Freshly painted wet sanding and polishing procedure

[mkuszek]

Hello, I have a process I have been using for many years after I do a paint job.
This is the process -
1 - I wet sand the entire area with my Hutchins water bug with 1500 grit and take off most of any excessive orange peel and all of any dust nibs.
2 - I use Meguiars Compound Power Cleaner on a white 8"3M waffle pad on my Rotary buffer
3 - I then use Meguiars mirror Glaze Dual action cleaner with a separate Meguiars yellow pad.
4 - I then use a black 3M finish foam pad with Auto Tech Foam Pad Glaze because it is body shop safe.In other words it contains no silicone's to contaminate the area I polish in so my next job I paint does not get paint defects like fish eyes ect.
I have been doing this for over 25 years and have produced many show car finishes. Just to explain where I am coming from.
This is not a hobby for me but a full time job for over 34 years.
I do not use a wool pad as this would end in more defects (fibers) in the next job coming into my shop that I have to paint.

I am thinking of changing my work flow.
I am about to pull the trigger on getting the 3 levels of Meguiars pads,the maroon,yellow,white and doing the new M105 then the M205 and most likely keep the Auto Tech finishing glaze for the final.
My thought is this process may be faster.......
I like the idea of working smarter not harder.
I would welcome thoughts from professional painters like my self that have to polish in or close to their paint area.

[greg0303]

Re: Freshly painted wet sanding and polishing procedure

What I've seen lately it looks like M105/ M205 combo is the preferred way to go in those cases.

You could also refine sanding with higher grade sandpaper, like 3,000, as the last sanding step.

Wool pads cut much faster than foam pads but leave more of their own mess behind. You may need to do two polishing steps after compounding with a wool pad: swirl removal and gloss restoration.

M84/ M83 was very popular for ages. I'm sure you still get great results with those two products. M105/ M205 use Meguiar's newest SMA technology, non-diminishing super micro abrasives, which sets them ahead of 80 Series.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Freshly painted wet sanding and polishing procedure

Really, this isn't a huge change to your workflow overall, but there will be some significant changes. M105 Ultra Cut Compound is more aggressive than M84 Compound Power Cleaner, but it also leaves a nicer finish. That's because M84 uses a diminishing abrasive that, while it does break down as you use it, it only breaks down so far. M105's super micro abrasive technology uses extremely fine, but also extremely hard, abrasive particles. This gives the faster cut and the uniformity in both size and shape of the abrasives is what gives the nicer finish overall. Whether you use a wool pad or foam cutting is up to you entirely; high end European body shops rarely use wool for the cutting stage either.

M205 also uses SMAT abrasives whereas M83 DACP is a diminishing abrasive product. Again, you should see a finer finish with M205 - and in some case significantly so. It has tremendous refining capabilities that tend to bring out a very crisp and clear finish in no time. Overall, we think you'll see a step up in your finishes, and perhaps in less time, too.

As for your final polish, you could easily move to M07 Show Car Glaze, M03 Machine Glaze, or M05 New Car Glaze as all of them are body shop safe, silicone free. If you like to apply this step via rotary with a finishing pad, we'd recommend the M03.

[greg0303]

Re: Freshly painted wet sanding and polishing procedure

There's one more option: So1o System. Somebody just reminded me about it today (thank you, Tim):

http://www.meguiars.com/solo/

[onebad82z]

Re: Freshly painted wet sanding and polishing procedure

Really, this isn't a huge change to your workflow overall, but there will be some significant changes. M105 Ultra Cut Compound is more aggressive than M84 Compound Power Cleaner, but it also leaves a nicer finish. That's because M84 uses a diminishing abrasive that, while it does break down as you use it, it only breaks down so far. M105's super micro abrasive technology uses extremely fine, but also extremely hard, abrasive particles. This gives the faster cut and the uniformity in both size and shape of the abrasives is what gives the nicer finish overall. Whether you use a wool pad or foam cutting is up to you entirely; high end European body shops rarely use wool for the cutting stage either.

M205 also uses SMAT abrasives whereas M83 DACP is a diminishing abrasive product. Again, you should see a finer finish with M205 - and in some case significantly so. It has tremendous refining capabilities that tend to bring out a very crisp and clear finish in no time. Overall, we think you'll see a step up in your finishes, and perhaps in less time, too.

As for your final polish, you could easily move to M07 Show Car Glaze, M03 Machine Glaze, or M05 New Car Glaze as all of them are body shop safe, silicone free. If you like to apply this step via rotary with a finishing pad, we'd recommend the M03.

I just followed these steps on a hood I just painted. Wool W5000 with M105, then foam W8000 with M205. Hood looked beautiful. Wanting more depth and gloss (greedy) I followed up with a foam W9000 and M03. No difference from leaving it at the M205 step. I honestly wouldn't bother after the M205. First time using the 105/205 combo myself. I am sold.