A bit of practice

[Eddie6th]

This afternoon,i started to work with an old hood off of a Renault Twingo..(Don't know if you get that in the states).
For a cheap small car,it's got not a bad paint job.There was very little orange peel.
What i had to work with..:

Milwaukee AP12QE.
1 wool pad.
1 flat/fine foam pad.
3M finesse-it.

Unfortunately,i don't have any Meguiar's pro line products at the moment such as 105/205.I would like to though.

First what i did was try a corner with just the wool,followed by the foam just to get rid of swirls..it did that without any problems.Second,I taped off a line around the centre and sanded an area with 1500 in one direction followed by 2500 in the other.Then i used the same process using wool followed by the foam.I think(but not sure?) if I can see some lines because I only had one compound to use.It did get rid of what orange peel there was.I did IPA wipedown's inbetwwen and after and the surface was fine.
working rpms was probably about 1500-1800 for pretty much most of the time for the wool and foam,Final buffing at slow 900 rpms with the foam.
Sorry for the lack of pics...I'm just not into this side much while i'm working..

first two are of the general condition of the hood.third is of the area sanded.the last is the end result..









Good thing is,i took another part from the bodyshop which is from the same car and is a plastic wing with the same finish.It's condition is similair with swirls and some scratches.So will be interesting to see how it reacts to buffing,especially as I have to spend a bit longer,using only one compound.

Anyway,nice day...a bit hot and my legs got eaten by these darn tiger mosquitos.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: A bit of practice

Looks good Eddy. That is the way to do it. Preactice, practice, practice. Way to do it right.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: A bit of practice

Eddie, as you're learning how to use the rotary on these old body panels, do yourself a favor and try to do some damage. Work on an edge and push it a bit, see what it takes to burn the paint off an edge, or to really heat it up in the middle of a panel. Do the same on the other piece you're getting to get a feel for how the different substrate responds. Also, try doing these things with different pads.

Now is the time to do some damage, and to learn from it. Just as it's great to learn what you should do, it's a good idea to learn what you should not do.

[SHYNEMAN123]

Re: A bit of practice

Keep up the good work it's all about the feel.

[Eddie6th]

Re: A bit of practice

Thanks everyone.

That's a good idea,Michael...See how easy it is to destroy something! Yes,a good way to learn...

I'll compare it on the plastic part aswell.I reckon will heat up quite quickly.I did read Rasky's thread on a new Honda,which is a good indicator of what can happen,even to someone with years of experience.

Any work i do,I will post.I can get plenty of parts from these guys.

There was a Mercedes hood there.That might be worth taking as I read all the time about how hard the paint is.

I still need to wait at the moment(untill 18th) to see about 105/205 as there is a public holiday here at the moment.

[KC's]

Re: A bit of practice

mamamia

[Eddie6th]

Re: A bit of practice

Thankyou KC's...

I was surprised at how good this paint finish was on a low end car. It was a Renault Twingo. The hood would make a good size of petrol cap for a car in the states...