Scared to cut and buff my paint

[casperfast]

So when I bought the current chassis it came with fresh paint on it. The paint was done very well the entire car was disassembled and stripped prior to the paint job. He painted it with a diomond base and emerald clear. The car to this day has still never been waxed cut buff polish or anything at all other than being rinsed off with a hose. I would like some insight from guys who have done custom paint jobs on their cars as to what they would recommend I do. I am NOT a paint and body guy so this is not my area of expertise. But I took the car to a body shop and they would not touch it because they could not match the paint if they tried. Thank you.

 

[casperfast]

There is a decent blue pearl flake that only is visible in sunlight.

 

[91-GS]

Paint looks really good so all you need to do is to wax her. Buffing/polishing is only useful to do when the clear coat gets damaged (sun or physical damage) to remove the defects. Usually it's pretty easy to see when a car really needs buffing. If you are not sure you can experiment on a small spot somewhere not too obvious and see what works best.

 

[96dsmftw]

Go get some liquid clear wax. It will come in a spray bottle and will be clear (Turtlewax is one I know of). Just mist it on and take a microfiber cloth and rub it until it soaks in/evaporates away. Its super easy, quick, and doesn't leave the white left in the cracks. Your paint looks really good so you really just need a surface/light wax, nothing that really cuts into the clear. Youtube is a great place to learn about stuff like this. Ive spent my fair share of time on there for this too.

 

[jakelandry]

I did paint and body for years. It's perfectly safe to cut and buff it. If it has at least 2 decent coats of clear you won't tear through the clear and you'll be fine. Since you're not terribly experienced just get some 1500, keep it wet, and sand away. Make sure you wash the whole car real good after sanding it and follow up with a solid compound and finish with polish. Your clear does have some orange peel and would benefit from a good buff.

Go through my pictures. My grey car has been cut and buffed and you'll see the difference in reflection off the clear.

 

[wishihadatalon]

If you're worried about buffing the paint, you should look at a dual action buffer (porter cable 7424xp is a good one). If the paint has a ton of orange peel, then you may want to wet sand it, otherwise just look at a good cutting pad and compound and a final finishing pad and compound. After its all polished out, just get a good wax or sealant to protect the paint.

 

[bastarddsm]

Why do you want to cut and buff it? The paint will stay nicer longer and have a better image if you don't sand and buff it.

Don't believe me, look at some black bc/cc that has been cut and buffed vs not touched. The cut and buffed will look grey.

If you feel the need to, find some old timer to help you out. It's not hard, but you can f*** it up if your not careful.

 

[casperfast]

I did paint and body for years. It's perfectly safe to cut and buff it. If it has at least 2 decent coats of clear you won't tear through the clear and you'll be fine. Since you're not terribly experienced just get some 1500, keep it wet, and sand away. Make sure you wash the whole car real good after sanding it and follow up with a solid compound and finish with polish. Your clear does have some orange peel and would benefit from a good buff.

Go through my pictures. My grey car has been cut and buffed and you'll see the difference in reflection off the clear.

see this is what i mean by, NO F-ING CLUE WHAT IM DOING, you started saying compounds and stuff and lost me. im not an idiot, i know what wet sanding and polishing is with a dual polisher and cutting. ive just never done it. and bastarddsm, are you saying it will look beter if i just wax it as it is? i see slight orange peel, nothing like a brand new car on the lot (they look like crap these days) but its there.

 

[turtlebain]

Why do you want to cut and buff it? The paint will stay nicer longer and have a better image if you don't sand and buff it.

Don't believe me, look at some black bc/cc that has been cut and buffed vs not touched. The cut and buffed will look grey.

Well that's not true, but maybe if you don't buff until all the sanding marks are out you'll have duller paint as a result.

OP, the only reason you'd want to sand is if you have bad orange peel, or have medium scratches.

The only reason to buff is to get rid of faint scratches and swirl marks. BUT before you buff anything clean it , and clay bar the surface, of you will be adding the swirls back in.

A dual action will definitely help you prevent burn through, I'd strongly recommend it. And you can save some money if you go with the HF edition, it's pretty good quality, and can be picked up around $50. I have one..

I've been detailing for about 3 years and now doing it professionally. Doing a whole car is a lot of work. But if you're spot touching, it's not, and the results are astounding sometimes. Hardest part is knowing when to stop, but you should not have any issues with a 1500-2000 grit, dual action approach.

 

[bastarddsm]

I've seen tons of things that were not buffed that kept the DOI much longer than cut and buffed stuff.

 

[turtlebain]

Just so you know here's an example of a Honda I did recently with *just* buffing (no sanding). These scratches were clearly visible in any light. And I left the one fine scratch, but that is where I stopped and told the owner to get it perfect
they would need to repaint the trunk. This was done using a rotary attachment for a corded variable speed drill.

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[turtlebain]

I've seen tons of things that were not buffed that kept the DOI much longer than cut and buffed stuff.

What's DOI? Cutting and buffing does not affect the paint's ability to withstand abuse, or weather in any way. The things that do affect it are not using any wax or sealant over a buffed surface. There are sealants that will last a very long time and effectively add a protective shell to your car.

What people see all the time is someone that sands down and buffs their headlights.. They will look great until they oxidize fast. That's where the common misconception comes from. It's not the cutting and buffing that's making it tarnish, it's the removal of the factory UV protective coating, AND not reapplying a new. Reapply correctly, and you will not see this.

That being said the clear coat on your vehicle IS the UV protection, but you still want to wax / seal that to protect your clear from scratching.

 

[jakelandry]

If you buff right and get things the right temperature and actually use the right products ypu cut the clear down flat and essentially scratch it smooth. If you buff it correctly you should be able to degrease your work and it still look the same. If you can degrease it and it brings your sand marks back out you just coated it in slicked over compound instead of actually cut it smooth.

 

[turtlebain]

Yep, "grease" or wax / sealant will fill the gaps causing it to look better temporarily, but once washed, or just worn off the scratches will definitely be back.

 

[darknezz7]

dont be scared man, you wont learn anything that way

look what I did today

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Thats just the primer.

This is my first time ever painting a car with semi professional stuff, last time we spray canned it and it looked great but didn't hold up.

turtlebain sounds like he knows what hes talkin about

I've always used clay bar and carnauba wax on the bmw's, really makes em shine and still an almost perfect 20yr old clear coat

 

[turtlebain]

dont be scared man, you wont learn anything that way

look what I did today

Thats just the primer.

This is my first time ever painting a car with semi professional stuff, last time we spray canned it and it looked great but didn't hold up.

turtlebain sounds like he knows what hes talkin about

That looks frickin awesome what did you do for surface prep? I just did my bay in wrinkle black VHT style, I got the idea from watching Jay Leno's garage and seeing this guy's Blue Datsun 510 with "GM Spider Paint" in the engine bay and looked great. I hope mine holds up..

And thanks!

 

[darknezz7]

The VHT is holding up good to chemicals on the engine, if it looks better to you its better period.

washed with purple power, Sandblasted engine bay, blow all the sand away, washed with purple power, air and towel dry, shopline wax and degreaser, epoxy primer

the sandblasting was not done today, that took days on its own, mostly to give compressor breaks and it being 100 degrees

Just saw OP is in salem, hello fellow Oregonian

 

[turtlebain]

Yeah... about that. I need a sand blaster. For the most part I love everything I've done in VHT except my turbine housing, exhaust manifold, and O2 sensor which are flaking due to the high heat and yes I degreased and primed. Primer still sticks. It's weird :-/

But back to the OP don't be afraid to do it, everything we've said before and do a small test section first, stay away from edges.

 

[DSMattitude]

Im not as well versed in paint and body as some of the others, but my advice is use an actual buffer, not just a buffer pad on an angle grinder. Way too much speed and you can make a big mess.

 

[casperfast]

ok, so im seeing alot of great and experienced information here, but not the exact answer im looking for. should i wet sand (cut) my car BY HAND, and should i polish with a dual action polisher and compounds, (and what compounds?)

 

[turtlebain]

Depends, what is the issue in the paint you're trying to correct? I saw some swirl marks in the first pic, is that it? You wouldn't want to buff for no reason. Use the method of least aggressiveness.

 

[casperfast]

like in my op, i want the paint as good as possible, it is UNTOUCHED never waxed paint that i want it as perfect as possible and then wax/ seal. the car almost never gets driven other than a cruise or at the track.

 

[turtlebain]

Not sure on the softness of the clear, so what I would do (on a test spot first, after cleaning and clay bar) is get a medium hard pad and polish of your choice. see if that brings out the swirls and gives you the result you're looking for. Doesn't sound like you need to sand at all. If that doesn't work you can compound (harsher polish), then you will have to follow it up with polish to make it perfect. Once you have that you can seal / wax. Repeat on each panel.

 

[turtlebain]

Also different pressure on the tool and different speeds are going to affect the amount of heat and therefore the amount of work you're doing on the paint. Trick is to experiment and get your process down. There's no one answer to this. Keep in mind your process WILL be different on plastic panels vs steel. Steel has properties that transfer heat, plastic doesn't. Use less speed, less pressure, less harsh polish and pads on the plastic. Again, experiment until you get something that works starting with least aggressive.

 

[casperfast]

there aren't any swirl marks, the car is dusty, it hasn't been sanded or waxed or anything after the final paint and clears.