OK I just (re) shot my front fenders in BC/CC black with Sherwin Williams. Now, I've got 3m products finesse it and microfinishing compound along with access to Mcguires products also. My question is, i've been reading a lot in here about different methods for buffing out to a high gloss finish (which is what I have on the rest of the car).

I shot 4 coats base and two heavy coats clear.

Should I block sand with 2000 wet, then use the black polishing pad on my buffer @ 1500 rpm with finesse it? And how long do I wait to do this after shooting, I'm hearing 24 hours.

(I'm an amateur with access to pro tools and supplies)

Thanks

This is what I use on cars at work and it works great for me. I use 2000 grit paper and a rubber block to sand it nice and flat, watch the edges sand as little as possible then use 3M compound with a white buffing pad(its more course), then use machine glaze also from 3m (with a black pad)then on a black car id use a hand glaze with a DA with a smaller black pad or by hand is fine too. and make sure you use clean soft towles that are made to not sratch your paint.If you forced dryied you paint in a booth id wait 24hours tops before buffing, but if you shot it at home with no force drying id wait 2 days(In the sun) If you have any other Q's just mail me ss454maliy@hotmail.com www.meeware.com/uth/ (http://www.meeware.com/uth/)

http://www.meeware.com/uth/65Chevelle/6.jpg

[This message has been edited by Jeff Regan (edited 02-17-2002).]

For future reference, base coat color is just that...color. It's not intended to "build" the paint film. Except with extremely translucent colors, two coats should be enough with a third "fog" coat for metallics. Two wet coats of clear are standard for production type painting. When additional color sanding is anticipated for that "special" gloss, then a third or fourth coat of clear is appropriate.

The amount of orange peel you end up with after the paint has cured will determine the best grit of sandpaper to start with. Only the very slickest jobs with little or no dirt nibs would you start with 2000 grit unless you want to do a heckuva lot of rubbing with slow results. With moderate orange peel, you might want to start with 1200 grit first, then progress to the finer grits.

Since you are using 3M products, go with the polishing compound w/white wool pad, finesse-it w/black foam pad then final glazing compound with a clean foam pad. To ensure proper curing, don't do the polishing until after 6-7 days. Wax after 30-60 days. If you do the polishing sooner than that, you MAY see shrinkage in a few weeks.

Wait a minimum of 3 days in this weather for garage work. I personally wetsand with 1000. Being new to this you should use 1500 or higher. Wetsand with a rubber block. A little trick I do is put a 1/4" scotchbrite pad between the sandpaper and the rubber block for safety reasons. Sometimes you'll get a peice of hard dirt when sanding with the block that can make some nasty scratches to get out. The scotchbrite pad softens the blow for these and doesn't mar the finish up as bad. Stay off the edges.
I buff with 3M perfect it III with a white foam pad and I use a water bottle sprayer to periodically spray the pad with to keep the compound from loading up too much.
I then use 3M glaze for the correct color and buff with the 3M black pad while using the spray bottle method.
I've tried all the methods to think of when polishing to keep it at a minimum, and this is about as good and quick as it gets.
If you do this as much as I have you know how tiring it gets holding them damn buffers.
But if you do it enough using this method you'll learn how to get rid of the swirls without using the glaze/swirl remover.

P.S. I've used all the compounds out there.
The 3M #III that I mentioned is the easiest clean up I've found yet. almost all the others leave a residue.
And always use the softest cleaning towels you can find..
Wait at least 2 months before putting any kind of wax on .
Good luck.

RandyB. www.angelfire.com/ky2/mycars (http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/mycars)