first attempt , need help

[newshine]

This is going to be a long post....please bare with me.
So my car was refinished over winter deep blue metalic base and some diamond clear with pearls. It cured in garage for pst 4-5 month and last nigh we attemted to colour sand it. I never colour sanded in my life, wet sanded primer prior to shooting base that's about it. So we started with 1200 premium black ice paper and finished it off with 2000. My buddy and I Spend good 5-7 hours at it. Pressure washed it ,let it dry and headed to buy supplies. I got an air compressor and orbital palm sander at home. I also have 7" 6 speed electric polisher using velcro pads.

I Headed to the autobody supply and picked up attachment for my palm sander a 3" in thinkness and about 8" in diameter foam pad. While my buddy headed over to local parts store to pick up polishing compounds and wax. I get home and he tells me this guy there called me an idiot for wetsanding my clear. Aparently i ruined my paint job and next time joe's like us should seek professional advice prior to screwing up my new paint from people like him.And aparently he paints and ownes a show car and he never heard of wetsanding just buffing imprefections away haha

He manages to convince my galuble buddy to pick up some cheapest turtle wax rubbing compound and s30$ can of mother's wax. Also telling him we going to burn through what's left of my paint by using air tools with foam pad rather than electric tool.

Now i am really confused.I had cars refinished before, even shot one myself. And i always paid my bodyman to wetsand it and wash it.Than take it to local detailer and have them polish and wax it.

Tobe on the safe side i started with my 7" polisher and turtle wax rubbing compound. Car began to have glossier finish after spending a few hours, but still has swirles. So i keeep on polishing and additng compound.Than my damn edge of my velco pad manges to partially separate off and i velcro itself sratched living **** out of my hood. About 4-5 deep nicks right to the primer in an area of 3" by maybe 4". Like fu.......ck me.. So i called it a night .In my search i came across here am seeking help from you guys..

I examined my car and i still have a few bumps of clear from previous drips, some fish eye's and and a few areas where drips of paint under the clear created uneven bumps in clear.I also sandded down damages caused by velcro incident , looks like some paint and a few drips of clear will patch it up.

I still have my 6 speed 7" velcro polisher goes up to 3000rpm and extra velcro pads.And of course my orbital air sander and a foam pad.

I got mother's wax , turtle scratch remover and rubbing compound left over.

When i get home i am going to continue wet sanding off bumps left behind orange peel.Now how to fix fish eyes , if i send them it'll take all the clear in those spots? Do i feel it with clear and than sand offf?

With respect to polishing...
Now is it ok to wet sand after polishing spots i missed?
Should i keep Mothers wax or get something different ?
From reading here there is 2 compounds i need one clean and polish, other for seal and galze.And than wax it right ?
And should i continue using my electric 3000rpm max speed unit or should i switch to air compressor attachment? I talked to my painter and he says he just usses palm sander attachment and lots of 3m compound.

[Chex]

Re: first attempt , need help

well as far as I know fish eyes must be repaired by repainting the problem areas.
regarding runs and sags, it's safe to wet sand them as far as the run or sag is above the base coat. if it is in the base coat and you have a cl;ear coat system, then you'll have to repaint those panels too

I'd suggest you yo get something else than TW rubbing compound.
Get some M85 diamond cut compound and buff at 1800RPM. then use M83 dual action cleaner polish with a W8000 foam polishing pad @ 1400RPM and if you want, repolish using M80 speed glaze with your DA tool if you have. then use the wax you like the most.

just remember not to use wax if the paint is uncired.

hope this helps

[gtijon]

Re: first attempt , need help

It'd be a waste of time trying to respray panels to get rid of fish eyes IMO. They're caused by contamination of the surface you're painting, and the contamination repels the paint (imagine a drop of wax on a table top, and what'd happen if you tried to get an even sheen of water over the table).

In a pro paint shop, you've got a booth and the workshop is kept clear of things like silicone that knacker your paint. At home, you've at best got a very clean garage or polythene tent in your garage, unfiltered air coming in, potential use of silicone products in the garage in the past, some bloke up the street waxing his car with a silicone product etc. etc. If you resprayed every panel with fish eyes, you'd be at it a long time before you got a fish eye free car. I'd dib them in with a bit of clear as per the OP's suggestion.

I'd also bin all the compounds I'd already got - decent stuff specifies what grit of sandpaper it'll take out (normally 1500 for a general purpose compound), get a new mop (if you're capable of seperating one from it's velcro and not noticing, you can buy one piece mops with the foam and plastic thread integrated). Good compounds also break down as you're using them - it'll start strong enough to cut out 1500 grit marks, but will soften up to give you a good shine. If the compound doesn't do this, you need to work through different grades of compound as you would with sandpaper.

And no, don't use an air powered DA to polish your car - electric polishers run to 3000rpm, and that's probably a bit faster than you need it, whereas a DA sander will easily hit three times that speed and give your paint a royal shafting...