After Auto Body Work Detail...

[jonny01blaze]

Alright guys need some advice by next week if any of you pros could chime in a shoot some words of wisdom. To start off I used to work for some different Detail shops in the past and have done some frelance work, but my main question is. My mechanic is repairing a car, about 3 panels.He's going to wet sand He'll need me to buff. So basically what I'm saying is Which meguires product should I start with?? The shops I've worked at in the past just had some generic products, Hard Cutting, Fine Cutting, Glaze and a Wax. Should I use #80 after he wet sands? Should I go more agressive?? Shoot me some help guys, I really appriciate it. Thanks!

[Mike Phillips]

You'll probably want to start by cutting your sanding marks out using a wool pad and either our M85 Diamond Cut Compound or our M84 Compound Power Cleaner. Both of these can be used with a wool pad.

How aggressive you need to get will depend on how hard the paint is and how deep the scratches are. If you can, have your friend finish sand using at least some #2000 grit sanding papers. A better alternative is to finish sand with Meguiar's #2000 grit Finishing papers.

After cutting out your sanding marks they you'll want to re-polish each panel with a less aggressive combination of products and then to guarantee a swirl free finish you'll want to re-polish again using a dual action polisher.

Have you ever removed sanding marks before?

Do you know how much paint the painter is applying?

[jonny01blaze]

I have finished after the sanding process...but it has been a few years unfortunatly. Amount of paint I'm not sure I think he said he's spraying the color coat twice, he's calling this week to fill me in more. I was just unsure of the compound from meguiars to be used..I think you answered that for me though. Thanks alot Mike I really appriciate the help. I feel out of the swing of things, aside from the normal detailing of my own cars and the select few close friends I havn't gotten extensive like this in years. Again Thanks, this board is great at helping those in need!

[Big Ben]

Jonny,
Another thing to concider is the color of the paint, the darker the paint, the harder it is to make the sand scratches disapear. Like Mike said it also depend how deap your friend wet sanded the surface. You may have to buff over a few times before the sanding scratches completely disapear, the important thing is not to put too much pressure on the buffer and to be careful with the sharp edges.

If you do the work inside with bad lighting, I recommend that you get a spot light or some kind of direct lighting on the srface you are working on, this will really help you ensure that you're not missing anything. I do allot of wet sanding and buffing for a truck bodyshop and I always use Diamond Cut and a wool pad to start then I switch to Diamond cut and the Meguiars buffing pad (burgendy) then a polishing pad and the #83 Dual action polish.

There might be better methods but this works for me.

Good luck!

[jonny01blaze]

Great thats awesome advice Ben. I do have a Spotlight that I could use. His lighting is fair in his shop so I'll definatley remember to bring that. Thanks.

[SiriusRIMZ]

Mike, is there a differnce between Meg's Finishing papers and regular Unigrit wet/dry sand papers?

Does the Meg's paper install a scratch more designed to be buffed out? I've been using the Nikkon papers from Meg's to buff out all my buddies headlights, and its by far the best wet-sanding paper I have used.