Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

[matchinthebox]

Hi all,

My car was recently (self) painted, and I had a few problems to work out. Sanded out the runs and sags, and some dust. Then I sanded down the adjacent areas with 1500, and then 2000.

After talking to Meguiars help line, I then used 105, followed by 205. Using a red pad, and then a yellow pad respectively. I used a rotery buffer at the recommended speed on the bottle (~1500 rpm)

The 105 got out the scratches from the 2000 grit, and the 205 polished it up. It looks good to my wife and neighbors, but I can see a difference; it's no where near as clear and shiny as the non-sanded surfaces and the DOI is much softer (clear, just not very reflective).

This is my first time wet sanding, and buffing up paint. I'm sure I did something wrong, hopefully something I can fix easily

I'd appreciate any advice to help me get the shine back in my car

Cheers
Matt

[SHYNEMAN123]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

Welcome

Any chance of some photos ?

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

Hello and welcome to mol.

[geert dr]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

Some pictures would help !

I guess you did not remove all of the wetsandingmarks out with the compoundingstage (m105) , i think thats the reason that those areas are less reflective !
Compounding can leave a bit of a haze and marring if it is not done properly !

[matchinthebox]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

I'll snap some photos tonight.

Thanks guys.

mm

[InfiniteDetail]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

When you say you buffed first with a Red pad and then a Yellow pad, were they wool pads or foam pads? The 105 will most likely leave micromarring, and the 205 can too if used with a pad that is too aggressive.

I would suggest polishing again with 205 using a foam finishing pad, preferably on a DA but a rotary would work too with the right technique.

[matchinthebox]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

I used the following...

105 = Red Meguiars Foam Pad
205 = Yellow Meguiars Foam Pad

I should have said that my goal is to get to a good looking stage...not 100% perfection. I'm accepting some texture; it's actually much better from before I started wet sanding. This is my first paint job end-to-end.

Here is the "Soft" reflection. Ya, still some texture but the image definition is bad and cloudy. The white bar is a overhead florescent light.




Now, here is an area on the car I didn't wetsand..it's pretty much a virgin area of the clearcoat (no sand of buff).

[Paul S]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

From the roughness of the paint pictured it appears to me that further sanding might be in order.Something more aggressive than 1500 to start .You might do a test spot with 600 -800 and see if that helps.Hard to tell from those photos. Is that SS or basecoat/clear coat ?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

The reflections definitely lack "focus" - the unsanded section, even with the orange peel, has more defined reflections, no doubt about it. How much clear do you have on there to play with? hotrod66paul may be on to something, but don't go there quite yet.

We had a fairly new Dodge Charger at a recent Thursday Night Open Garage and the front clip was lacking in "focus" from the factory. It just looked like it was never buffed out, which was very strange. We got after it with a wool pad on a rotary and it really brought the clarity out. It looks as though you may not have fully pulled the sanding marks out, or hazed the paint pretty severely with the foam cutting pad. Try using either a WWHC7 red wool cutting pad or a W4000 Cut 'N' Shine wool pad before doing any more wetsanding. Use M105 at the same 1500rpm, keep the pad as flat as possible and work a given area with only light pressure. That should bring up a lot of the clarity. A follow up with M205 on a foam finishing pad will likely be in order after that.

Just do a test spot first, but please post up some pictures after trying that out.

[Brad777]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

However, I'd also consider doing a test section using M205 and the red cutting pad (moderate pressure) at about 1500 rpm, then again with the yellow finishing pad, but with lighter pressure.

[TH0001]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

My guess is that most of the haze is residual from the sanding...

It is easy to sand paint, just rub paper over it...

It is easy to cut (restore gloss to sanded paint) just polish it...

It is more difficult to fully remove the sanding haze and all tracer scratches.

You can often take a final polish and a polishing pad a restore some level of gloss after sanding, although there will still be a haze from the millions and millions of sanding scratches that are still present... Even though the paint is still shiny.

Even when I wet sand an area with 3000 grit I find that I often need 2-3 passes with a compound and a wool pad to fully remove the sanding haze and tracers.

Tape off a section of paint and make a couple of more passes with the cutting pad and M105 (use a wool pad if available and you feel comfortable). I think you will begin to notice a sharp increase in the gloss as the sanding scratches and haze are removed.

Once you are happy with the gloss and finish, then move on to subsequent polishing steps.

[Paul S]

Re: Rookie using 105, 205. Not shiny enough.

BUMP ! ! Have you done anything further ?
Paul S