Sanding and polishing observations

Get a wool pad and see the difference it makes. Blow it out often with your compressor be prepared to stand back and admire your work.
 
Yep, started out buffing lacquer sanded with 600 and a stick in a bucket of beach sand, wool pad and a 20lb. buffer (seemed like) Really taught you how to buff without burning the paint!

Heck yeah!! That's how I started out also, texasking. Paint stick dipped into a bucket of thick dark green gritty paste, applied to the paint, smeared around with the wool pad on the buffer and get 'er done! I think 3M's 'Imperial Glaze' was also part of the process. That lacquer buffed out sweet.
 
Did hood and left side of cab this afternoon. Sanded 1000 dry, 1200 wet by hand, tolex wet and bufflex green wet. Buffed with Menzerna 300 and wool pad about 1500 rpm, then orange hex logic with v32. Looks real nice just needing a quick polish. Best system I've tried so far. Ordered some black bufflex, sonax cutmax, and lake country wool and foamed wool pads. Still experimenting.
 
Tried some new(to me) products today. Sanding procedure still 1000 yellow discs dry, 1200 3m wet, Tolex wet, and green Bufflex. Sanded 1 door with black Bufflex. Started with a new Lake Country twisted wool pad, Autogeek back up pad, and Sonax cutmax on the roof, finish sanded with green Bufflex. Buffed really quick leaving no sand scratches, very little dusting, but left lots of residue making it hard to see when the scratches were gone without wiping with a microfiber towel. Wool pad shed like a German Shepard in Texas, as bad as the 3M pad I usually use. Backup pad seemed really stiff to me, I like the CG yellow pad better. Second panel(fender), I tried the Lake Country foamed wool purple pad with the cutmax. Not as much shedding, not quite as quick as twisted wool, finished slightly better but not like a foam pad. Really like the CG orange pad with v32 after the wool pad, looks almost finished, and able to correct any minor scratches that got missed. The door finished with black bufflex, I started with the orange foam pad and cutmax. Worked ok, just didn't seem like a good combo. Pad loaded up real quick and left lots of residue. I then tried the orange pad with v32 and it worked, but quite a bit slower than wool. Ended up finishing panel with twisted wool and cutmax, then orange pad and v32. Panel buffed slightly quicker being finished with the black bufflex, but to me, not enough to warrant the extra sanding step. Still experimenting.
 
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Finished polishing truck (bed and tailgate) Friday. 1000,1200,Tolex, green Bufflex. Started with LC 8.5" wool pad, Sonax cutmax, approx. 1500rpm. Pad seemed to buff only a narrow area on the concave surface and even on the flat, like the backup pad or buffing pad was just too stiff. Changed over to my old worn out 3M double sided pad and the problem went away, seemed to conform to the surface much better, and went quicker. Went over that with orange CG pad and v32. Much easier to see areas that needed more polishing, and corrected them without going back to the wool pad. Pulled it outside and it looks nice with no swirls. I decided to just put it together, then I'll go over it with v36 and call it good.
 
While experimenting get yourself some Meguair's M-100. It will surprise you because it is nothing like the M-105 but more like the CG products. One time over the panel with a twisted wool pad and I was sold on it.
 
only thing i have found about the black bufflex and using it wet is that its so fine that the water film on the surface i think is thicker than the grit so after the first square foot or so they seem to stop working since nothing is touching the paint surface. after the green bufflex i generally goto trizact 5000. stuff last forever and i dont have that issue with it.
 
Jim, do you ever have a problem with the tolex not getting the 1000 scratches out? Was it you that used the meguiars wool pad?
 
tolex is 1500 so its the next step. 1500 will take out the 1000 but its just one of those things where you need to know how much to sand. i am guilty of doing alot of sanding only to get to the buffing then finding out i didnt sand with 1500 long enough. i used to do my 1500 with either yellow film or tolex. now i am doing both. i am getting the panel 90% defect free with 1000 then switching to yellow film 1500 to do the last 10% and a quick pass over the panel then go over it good wet with tolex. then green bufflex and 5000 trizact. this has basically eliminated areas that may be hard to buff because i didnt go far enough. another thing i have done is started to wait longer for the clear to cure up. i find when i let uv clear sit for a week or two before i start sanding and buffing the easier it is.
 
I have found the same thing with the uv clear. Buffs much nicer a couple weeks after, doesn't scratch as easy. I started using 1200 wet by hand after the 1000 yellow discs and that problem went away, just gotten to where I despise wet sanding. Thanks for the info.
 
I am interested to see how CSI compound fairs in your comparison....
I hadn't heard of CSI, but now that I researched it a little, I found a kit on amazon with their pads, that is in my cart. If nothing else, I should be stocked up on compound, pads, and backup pads for quite a while:)
 
1200 has been the key for me, also. Been doing it wet, by hand, but may try some 1200 yellow film discs on my next project. Sanded the left side of the Cadillac today and buffed with Menzerna 300 with a wool pad, then orange pad with v32. I am very happy with the results with no scratches or pigtails to be found. Went ahead and sanded the other side with 1000 dry, 1200 wet, and tolex wet before I went home. Will finish with green bufflex in the morning and get that side buffed. Will then go over whole car with v36 and white pad and hopefully be done. Then it's on to assembly. PS This car has been painted for over a month, a lot of that time out in the sun, and is sanding and buffing GREAT!
 
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