Time to cut and buff my new paint! Product suggestions?

[charliekwin]

I've finished with painting (single stage urethane), and now ready to undo all my screwups.

There's some dust and other floaty bits that got into the paint that I want to get out, and a few areas where the paint didn't flow well where I sprayed a little too fast. There's some orange peel I'd like to try and minimize as well, but I don't expect to get it all out. I'm not aiming for a show car finish, but a 10 or 5-footer -- I hope! -- is within reach.

So, what products do you guys like? What grits/papers/blocks for wet sanding? Which pads and compounds for polishing?

[Patcon]

I used 1500 then 2000 wet. Soak in a bucket of warm water with a little bit of dish soap in it. I used a hard foam block designed for sanding (it's blue on one side black on the other) and just wrapped the paper around it. I have a Makita digital VS buffer that I used for cut and buff. Pads are sold specifically for cut and buff. They are color coded for which ever activity. IIRC the black pads are cut and the white pads are buff. I used 2 liquid products I got from my local Finish master. I believe it is their in house product. Didn't have any real issues but it's a little nerve racking to take sand paper to fresh paint.

[charliekwin]

Thanks Charles. The sanding part seems relatively straightforward. It's the options for compounding and finishing that are leaving me somewhat befuddled. By my count, Meguiar's alone has like 9 different cutting compounds and 6 polishes. Then there's foam discs and microfiber discs (and apparently Meguiar's has special polishes and compounds for the microfiber discs, too!). With that many options, it makes me think of this gag from the Simpsons:

But still, I'd hate to somehow end up with the wrong one!

[Patcon]

I love Meguiars products but I find the assortment of options confusing and their website doesn't help to determine which product is best for what or why.

I found what I used Smart by Puris 2 stage product. It was really easy to do. I found the wet sanding to be the more difficult part.

http://www.finishmaster.com/products/smart-by-puris-a1-pure-compound-1-gallon

When you buff, buff away from edges, never into them. If there is a body detail that might burn or cut, you can run a tape line down it when you use the cut compound and only use buff compound on it. Don't overheat your buffer pad or add a lot of down pressure on the buffer. The machine should be heavy enough to do the work. It slings everywhere so tape up rubber and windows if necessary.

[charliekwin]

27 minutes ago, Patcon said:

I love Meguiars products but I find the assortment of options confusing and their website doesn't help to determine which product is best for what or why.

YES! I keep going back, thinking it'll make sense, but...nope. At least I've determined that I shouldn't go with their microfiber system (it's designed with harder OEM paints in mind), so that helps narrow things down. Fortunately, I also have a Finishmaster here in town, so I'll check them out.

Like painting, YouTube's been a great resource for techniques and tips like buff away from edges, but it's mostly useless for product information. that isn't just companies hawking their wares.

[240Ziggy]

I used the Meguire's Mirror Glaze 1, 2 and 3. Fairly economical with good results.

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