i had my car painted a few months ago.... on 5/21/09 to be exact. so the guy painted it but didnt buff the car, so as you can imagine the paint looks dull and dosent shine or dosent have a strong reflection... so i was wondering what ruubing compound to use to buff it and should i wet sand it with 600 grit sand paper before i buff it.? or any other ideas on what to do.. what materials would i need.. thanks for your help in advanced...

 

Here are the steps I use when I polish cars after paint....enjoy.

-wetsand the whole car with 1200 grit wetsand paper
-use soap and water in a bucket
-use a flat styrofoam 3M sanding block (Like 2"wide X 4''long)
-sand out all the orange peel (dont get crazy with it)
-buy a squeegie(again 3M makes one I like to use), use it to help determine where you've sanded the orange peel out(you'll understand what Im talking about after you use it)
-go back and nip the whole car with 1500+ grit for ultra smooth finish
-Finally use a variable HIGH SPEED polisher with a polish pad of choice
-Use a cutting compound as your 1st material and do the whole car.
-Start with like the quarter or fender first before doing the hood and roof.
-STAY OFF THE EDGES,lol. It'll burn through the paint before you knew what you did.
-Follow up with a finish compound or stage 2 compound(most name brand compounds come with 2-3 stage material, the paintstore can usually help you here).
-Buy microfiber cloths, they're your bestfriend when you've been out buffing this for hours frustrated trying to get wax/compound off your car,lol.
-Use a good spraywax when your finished to help out with any smudges or whatever.

Thats all the steps I use when Im polishing a car. I've dont quite a few cars, but I dont know everything there is to know, so any advise you can get from the guy's at the paintstore's or off here use it. Enjoy, if you have any questions just PM me. Thanks,Nick.

 

I thought you suppose to use 2000 Grit paper.

 

hey thanks a lot, i didnt even know all that work was involved... i think ill just take it into a good shop and have them do it.. i font wanna mess up my girlfriends car.. lol thanks for your help though.

 

See that's the problem with buffing **** and wet sanding after you paint a car, there isn't a whole lot of people that can agree on how to use it.

Some buffing compounds are actually lower grit then 1200 which would be bass ackwards.

You can hit the car with lets say 800 for bad orange peel areas, then move up to 1000/1200/1500/2000/2500/3000 grit pads but then you get into a situation where the buffing compound might be a lower grit and will scratch the paint "which would be the equivalent of using a 2000 grit peice of sandpaper after you sanded with 3000"

meguiars buffing compound is pretty damn good they have +9 diamond cut down to 1 cut and it's easy to understand, although they should seriously rate buffing compound like sand paper grit.

Your going to want to pick up a variable speed buffer with a foam pad "really soft" and possibly a higher cut pad sometimes they look like dreadlocks, and others they just look like a wool rug.

got PPG knows what he is talking about, i'm no expert, but I would honestly block sand higher then 1500 grit... you can however be baller about the situation and get an air DA that accepts 2000-3000-4000 grit pads and simply sand with a DA at higher grit longer to accomplish the same result as going though the 1000-3000 grit motions..

Best of luck dont burn though the paint...

Use lots of soap and water its key

"You gotta make it chine!" <--- said like a Mexican with broken English!

 

i did mines by hand...and didnt come out bad shines nicely...

u just have to do it in a shaded area and use ur a hand as a slow buffer lol....good luck

 

ya its a good decision to do that...but dear may be you lose patience in buffing that....why dont you get it done from any paint man?

 

go to your local auto body paint store and the guy there should be able to help you out on a few things. Dont ask the guy at the bodyshop because he will want to do the car himself so he can make some money.