Brand new paint - Garage job

[New2it]

New painter here! My name is Mark. I'm self teaching. I acquired a fiberglass pull behind motorcycle trailer that I am painting to match my bike. Naturally its black so nothing about what I'v done so far has been easy. I bought my primer, paint, clear, and sprayer from the local auto parts store. I'm not expecting an award winning finish, but I get really anal about my finished product every time I step into my garage. Here's where I am...

I primered, painted, then started color sanding. I started with 1000 grit and moved to 1500, and finished with 2000. The surface is REALLY smooth but I still see some freckles in the finish.

I bought a rotary buffer and now I'm ready to select compounds and pads. Problem is I've read SO much about this that I'm confused now about which cuts to use with which pads and in what order. Maybe it's the fumes from the paint! LOL! My research is coming up with a lot of comments on Meguiars products, but there's a lot of it. Any suggestions?

[Paul S]

Re: Brand new paint - Garage job

Well to start with a few pctures of what is being dealt with will help.Then tells us what your goal is with this paint job . The forum members can then chime in and recommend the best steps to achive that goal.Hope this ges you started in the right direction.
Welcome to MOL. Paul

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new paint - Garage job

You can use our new Solo System...


Use these to remove your sanding marks,
M8632 Cut & Polish Cream
W66 Easy Buff Rotary Backing Plate
WWHC7 - Wool Heavy Cutting Pad


Use the same product, M86 with one of these foam pads to remove and insure there are no swirls left by wool pad and compounding steps. About the best way to find out which foam pad works best for your application is to buy one of each and test them out. (Sorry there's really no other way as all paint systems are different.

Diamond Foam Polishing Pad – WDFP7
Diamond Foam Finishing Pad – WDFF7


Then for a finishing step use the finishing foam pad with the M86 only switch the foam pad over to a DA Polisher.


That's one option, you could also go with our M105 with a wool cutting pad and then follow this with a series of finish polishing steps.

Do you have a PBE store that carries Meguiar's' or that will order our products in for you?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Brand new paint - Garage job

Mike nailed it IMO. SOLO system and M105 are what the doctor ordered.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Brand new paint - Garage job

If your fresh paint is hardening up really fast then you might need the power of M105 to pull the sanding marks out, if sanding marks are buffing out fairly easily, and you're finishing with #2000 grit, the you should be able to do everything with M86 and just alter your pads for what you're trying to do. Wool for cutting, foam for polishing, DA for swirl removal.

A one liquid system means no pad contamination due to multiple types of chemicals.