Buffing/polishing paint?

[flatline16]

I recently painted my car and for my first time it came out really good. There was a few clear sags and some minor orange peel on the rear quarter. They have been sanded out and now I need some help finishing it. There is a large amount of products out there and that can be confusing especially for a beginner.

I used ppg as my paint and now I need some help chosing products. If you guys can recommend me some compound and pad to go with it, polish and pad to go with it and anything else I may need to yield good results.

Thanks in advance

[Eddie6th]

Re: Buffing/polishing paint?

Can you be more specific as to the paint type? Can you upload some pics?

ppg by itself is just the name and doesn't help much. Is it a clearcoat finish?

[PorscheGuy997]

Re: Buffing/polishing paint?

Here are some questions that will help determine the best products to use on the vehicle:

When was the car painted? What was the last grit used to level the sags and orange peel? Are you comfortable with a rotary polisher? Have you used a rotary to remove sanding marks in the past?

If the paint is really fresh, it will be a little bit softer. But, you can encounter problems if the paint is too fresh. The easiest way to make sure the paint is ready to be cut and polished is to press your thumb gently on the paint. If your thumbprint stays for a few seconds and disappears, it is still a little soft. You can do some wet sanding scratch removal, but take it easy on the paint (no high speeds and try not to heat up the paint).

When removing sanding marks, it becomes necessary to use a rotary polisher. A DA will take you quite a long time. If you have not used a rotary, I suggest you find a car or hood to practice on before taking on your personal car.

The lowest grit I will try to remove with a rotary is 1500. I have removed 1000 grit, but it is not recommended and it took quite a while. The W5000 pad and M105 are great for removing these deeper sanding marks. However, you will have a little more polishing to do because of the pad's aggressiveness. I would recommend sanding with 2500 or higher as your last step. By doing this, you can use a less aggressive wool pad (Solo Light or Heavy cut), which will leave less swirls.

For the middle step, I would use M205 and a W8207 polishing pad on the rotary. That should remove the wool swirls. If you need more cut to remove the swirls, I would suggest M105 and a W8207 pad on the rotary.

For the finishing step, I would use M205 and a W9207 finishing pad on the DA. This will remove any slight holograms and leave the surface in very good condition.

It is always best to follow the paint manufacturer's recommendations regarding cure time. Some will say not to wax before 30, 60, 90 days or more.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Buffing/polishing paint?

Hi flatline16,

Since this is your first post to our forum, welcome to Meguiar's Online!


I've typed up the answer to your question for people in the same position, let me see if I can dig up the threads so I don't have to retype everything.

Basically you can go with our M105/M205 system or our Solo system. Both systems work great for buffing out a fresh paint job.

Questions

1. Has the paint already been wet-sanded?
2. If not, are you going to wet-sand it?
3. Or are you just wanting to machine polish the paint the way it came out of the paint booth.