I'm in the process of attempting to pain my 86 iroc and I can't get the new paint to shine for nothing. I've paint many of the ground effect parts with no success. I've resanded and repainted too many times thinking it might be the paint. I can get the paint to look beautiful before I wetsand with just the smallest bit of orange peel here and there, but after I wetsand it never looks nearly as shiny and clear as it does before. After the paint dries I wetsand with 1500 and then 2000. After that I've tried polishing with both 3m rubbing compound and maguiar's polish but the best I get is a dull look with a decent reflection. I painted my gas cap last night just as a test so I'll attach a pic as an example. If anyone could help me get anywhere's near even a new car shine I'd appreciate it greatly. Thank you.

 

What kind of buffing pad are you using? Better yet.. What kind of buffer are you using?

I used all 3M stuff on my IROC and this is how it turned out..



BTW the mequires stuff I was trying out.. Don't care for it too much.

Kat

 

I bought some cheap buffer from wal mart, says its a 1400rpm, but its crappy. It didnt seem to do a thing so I did the job in the pics by hand. I know it has something to do with the buffing because I've never buffed in any way shape or form before.

 

It is one of the orbtial ones I assume?

If so they won't help ya at all. Ya need to go to a local auto body shop and get yourself one of the right angle buffers.. A cheap one will work... About 170 bucks. LOL Yeah expensive to buy, but once ya learn how to buff out cars you can make your money back by doing neighbours cars. Then get the 3m buffing wheel adapter and then a wool 3m cutting pad and use this with the 3m fine cut... Take your time with this step It is what gets rid of all of the straches in the paint. Then move on to some swirl remover with a foam polishing pad. Then move on to some 3m wax and/or hand glaze.

Kat

 

Theres what I started out with to cut the sanding marks out.



Like I said dont mind the mequiars.. I was trying it out. lol The 3M stuff is soooo much better. That is the foam polishing pad.

Kat

 

I am a dumbass. I just tried my crappy buffer and this is what it did.





I can't wait to get this car done. Thank you for the help everyone.

BTW, yeh I plan on buying a REAL buffer when it comes time to do the entire car, atleast I know Im not doing anything wrong now. Thans again.

 

Even still that isnt that bad man..

Kat

 

not to be of topic or anything but did ya notice "the bird" in Kat's picture? :lala:

 

Whenever I am taking a pic like that... Always look for the finger.

Kat

 

I'm sorry, I wasnt very clear that last post now that I read it. I meant I was very happy at how the crappy buffer cleared it up and I was a dumbass for not using it earlier.

 

Aaaahh gotcha

Kat

 

hahah omg thats the greatest reflection picture i've ever seen. At first I was like wo it looks almost chrome, not scrolling sideways to see the whole picture. And then wham, hes thrown a bird up, great pic man!