white singlestage newish car

[BillyJack]

Re: white singlestage newish car

I've read somewhere ( Mike Phillips from AutoGeek's forum, I believe) that modern day SS white paint is about the hardest paint on the market except for the ceramic clears. Using the DA, you may need a more aggressive pad such as the burgundy cutting pads. Personally, I'd stay with the rotary for the initial pass if it's working for you. Tape off you edges and ridges, work small areas at a time and pay close attention to your work. Once the major correction is accomplished, you can go back to the DA, even using the same UC with a yellow pad if holograms are apparent. I'm a long time rotary user, a recent convert to a DA. DA's are great and I'll never be without one, but IMO they'll likely never obsolete the rotary for the toughest jobs.

Bill

[swadeab]

Re: white singlestage newish car

Got finished with the paint late tonight, MAN i forgot how long these trucks take. Thanks for all of the input guys! very helpful, i've learned a lot.

Yeah i think you're probably right rotary cut and polish,especially on the hood/roof just too much oxidation flat white, and hard water stains. In florida you get
some sprinker system hit you then the sun just bakes it right in. One of the reasons I ditched the sprinkler system on that side of the house, even aiming heads away the wind will get you.

I probably could have got away on the sides with the rotary for the initial pass and polish with the da. I was only running the rotary though on 1400rpm and nothing was getting hot or anything,
there was no point i really got alarmed with it, i think like you and mike mention the ss white paint is just - flat out hard -.

It didn't really seem to help much trying to work out embedded deep stuff that even the claybar didn't get or lessen some scratches (maybe the UC is a bit weak for that), I have a dynabrade 3" air rotary I picked up off ebay for a steal one day, that thing is awesome. I used it on the metal painted bumber trim and it cleaned up everything. After seeing how it cleaned up the front bumper painted areas I went back over the roof with it and UP. I then went back over some areas with some sort of spots (probably deep embedded dirt in scratches or something) the dewalt wasn't getting and I was concerned with how large of an area I was sitting on with it. But the 3" took em right out, though it was probably running 2400rpm+. And it turned the bumpers into mirrors.

Check out this site/thread on this BMW rehab with the small air buffer: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...t=91146&page=8

i could sit there with it on defects and see gradual improvements, really came in handy on the thin pieces on top of the doors, and small areas.

Been cloudy and overcast here but did have a bit of sun, i didn't see anything on the hood from using the rotary, what a shocking difference on the hood wish i had taken some pics. Now i did see some swirl type stuff on the sides, maybe from the rotary or maybe they were already there, but I decided to call it a day on that since my da backing plate is toast. If I did I'd imagine the da would help there.

Kids keep me busy i still have to do wheels, cracks and crevices and inside.

[swadeab]

Re: white singlestage newish car

Dewitt501, can't see your pictures but i'd like to see them. What buffer were you using out of curiosity?

My hood and roof we're pretty oxidized, after washing, ipa, and claybar it looked like flatwhite paint. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow from using the dewalt and uc/up...as it would be interesting to see what others think.

The DA for me was getting a good bit of the oxidation, but it and UC just wasn't doing it on all the oxidation and especially the water stains. But my technique is probably suspect on everything lol

[Murr1525]

Re: white singlestage newish car

A pure polish wont hurt before waxing.

[swadeab]

Re: white singlestage newish car

Unfortunately no before pics, but here's how it came out, will see how it holds up and how it looks the next waxing. The hood and roof HUGE improvement, it was just flat white and the paint everywhere was dirty, after pressure washing, hand washing, when I was claying the whole panel was covered in dirty water the clay bar was pulling out (and i think i forgot to clay some of the doors), the sides still had some shine in some areas.

Close inspection reveals some spots around edges I missed polishing with the rotary, i'll go back next detail time and really hit the whole thing with the da once i get a new backing plate in...hopefully that will clean
those and any rotary defects I introduced. My details supplies are pretty sparce, all the chrome was pretty dirty with some surface rust here and there, resorted to Bar keeps friend to remove surface rust , then hit with the 3" buffer (polishing wool pad) and UP, the chrome in pics is before i waxed um..that really brought it out. Used the 3" and UP on the headlights too.

Pretty happy with this considering i have no real skill with the rotary ..i'm sure my technique stunk and it was just the paint being hard which is why I didn't mess anything up.

I will say I didn't do as professional job on the paint that's for sure, but it's got a decent shine now, hard to tell if that is actually paint or additives in the polish wax.

I have after waxing gone back over some small areas with a MF and citrus cleaner to get off tons of tiny road tar spots here and there the rotary and clay didn't get and couldn't really tell where i had been (and surely that stripped any additives off the area as the citrus cleaner i have is goo gone grill cleaner (hi tech i know!)

Still have to go back over glass, polish the box, and a few odds and ends. I spent a good bit of time with a cloth and some citrus cleaner under the hood, cracks and crevices, bottom of the frame by the rail underneath getting years of dirt off. But good enough for an initial detail to see what i have now! I'll keep her clean and the next time i know what i'll be dealing with.

[Murr1525]

Re: white singlestage newish car

May want to look at something of the T.R.I.X., or TarX variety to help with the tar, etc.

[davey g-force]

Re: white singlestage newish car

Looks great!

You may have to re-wax the areas you later cleaned with citrus cleaner.

[swadeab]

Re: white singlestage newish car

Hi Thanks, I will look into trix and tarx, sometimes I'm skeptical of these things but out of curiosity I looked up the msds and the d limone (sp?) which is the citrus cleaner concentration
is quite high in those compared to the off the shelf citrus cleaners... like 30% higher and i imagine there's some gel stuff to make it hang around, will give it a try i got all of it, but for lovebug season ..

So today I decided to remove the pinstrips as there were areas messed up, used my heat gun, then got the glue with mineral spirits/thinner (didn't have time to get an eraser) so I'm pretty happy i have to say with the UC/UP as that surely removed any additives and the paint was glossy...looks like it did it's job. Pretty happy with that as this is the first time i've had the tools to really and try and understand this stuff.

That left very distinct pin stripe ghosts on the single stage, at first I was wondering if that was a mistake...it was night and day obvious.

I took that 3" buffer which is now my favorite tool, I dialed the pressure down to 60psi which seemed a good pace, and UC and worked the stripes,first tried the UP but it was taking a bit too much work and product,took a good slow rate
of 2 passes and all traces were gone.

I haven't gotten them all but the spots I missed with the rotary I learned i didn't work enough. I started working them with the 3" and they were still flat, i thought "maybe i'm messing this up, is it the speed, am i wearing it flat or something?", being adventurous i kept on and low and behold they started polishing out. So I learned it's not just a case of 2 passes, it took quite a bit of time to really polish them out and I still didn't get some area's good enough
but i've learned a bit for next time! It was just much easier to see what i'm doing with the 3" than the big electric. It seems you can't be too temid with this paint..the whole time i was worried I was messing stuff up with the rotary and i wasn't working it enough or using an aggresive enough product.




Bit better shot of the hood in evening lighting, not perfect but 1st time even using the rotary on a panel i'm happy.

[Murr1525]

Re: white singlestage newish car

The area under the decal will be the most original looking paint, with no dirt or UV damage.

So you just need to get the rest of the paint as good as possible, and then let the striped part age. Doesnt take too long usually...