Some of you may remember my car and paint job at the Invasion. It was the bright orange one with the hood up most of the time. For you that did not have the pleasure of seeing it, it looked pretty good, even if I do say so. However, it did have copious amounts of orange peel in the clear coat in some areas and in general, had a very glossy, "wet plastic" look about it. Soon after the paint dried, I decided I would have to color sand it. Spent the last two weeks doing so. here is the rundown for those that may be contemplating such an adventure.
First off, it requires no talent. Just the ability to withstand hours of boring sanding. This is what I did:
1. Sand with 800 grit. I would bet that this step accounted for 60% of the time and 80% of the work. 800 is the recommended starting grit, but with the amount of peel I had, I should have started with 600. The time spent sanding with subsequently finer grades is astonishingly less than the initial grit. Also, before you start, determine how much paint you are going to remove and why. I decided I would take it down to the point that only an occasional spot of original finish would be visible. That is a lot of work. After I was about half way through the initial sanding, I did a search and discovered that a very nice finish can be had by taking ti down to something like a 50% old surface.
2. Sand with 1500 grit. Sand only enough to remove the scratches left by the 800 grit. Essential step. I tried to skip from 800 to buffing compound and to be perfectly honest, I don't think it can be done. Well, you might spend a day or two buffing on one spot to make the point that it CAN be done.
3. Sand with 2000. Optional, but very highly recommended. It is not time or energy efficient to go from 1500 to buff. I know because I tried it.
4. Buff. I used a Sears 10" orbital buffer with terry bonnet. I got the buffer at at a flea market for 5 bucks. You can do a very good job by hand. Doing it by hand is more work and takes some more time, but probably not as much as you might guess. I used Turtle Wax buffing liquid and am very satisfied with the results and how quickly it worked.
Polish. Used a terry bonnet and Turtle Wax Polishing liquid. Once again, top drawer stuff, in my opinion.
Final Polish with artificial wool bonnet. Used the Turtle Wax polish that was used in the first polish.
Most of my sanding was done with a rubber sanding block, but I seem to prefer folding the sandpaper in two and using no block. Just seems to work faster and better for color sanding. Is a definite no-no for prep sanding. However, the paper is hard to keep from folding up in you hand and skin sometimes wears thin.
How does it look? Well, the orange peel is gone. So is the "wet look", but it is pretty shiny. There is some oily substance form the polishing compound left on the surface, so I really won't know until it is washed and I haul it out into the sun for a good look. That won't happen for some time.
Bill
First off, it requires no talent. Just the ability to withstand hours of boring sanding. This is what I did:
1. Sand with 800 grit. I would bet that this step accounted for 60% of the time and 80% of the work. 800 is the recommended starting grit, but with the amount of peel I had, I should have started with 600. The time spent sanding with subsequently finer grades is astonishingly less than the initial grit. Also, before you start, determine how much paint you are going to remove and why. I decided I would take it down to the point that only an occasional spot of original finish would be visible. That is a lot of work. After I was about half way through the initial sanding, I did a search and discovered that a very nice finish can be had by taking ti down to something like a 50% old surface.
2. Sand with 1500 grit. Sand only enough to remove the scratches left by the 800 grit. Essential step. I tried to skip from 800 to buffing compound and to be perfectly honest, I don't think it can be done. Well, you might spend a day or two buffing on one spot to make the point that it CAN be done.
3. Sand with 2000. Optional, but very highly recommended. It is not time or energy efficient to go from 1500 to buff. I know because I tried it.
4. Buff. I used a Sears 10" orbital buffer with terry bonnet. I got the buffer at at a flea market for 5 bucks. You can do a very good job by hand. Doing it by hand is more work and takes some more time, but probably not as much as you might guess. I used Turtle Wax buffing liquid and am very satisfied with the results and how quickly it worked.
Polish. Used a terry bonnet and Turtle Wax Polishing liquid. Once again, top drawer stuff, in my opinion.
Final Polish with artificial wool bonnet. Used the Turtle Wax polish that was used in the first polish.
Most of my sanding was done with a rubber sanding block, but I seem to prefer folding the sandpaper in two and using no block. Just seems to work faster and better for color sanding. Is a definite no-no for prep sanding. However, the paper is hard to keep from folding up in you hand and skin sometimes wears thin.
How does it look? Well, the orange peel is gone. So is the "wet look", but it is pretty shiny. There is some oily substance form the polishing compound left on the surface, so I really won't know until it is washed and I haul it out into the sun for a good look. That won't happen for some time.
Bill
