What products to use after new base/clear finish?

[tod937]

Hello,

I've used Meguiar's auto and boat products in the past but it's been some years.

I painted my car a couple months ago with DuPont Chromabase and Clear.
I used two good coats of clear. The orange peel isn't too bad.
I haven't decided whether or not to wet sand the clear.

What Meguiar's products would you recommend to buff out my new paint job given that it's been a couple months.
Would you recommend different products if I choose to wet sand first?

Thanks in advance.
Tod

[Jeepster04]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

I wouldnt wet sand with just two coats of clear. That doesnt leave much to work with but Im not an expert in wet sanding.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

I would tend to agree that just two coats of clear doesn't leave much room for error but you could probably hit the most obvious sections at least lightly to knock it down at least a little.

As for what to use to really bring up the shine, whether you wet sand or not - the new M105 Ultra Cut Compound. I've recently had the opportunity to spend a few days working with this new product coupled with a wool pad on a rotary, taking out sanding marks on a new paint job. I can't post any pictures for another week or so, but this stuff is simply amazing. The way M105 finishes out, even with a wool pad on a rotary and in my not-so-experienced hands will just blow you away.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Hello,

I've used Meguiar's auto and boat products in the past but it's been some years.

I painted my car a couple months ago with DuPont Chromabase and Clear.
I used two good coats of clear. The orange peel isn't too bad.
I haven't decided whether or not to wet sand the clear.

What Meguiar's products would you recommend to buff out my new paint job given that it's been a couple months.
Would you recommend different products if I choose to wet sand first?

Thanks in advance.
Tod

If you laid down fairly thick coats you could probably get away with wet-sanding and then buffing. We had a wet-sand, cut and buff project here at Meguiar's with a 1949 Ford Woodie and it only had two coats of clear but they were laid down very thick.

Most important thing to do would be to do a test spot to a small area and see how difficult it is to get your sanding marks out.

The M105 is our new cutting compound and it is destined to be the "go to compound" for more and more Pros as more and more Pros get a chance to use it.

Do you own a rotary buffer?
Have you ever wet-sanded and buffed an entire car before?
What are you working on? MG Midget or Ford Excursion?

and... welcome to Meguiar's Online!

[tod937]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Do you own a rotary buffer?
Have you ever wet-sanded and buffed an entire car before?
What are you working on? MG Midget or Ford Excursion?

Yes, I have a basic electric buffer - well actually my brother does.
I have never done an entire car but I'll have some more experienced help (brother again).
My car is a 1965 Chevelle Malibu Convertible. We used 1/2 gallon of clear for the two coats. There's a lot less surface area without a top.

I might try some really fine grit paper - maybe 1500 before buffing.
Or maybe just try buffing it first to see how it shines? Thoughts?

Thanks.

[PorscheGuy997]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Due to some previous confusion, the term 'buffer' needs some clarification.

A rotary polisher is also referred to as a circular or high speed polisher. This is the only tool to truly remove wetsanding marks. Dual action and orbitals won't be capable of removing the scratches.

Depending on the thickness of the clear, 1500 grit may be too aggressive. Personally, I'd play it safe and use atleast 2000 or 2500. It may take longer, but nobody ever wants to respray a car.

I totally agree with Mike about M105; it is an excellent product and definately worth the money. So1o is usually recommended for recently sprayed paints (soft), but it may work since the paint is pretty fresh. Also, a wool cutting pad will be necessary - the So1o Wool pads are excellent.

Good Luck!

[tod937]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Thanks for all the information.

Should a 32 oz. bottle of the M105 be sufficient?
I'll probably try the 2000 grit paper.

I believe what we have is a rotary polisher. It's definitely not a DA.

Where's the best place to purchase the M105?
I didn't see it listed in the products section of the site.

Thanks again.

BTW, the link below is a picture of my car when we backed it out of the garage after painting (paint was dry of course).
Not too bad for a home garage paint job :-)

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Should a 32 oz. bottle of the M105 be sufficient?
I'll probably try the 2000 grit paper.

If you're going to sand the entire car and then buff it out you ought to get an entire gallon, better to have enough to finish the job then to run out half way through the job.

If you're going to we-sand by hand, then start with #1500 to level the paint flat and then re-sand each panel with the #2000 to reduce the depth of your sanding marks and make the buff-out faster and less dangerous.

Best thing to do would be do get on this sooner than later as fresh paint buffs easier than case-hardened paint.

Also, before sanding down the entire car, do a test spot on the hood or deck-lid to get an idea of how hard or easy the process is going to be and to make sure you can do the job successfully in one small area before tackling the entire job.

Where's the best place to purchase the M105?
I didn't see it listed in the products section of the site.

Thanks again.

Interesting, we just checked the www.meguiars.com website and you're right, the product is not listed for sale yet, just announced that it will be for sale.

http://www.meguiars.com/whatsnew/2008Preview.cfm?page=2008_professional_products

You can always call Customer Care at 1-800-347-5700

We can't play favorites and recommend other retailers of our products since we work for the company but we're sure others will chime in with other online options for getting all the products you'll need to do a "Complete" rotary buff out of your Chevelle.

We have a very nice real-life and captured in real-time article on this process but when we switched back to this forum and the URL address changed on the old forum, it made it so none of the pictures show up and in order to fix it we have to go back and hand code each image URL address. (Time consuming).

Here's the thread however and if we can we'll try to fix the coding so the pictures show up.

1949 Ford Country Squire - Wetsand, Cut & Polish

Darn coding, not a single picture is showing up...

Here's a teaser however, this is how the car looked when we were done with it.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Here's your picture,




There's a thread on this forum for just about everything including how to insert an image into your message, suffice to say, look for this picture in your text formatting tools above the message box and click on it and then copy and past the URL address for the image into the box that pops up.

This little picture is the insert image button.


Nice car, paint looks good already from the picture.

Also, do you have access to a air powered DA sander? The best way to sand paint in my personal opinion is by machine with something like the Abralon System, their sanding disks go to #4000 and that really makes buffing out your sanding marks a cake walk.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: What products to use after new base/clear finish?

Where's the best place to purchase the M105?
I didn't see it listed in the products section of the site.

Rick at autodetailingsolutions.com has it in stock. His prices are very good, his customer service excellent.