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Hi I'm new on here. I've been lurking for some weeks now, reading a lot and trying to learn as much as possible.
Wanted to post on a detail job I just did on one of my collector cars.
I've been waiting to try the M105/M205 on my 1965 Corvette for a number of weeks. Had some nice weather the other day so was finally able to get started.
First, a brief history - the car was completely repainted back in 2005 with basecoat/clearcoat. The painter is very good but one thing that just wasn't done to my satisfaction was some of the wetsanding and buffing - he left a fair amount of orange peel so it went back for him to do it again. Than the car went back to him again last March (a year ago) for a minor repair on a fender at which time he again did a complete re-do of the wetsanding and buffing to get rid of a little bit more orange peel and paint shrinkage that occured (common of vettes because of the way paint cures over time on the fiberglass). It's been sitting in the paint/bodyshop for 11 months until I just got it back a few weeks ago. There were still also a few places that he seemed to have missed with the buffer after this last wetsanding.
Besides having to do a basic heavy cleaning (been 2 years since she was washed and she spent the last 11 months in the body/paint shop collecting dust EVERYWHERE on her) there the remaining wetsanding marks and a LOT of swirls and holograms.
Here are some "Before" pics: (sorry, I'm new to trying to take pics of a car's paint finish so these didn't come out great)
I wanted to finally try out the M105 so I picked the worst spot on the car, an area on the passenger side door window frame where it looks like he missed completely with the buffer after wetsanding.
Considering I have the Flex 3401 but I haven't had it long so I wasn't too comfortable machine compounding my baby with such an aggressive cut product so I figure I'd try it by hand first to see what results i got.
Using a terry cloth application pad I used the M105 on the problem area of the door. Working it in well with what i'd call medium pressure on the pad. Worked it by hand for about a full minute than simply wiped it off with a fresh clean MF cloth. I was shocked! Even by hand and working the M105 for such a relatively short time it came out looking great - all the sanding marks gone and basically looking ready to put final wax on. I went back over it anyway with the M205 and it just really made it pop.
With my success with the same area on the door I proceeded on more of the car and did about 1/2 the hood with the M105 by hand. After the first half of the hood with the M105 the results were pretty much the same as the first test area with just a few small areas I had to go back and hit again but than the result was a great finish basically ready for final waxing. The M105 really does finish down excellent although I still went back over it with the M205 and it just made it "pop" some more but I can easily see skipping the M205 step and going directly from M105 to wax or sealant.
After seeing how easily the M105 was working on the car I got brave and decided to try the Flex on the car. Having never used the Flex on the car before and never having used the Flex with the M105 yet I was cautious and went with what I figured would be a very mild pad for a compound - a Country Lake 6.5" Grey.
I started with spraying the pad with a few sprays of the XMY pad conditioner than putting the M105 on the pad and handspreading it around than finished covering the working area on a speed of one than increased the Flex speed to 5. Only worked the area for about one or one and a half minutes with medium pressure on the Flex than went over the area again using only the weight of the Flex itself, than than wiped it off with a MF towel. WOW!!! Looked better than it ever did - all the swirls, sanding marks, hazing, etc gone and just glossy and gleaming as you would want. Again, the results straight from M105 looked great enough to go right to wax but I wanted to use the M205 so...
I than switched to the Country Lake 6.5" Blue pad and went over the area with the M205. Yep, made it just pop and shine a bit more but again I can see than if I wasn't REALLY motivated to get as good of a finish as possible the M205 step could easily be skipped, it really looks that good straight from M105.
I now have about 80% of the car done and the difference of before and after using the M105/M205 combo is night and day.
This is my first time using the M105 and M205 AND only my second time using the Flex (actually any buffer) and I'm really impressed. Very easy to use, the M105 works really fast but also works as easy or as hard as you need or want it to work. Removes wetsanding marks when you need and than also with lighter pressure and shorter working time gets rid of swirls, hazing, etc.
Some 'AFTER" pics:
Anyway, any opinions or comments on the job on the Vette? i'm VERY open to ideas, suggestions, whatever on what I may have done to improve things even more, whether it would be possible better results (although personally I think it looks pretty good), a better working method, shortcuts, or whatever.
I know I have a LOT to learn yet so any critisism or suggestions are welcome.
Wanted to post on a detail job I just did on one of my collector cars.
I've been waiting to try the M105/M205 on my 1965 Corvette for a number of weeks. Had some nice weather the other day so was finally able to get started.
First, a brief history - the car was completely repainted back in 2005 with basecoat/clearcoat. The painter is very good but one thing that just wasn't done to my satisfaction was some of the wetsanding and buffing - he left a fair amount of orange peel so it went back for him to do it again. Than the car went back to him again last March (a year ago) for a minor repair on a fender at which time he again did a complete re-do of the wetsanding and buffing to get rid of a little bit more orange peel and paint shrinkage that occured (common of vettes because of the way paint cures over time on the fiberglass). It's been sitting in the paint/bodyshop for 11 months until I just got it back a few weeks ago. There were still also a few places that he seemed to have missed with the buffer after this last wetsanding.
Besides having to do a basic heavy cleaning (been 2 years since she was washed and she spent the last 11 months in the body/paint shop collecting dust EVERYWHERE on her) there the remaining wetsanding marks and a LOT of swirls and holograms.
Here are some "Before" pics: (sorry, I'm new to trying to take pics of a car's paint finish so these didn't come out great)
I wanted to finally try out the M105 so I picked the worst spot on the car, an area on the passenger side door window frame where it looks like he missed completely with the buffer after wetsanding.
Considering I have the Flex 3401 but I haven't had it long so I wasn't too comfortable machine compounding my baby with such an aggressive cut product so I figure I'd try it by hand first to see what results i got.
Using a terry cloth application pad I used the M105 on the problem area of the door. Working it in well with what i'd call medium pressure on the pad. Worked it by hand for about a full minute than simply wiped it off with a fresh clean MF cloth. I was shocked! Even by hand and working the M105 for such a relatively short time it came out looking great - all the sanding marks gone and basically looking ready to put final wax on. I went back over it anyway with the M205 and it just really made it pop.
With my success with the same area on the door I proceeded on more of the car and did about 1/2 the hood with the M105 by hand. After the first half of the hood with the M105 the results were pretty much the same as the first test area with just a few small areas I had to go back and hit again but than the result was a great finish basically ready for final waxing. The M105 really does finish down excellent although I still went back over it with the M205 and it just made it "pop" some more but I can easily see skipping the M205 step and going directly from M105 to wax or sealant.
After seeing how easily the M105 was working on the car I got brave and decided to try the Flex on the car. Having never used the Flex on the car before and never having used the Flex with the M105 yet I was cautious and went with what I figured would be a very mild pad for a compound - a Country Lake 6.5" Grey.
I started with spraying the pad with a few sprays of the XMY pad conditioner than putting the M105 on the pad and handspreading it around than finished covering the working area on a speed of one than increased the Flex speed to 5. Only worked the area for about one or one and a half minutes with medium pressure on the Flex than went over the area again using only the weight of the Flex itself, than than wiped it off with a MF towel. WOW!!! Looked better than it ever did - all the swirls, sanding marks, hazing, etc gone and just glossy and gleaming as you would want. Again, the results straight from M105 looked great enough to go right to wax but I wanted to use the M205 so...
I than switched to the Country Lake 6.5" Blue pad and went over the area with the M205. Yep, made it just pop and shine a bit more but again I can see than if I wasn't REALLY motivated to get as good of a finish as possible the M205 step could easily be skipped, it really looks that good straight from M105.
I now have about 80% of the car done and the difference of before and after using the M105/M205 combo is night and day.
This is my first time using the M105 and M205 AND only my second time using the Flex (actually any buffer) and I'm really impressed. Very easy to use, the M105 works really fast but also works as easy or as hard as you need or want it to work. Removes wetsanding marks when you need and than also with lighter pressure and shorter working time gets rid of swirls, hazing, etc.
Some 'AFTER" pics:
Anyway, any opinions or comments on the job on the Vette? i'm VERY open to ideas, suggestions, whatever on what I may have done to improve things even more, whether it would be possible better results (although personally I think it looks pretty good), a better working method, shortcuts, or whatever.
I know I have a LOT to learn yet so any critisism or suggestions are welcome.
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