looks fantastic!
 
Rsurfer said:
Nice Stang. I take it you know how to wetsand? Polishing will depend on what grit you end up using. For example if you end with 2000 you will need a compound and then a polish and then a final polish. If you end with 3000 you might not have to compound and just polish. If you do all the polishing steps correctly then your last step is to jewel the finish down with Ultrafina using a Ultrafina blue pad at 1800 rpm on a rotary. You have a big job ahead of you my friend, so take your time and do it right the first time. Too many guy's will start out slow and careful and after a few day's start to rush it to get the job done. Good Luck!
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Yes I know how to wetsand. I am a painter. I didnt know though that I may not have to use a compound if I wet sand it out with a real high grit.


mikep288 said:
I'm right there with you on the headlight buckets, would definitely look killer in a matte black. Otherwise, great color choice, the car looks fantastic!
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Thank you for the kind words. Im not sure if I want to or not. Im scared of prepping them and spraying them flat black and not liking it.
 
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Do you have a DA sander?

If so I would wetsand the car with 2000, 3000, then 4000.
For compound and polishing I would use M105 and M205 because they are both body shop safe.

As for pads I would go
Wool M105
Orange LC M105
White LC M205
Gray LC Ultafina
LSP by hand
 
sullysdetailing said:
Do you have a DA sander?

If so I would wetsand the car with 2000, 3000, then 4000.
For compound and polishing I would use M105 and M205 because they are both body shop safe.

As for pads I would go
Wool M105
Orange LC M105
White LC M205
Gray LC Ultafina
LSP by hand
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Yes I have a DA. Is m205 good enough to finish with? Then just wax it?
 
If you want a show car shine... you need to jewel the paint after 205.
 
I would personally skip the 4000 since i think its a waste of money and time since 3000 is extremely fine itself. I would start with 1500(maybe 1000) since newer paints are now much harder. With PPG paint m205 will finish down perfect since it is fairly hard but still workable.
 
Rsurfer said:
If you want a show car shine... you need to jewel the paint after 205.
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As AR would say listen to dad he knows best! :iagree:

Mark Preus said:
What is jewel the paint?
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Here is a link to a thread that will help you to understand what it means to "jewel the paint". Basically you would use a third step polish after the M205. Many like to use Ultrafina with an Ultrafina polishing pad (used w/ a rotary). I use Menzerna 85rd and a blue LC CCS pad for this step (it can be used with a DA). either one gives an awesome show car finish:dblthumb2:


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ishers/2598-jeweling-paint-3-step-polish.html
 
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CEE DOG said:
What all does "body shop safe" mean?
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Never mind, I looked it up and found this excerpt from a meguiars site...

Mike Phillips said:
"Another example is our Professional line of products. Many of the products in our professional line are Body Shop Safe. This means they contain no ingredients that will negatively affect surface adhesion when spraying fresh paint, or - just as important - that contaminate the paint shop environment. This is important because introducing some waxes, silicones and polymers into body shop environments can cause both surface adhesion problems (instances where the paint doesn’t stick to the panel like it’s supposed too), or cause the dreaded Fish Eyes problem."
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Edit: Which caused me to wonder what fish eyes were... Pulled this from another site
"Fish Eyes look like little craters on the moon where the paint pulls away from the center. (Looks well, like a fish eye and hence the name). Fish eyes occur immediately upon spraying. Fish eyes are caused by contamination of the surface you are spraying. Water, oil and silicone are the three major culprits. Also, if you leave the wax and grease remover on too long before wiping it off, it can cause fisheyes. When you wetsand out imperfections in the basecoat, sometimes there will be traces of water left causing the problem. To be honest, we had jobs where the fish eyes occurred and we had no idea what caused them as we could find no rhyme or reason for it."
 
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Thanks for all the replys. Hopefully Mike will give his 2 cents
 
What does body shop safe polish have to do with wet sanding and polishing the paint. Any compound and polish can be used to remove wet sanding marks and finish polishing.

I have done hundreds of show car paints, my suggestion would be to go over it with 1500 or 2000, 2500, and then 3000. Use a compound like 3M extra-cut or 105, a medium polish like 205 and then for a final polish either use Menzerna 85rd or 3M ultrafina.

I really like the color choice for the Mustang, once it is all polished it should really come to life. Good luck and don't forget to show us the finished product.
 
ASPHALT ROCKET said:
What does body shop safe polish have to do with wet sanding and polishing the paint. Any compound and polish can be used to remove wet sanding marks and finish polishing.

I have done hundreds of show car paints, my suggestion would be to go over it with 1500 or 2000, 2500, and then 3000. Use a compound like 3M extra-cut or 105, a medium polish like 205 and then for a final polish either use Menzerna 85rd or 3M ultrafina.

I really like the color choice for the Mustang, once it is all polished it should really come to life. Good luck and don't forget to show us the finished product.
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I got some 3m ultrafina but havent used it yet on anything. Thank you for the kind words about my car and I will post pics
 
Mark Preus said:
I got some 3m ultrafina but havent used it yet on anything. Thank you for the kind words about my car and I will post pics
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You are welcome. Since you have the Ultrafina already use that as your final polishing and work it a little and it will reward you with one nice finish. That is my go to final polish right now, between being so easy to use and the results it produces, you can't go wrong with it.
 
I know this came out rough, (spent about 2 minutes on it in photoshop) but I had to see what this might look like. :dblthumb2:
Hmmm, satin cowl?
 
mikep288 said:
I know this came out rough, (spent about 2 minutes on it in photoshop) but I had to see what this might look like. :dblthumb2:
Hmmm, satin cowl?
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Dont look bad I just think im so used to seeing it all orange that im scared to do it.
 
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