Sand and Buffing Plan

N

ncornilsen

Hi,
I've read alot of pages here and other forums on how to buff a car, and am more perplexed than ever.

My car: SPI Black and SPI Orange, with 3 coats of Universal over it.

My goal: Get the trash out, fix the sags and runs, and not have peel that's obvious to a lay person. I think my plan (below) may be over-doing it a bit. I made the mistake of sanding nibs from my orange base before clear, and I can see it in a few places, so this isn't going to be a "show car" finish... I just want something that looks awesome in the sun as someone walks around a car show.

I have some (I think) orange peel. See the photos. It was really hard to get a picture that showed the texture, the reflection of the lights on the black is the only place I can really see it. There is some dust on the car that I moved my finger through, those aren't scratches.

How do I ensure I have not removed too much clear? any way to do it?
Is what I have Orange peel, or Urethane Wave? What I've pictured is as bad as the wave/peel gets, luckily! Do I need to hard block this, or can I go right to the 1500 grit in my progression below?

I also have some dry spray on part of the trunk lid, where it took me too long to get around the car on the last coat.

-What type of interface pad do I need? PSA or hook and loop?
-Is a regular DA OK, or a special short stroke one needed?

Here's what I'm thinking for a plan of attack.
1. Fix runs. Razor blade them down, 600 grit on high spots, 1000 down to the surface.
2. start with 1000 grit Wet on a rigid block (like, piece of Oak) to knock down the nibs, orange peel, wave, and dry spray.
(I would use PSA 6" pads, and as big of a block as I can fit the paper on)
3. Dry & Clean car
4. 1500 grit, Dry, on a DA, with interface pad. I'd stay away from complex geometry and edges. edges I'd leave alone, maybe get to within 1/16" by hand. Tight geometry I'll just do by hand with a soft block.
5. 2000 Grit
6. 3000 grit

Am I ready for buffing at this point? am I skipping any grits?
At this point, I have to choose a buffing system I imagine... I haven't even started on researching that. What a rabbit hole of a process!
 

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only gonna comment about the razor run removing:
i learned real quick that learning how is best on a test panel.
i found putting glazing putty over runs then sanding(using a block) worked great. i was only sanding on the run and the filler let me know when the run was gone.
 
Looks like what you have is mostly orange peel. I would probably use 1200 to start instead of 1000 just because the 1000 can be a bear to remove with 1500 sometimes, and you only have 3 coats. Do a small 2'x2' area with your system to see if it is satifactory before sanding the whole car. Following Jim C.'s sanding and buffing methods work very well.
 
Looks like what you have is mostly orange peel. I would probably use 1200 to start instead of 1000 just because the 1000 can be a bear to remove with 1500 sometimes, and you only have 3 coats. Do a small 2'x2' area with your system to see if it is satifactory before sanding the whole car. Following Jim C.'s sanding and buffing methods work very well.
Where can I find JimC's methods?
Would you do the 1200 with a hard block or with a DA/interface pad?
 
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