Cannot buff to good gloss

Lizer

Mad Scientist
I'm using Chemical Guys compounds and polish, starting with V34 and ending with 36 because I can't find my 32 and 38. Using Lake Country 6" orange buff pad. This is a golf cart I did for a guy. To remove some light peel and nibs I powersanded affected areas with 1500 disc 'damp,' and then 3000 grit pad. When I try to buff it looks like shit and it's an ok shine but still not as shiny as the untouched clear. It lacks optical clarity.

I had this problem on a hood I painted last year too. The hood was cleared with Universal clear, this cart is cleared with Urekem medium solids clear because it's inexpensive.

I think these Chemical Guys compounds are from 2014. It's a huge jug and hard to shake up. Not sure if all the abrasives eventually settle to the bottom or what, but I have no idea why I can't get this to buff out shiny anymore.
 
You bring up an interesting question Josh. I came accross some old liquid Ebony and some Finessit 2 a few years ago that I had had forever. I tried to use it but it did not seem to work at all. Does it loose it's ability to cut? Do the particles get soft or loose there sharpness? The bottom line is, I don't know but I through out all the old stuff I had.

I will say this. If you skipped the V32, that would be like starting to color sand with 2000 grit because you could not find your 1000 grit. I have been picking, filing and buffing my stainless steel trim. If you don't get all the file marks out with coarse paper you are just waisting your time going to the finer grits. The same applies to color sanding or buffing. You absolutely have to work your way through each step. You just can not jump ahead and get away with it.

Good luck with it.

John
 
With an older compound not working with shaking it, my next step would be to cut container open to stir bottom with stick & put in another container after use.. I doubt cutting abrasives themselves go bad, just the stuff suspending them.

Don't know the chemical guys systems, but if you're not cutting hard enough to remove the sanding scratches, you're just polishing on top of them, which will lack optical clarity & look like shit.
 
I'm using Chemical Guys compounds and polish, starting with V34 and ending with 36 because I can't find my 32 and 38. Using Lake Country 6" orange buff pad. This is a golf cart I did for a guy. To remove some light peel and nibs I powersanded affected areas with 1500 disc 'damp,' and then 3000 grit pad. When I try to buff it looks like shit and it's an ok shine but still not as shiny as the untouched clear. It lacks optical clarity.

I had this problem on a hood I painted last year too. The hood was cleared with Universal clear, this cart is cleared with Urekem medium solids clear because it's inexpensive.

I think these Chemical Guys compounds are from 2014. It's a huge jug and hard to shake up. Not sure if all the abrasives eventually settle to the bottom or what, but I have no idea why I can't get this to buff out shiny anymore.

I usually dont bash the urekem lines of bases, never liked the clears, they get too hard too fast and have very small buffing windows, like right after the paint dries. Pretty sure they are made for guys who dont want to buff. What they consider their endless (like week long) buffing window stuff was called Glamour clear.
 
I usually dont bash the urekem lines of bases, never liked the clears, they get too hard too fast and have very small buffing windows, like right after the paint dries. Pretty sure they are made for guys who dont want to buff. What they consider their endless (like week long) buffing window stuff was called Glamour clear.

That is a good point. Some clears get really hard after a few days. It can be a major effort with the best materials to cut and buff them. I think it was the old PPG 2021 (???) that was around years ago that was murder to work after about four days.

LOL, Make this another commercial for SPI Universal Clear. What a blessing to be able to color sand and buff it easily weeks down the road.
 
Hopefully you are using a rotary buffer.
I always following 1500 with 2000 grit and then proceed as follows:
I get the best results with a Twisted Wool pad and Meguiars M-100 compound. (much better than the M-105) Its make up is very similar to the Chemical Guys products but cuts extremely well. It will remove 1500 grit scratches.
From there I will use a foam pad and the Chemical Guys V32, followed by a polishing pad and Menzerna FF3800 for perfection.
 
So how much did you save using that Urekem clear instead of SPI? Just sayin.....

Don
I use Universal clear for everything I care about. But like I said in my original post, even on a hood I did which used Universal clear (and I did walk through all the grits on that one), I had a difficult time getting it to buff to a high gloss. That's why I'm suspecting the compound, wondering if it does go bad.

If they want to pay a premium price so I can use premium products I'm happy to, but nobody does. They still get SPI epoxy and 2k regular build on the bodies, which works well for filling in chips and scratches.

Also, a buddy dropped off MY 32 and 38 this morning. So that's where that went.
 
That is a good point. Some clears get really hard after a few days. It can be a major effort with the best materials to cut and buff them. I think it was the old PPG 2021 (???) that was around years ago that was murder to work after about four days.

LOL, Make this another commercial for SPI Universal Clear. What a blessing to be able to color sand and buff it easily weeks down the road.

Yeah, I was wondering that too. But like I said, I had difficulty on Universal cleared hood last year. I'm not going to fight this though, if I can't get it to resolve I'm just going to sand the entire damn thing down and clear it again.
 
I use Universal clear for everything I care about. But like I said in my original post, even on a hood I did which used Universal clear (and I did walk through all the grits on that one), I had a difficult time getting it to buff to a high gloss. That's why I'm suspecting the compound, wondering if it does go bad.

If they want to pay a premium price so I can use premium products I'm happy to, but nobody does. They still get SPI epoxy and 2k regular build on the bodies, which works well for filling in chips and scratches.

Also, a buddy dropped off MY 32 and 38 this morning. So that's where that went.

What I was asking is how much did you save versus using SPI production clear? I would think not much and it is most likely a superior product.

Don
 
What I was asking is how much did you save versus using SPI production clear? I would think not much and it is most likely a superior product.

Don

You know, SPI production clear never even occurred to me. I just only ever use the Universal Clear. SPI production clear is the same damn price if you include shipping on the Urekem (and it takes a week to get here).

Let's just not talk about this part :(
 
Well now you know what to use for cheapo's and likely 2x better.
Buffing 1500 scratches with foam not happening imo. Minimum 2000 & still good luck.
 
Well now you know what to use for cheapo's and likely 2x better.
Buffing 1500 scratches with foam not happening imo. Minimum 2000 & still good luck.
I went to 3000 after the 1500. Was trying something new I saw on 3M's website but I think I'm going to stick my protocol, which is what Shine does.
 
What I was asking is how much did you save versus using SPI production clear? I would think not much and it is most likely a superior product.

Don
but there is a buffing window for the spi production clear right? I am sure its a better product, but you get into a window that you can cut and shine that product too.
 
the perfect it?
Yeah, it was their Perfect-It system.


I was able to get back to good gloss when I started with the V32 after my friend gave it back to me. I also worked up through all my grits. This is the last time I ever powersand, I had those DA squiggly's all over from the 1500. And the cheap knock off 3000 pad is crap compared to the Trizact pads.
 
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