Short path to getting started?

[wdwinder]

Hi all, I am new here and new to this. I am in the process of repainting my 91 Miata with the factory color red in SS PPG Omni. Its not a show car, and its my first attempt. Body work is coming along nicely and I am nearing the stage of shooting the color. I know I will be wet sanding and polishing. The wet sanding, I think is pretty well covered. Its the polishing that scares me. From what I've read here, the best machine is a rotary. But maybe the best for a beginner is the PC with the smaller pads. It sounds like the PC can do the job, it will just take longer, which is fine by me. I'ld rather spend more time polishing than sanding and respraying. And I'ld like to have the PC in the toolbox anyway.

SO my question is: what do I need in way of chemicals and pads to do the polishing without a rotary unit?

BTW, I have the 'removing paint defects' video but haven't studied it all yet.

thanks
Dave

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Short path to getting started?

Hi Dave,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

While there is an occasional post here and there about removing sanding marks with a dual action polisher, (PC/G100), the tool that you really need is the rotary buffer. Meguiar's doesn't recommend using the PC for removing sanding marks and thus we don't have any recommended products and procedures.

Using a rotary buffer to remove sanding marks is a lot of work, we don't want to scare you away from the procedure but we do want to be upfront at the start.

You can try to remove your sanding marks using a PC, whether you will be successful or not will depend upon how hard the paint is and what #grit you finish sanding with.

Do you own a rotary buffer and have you ever used one before?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Short path to getting started?

Here's two threads that will help you, the first link shows a recipe for buffing out a neglected finish for show car results but you could follow the process after wet-sanding with the possible option of using a wool pad with M85 for your initial cut instead of the W-7000/W-7006 foam cutting pad with the M84

Switching from 3M to Meguiar's - Rotary Buffer Questions?


Here's a thread on a comparison of the rotary buffer versus the PC with some great comments...

Can a Rotary Buffer like a Makita or DeWalt be as Idiot-proof as a PC?

[noswirler]

Re: Short path to getting started?

you need some unigrit 3000 in your tool box also

[wdwinder]

Re: Short path to getting started?

Thanks Mike, I will look at those posts. The paint will be new, so it will be soft. I really want to get this car back on the road, so lots of practice time on pieces that don't count aren't in the cards. Yeah, I know I'm, looking for the easy way out, but I'm not a professional detailer and won't be doing this over and over again. Perhaps I should look for shop that might do this final stage for me. ??

OK, so since PC is not recommended for this. What would be the setup for doing it the recommended way?

thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Short path to getting started?

Perhaps I should look for shop that might do this final stage for me. ??

Taking your car to a shop to do the wet sanding, cutting and polishing is an option but it's also gamble as most shops do production work, not show car work. Here's an example of the kind of quality the President of the San Diego Mercedes-Benz club received when he had his car painted and then buffed out at a supposedly reputable body shop.




Polishing paint to perfection requires something production shops just don't offer and that's time, time invested in doing the job right the first time, and often times, care and passion, at least the kind of care and passion you would invest since it's your car.

OK, so since PC is not recommended for this. What would be the setup for doing it the recommended way?

thanks

The Meguiar's recommend method is to use a rotary buffer, and this requires a lot of work to do the job right as the rotary buffer is machine that requires a lot of muscle to use over the entire car especially considering you're going to have to go over each square inch a couple of times with different products and pads.

We're sorry to say,

"There is no easy way to do the difficult"


One option however is to use our new Solo 1 System as the M86 is easy to work with which makes the entire process easier as long as you do a good job on the wet-sanding step and that is to carefully and evenly make your first cut, and then follow this with a finer grit paper to reduce the depth of your sanding marks. This approach makes buffing out the final sanding marks much easier.

Read the two links all the way through that are posted above then lets talk more about your solution.