Alright folks,I've painted my car myself,and like many others I was scared to death of the whole wetsanding/buffing process.Like,stay away from edges,be careful not to cut through the clear,and so on.I purchased this kit at the turkey run in Daytona this weekend,and I am totally pleased.I have never had a variable speed buffer in my hands before today.The vendor I got it from,had me sold.You only use 1 compound.Use the red foam pad for the initial wetsand scratches,and the black pad is the final polish pad.I only used 1500 grit,instead of the 1000 to 2000 method that most pros reccomend.In the pics,that buff job is only the first step,(red pad)I haven't gone back with the black(final polish)pad yet.Looks absolutely amazing to me.I know you can't see very well in the pics,but once I get the wheels and new speed sensor in the car,I will pull it outside,and get some better pics(of course after everythung is completely buffed out).Oh yeah,forgot,the kit was $85,notice that it uses no wool pad!The compound is called x3.You can find the compound at www.systemoneaps.com I am impressed with it,1 compound!?Not 2 or 3 like some other companies have,with extra steps.So far, I have about 1 hour in the work,and as I already said,I have never had a variable speed buffer in my hands before today.I was even buffing allover the edges that most say (don't do that!) You just don't want to get the machine moving too fast.I started at the min. speed,got the compound spread on a small(2ft.)area,and worked it in real good,then stepped up one speed at a time,not going over #3 on the buffer.All sanding scratches gone,and I can see myself in the finish like a mirror!I can't wait to get this thing finished!So everyone thats afraid of buffing out your car,I now say,don't be,it's a piece of cake!

 

nice to see that a fear was faced and good results to boot. Can't wait to see pics of it outside, or in better light.

 

I've been using a Dewalt electric buffer with a wool pad and foam pad. 1000 grit then 1500 paper depending on the areas. Also using a swirl remover which really seems to work great. I too painted my own car and it was on a hot day The clear didn't flow out well and ended up with bad orange peel.

In the booth still...


After a quick wetsanding and buffing on part of the panel. The spoiler has not been wetsanded or buffed, painted those parts on a cooler day and came out looking great on their own.

 

Wow,your car turned out very nice.Hoping mine does too.We must have painted on the same day,my clear looked exactly like yours LOL! Anyway,hope to get it finished up this weekend.I have absolutely no time during the week,its dark when I get home,and I obviously don't have sufficient lighting in my garage (for now anyway).I got the foam pad set because I have heard that its almost impossible to burn your paint with a foam one because they are so pourous,and don't generate as much heat.So that was a plus for my amatuer self.I also opted for the cheapo buffer,because I didn't plan on doing much buffing,and wasn't worried about how long it would last. Thanks for the input man,Tim

 

I learned on the wool pad so I'm not too worried and have never burned the paint. Have gone through with the sand paper though a couple times by mistake on edges. Using 3M products plus the Meguiar's #9 swirl remover. Thinking of getting a porter cable polisher to polish, wax and seal it up next month when the paint should be ready for it. There's a detailing guy on another site who has some awesome results with it and saves a ton of time. The dark color cars he does look like a mirror without any of those fine scratches you start to see after a while.

 

EvilCartman: That first pic is how my 86 looks...and its factory original paint. The orange peel in those earlier cars is crazy. First year for clearcoat so I guess they needed to work bugs out...?

Anyway...Im debating on whether or not I should try a little bit of wetsanding. I know the clear tends to be pretty thin on OE paint jobs. So Im hesitant. I have a porta-cable orbital buffer that I havent used yet. So I have the tools for the buffing part...

You cars look to be turning out pretty good guys! DIY paint is definetly intimidating. Prep is key, and taking your time makes the difference. The more time you spend prepping and making sure its right, the better it turns out.

J.

 

Cartman, those results are just amazing. Makes me feel that I could paint my car, too, if you can improve the smoothness that much.

I can also speak to the usefulness of the PC polisher for polishing and buffing. I bought one last spring, and love it.

 

This is the worst orange peel I've gotten so far in painting 15 cars It was 90 some degrees that day in a booth which pulls the hot air right in. The other parts that I did off the car were done in 60-65 degree weather and it came out so much better.

As far as doing this to a factory paint job, you might be able to knock it down a little bit but do an out of the way test area first if possible. I knew going into mine that I'd be wetsanding and buffing no matter what so plenty of clear went on.

 

its funny that you say that. i parked next to a newer style cavlier and noticed the orange peel was bad the other day. i dont know if it was just because it was yellow or if it was repainted at some time.

 

Have you tried the foam instead of the wool yet?Just wondering if anyone had any input on it other than me(amateur). Is there any proof that its easier to burn the paint with a wool pad than a foam one? The porous theory makes sense to me,for whatever thats worth.

 

I use both, the wool pad for the initial cut then switch off to the foam for the finer cut with a different compound. I'd imagine it would be easier to burn with the wool pad since it loads up and gets pretty hard while the foam stays nice and soft with fairly even pressure everywhere. Just have to watch what you're doing.

 

I am talking about the system that I purchased,using two different foam pads instead of wool then foam.Red foam pad for initial cut,and black for final.Have you tried?

 

I have the same buffer.Where did you get the pads?I have been wanting to get foam pads for a while now.If I can find the pads may have to try that compound myself.

 

I bought the buffer,the pads,the compund and the 1500 grit paper all at the same place. The turkey run in Daytona.

 

Nope, never seen the kit before.

 

OH Man,what a day!Paint still needs some work,but looking good to me!

 

looks great, but I feel stupid now, Im looking at the front of your car going, the headlights are alot darker then the rest of the car, then I realized there were none...

 

Looking good

 

yeah,headlights are not installed yet.I am unfortunately not able to install the taillights since BULL sold mine!JK BULL,I was a day late and a dollar short! seems to be my MO lately!Anyway,hopefully I can get some more finish work done on this car tomorrow!!
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thanks EVILcartman,! hows your car turning out?

 

hows your car coming along?The pics you showed at the beginning of this post looked very nice!
yeah you EVILCARTMAN!

 

No change on the car, too dang cold to wetsand I might do a little bit on the doors around the mirrors just so I can put those on and be legal to drive on the streets again. Not going to be fun feeding the wires back through the door.

 

not much progress today.I ended up swapping the headlight harness out of the 89 to the 91-92.(quite a chore) if I do say so myself.Did you know that in the 91-92 birds the windshield wipers wiring was part of the headlight harness?Anyway,no more work on the car until next weekend.I'll keep everyone updated.

 

Man,I didn't realize that it has been so long since I posted this.
Car is still unfinished,hopefully time will be on my side this weekend and get something accomplished.
Anyway,anyone interested take a look at my album and you'll kinda get an idea of what this car was and what it is now.

 

ok,here it is.

 

that's looking good. want to do my car when (or if) i move down there. getting real sick of this upstate ny weather.

 

It is pretty cold in NY
Gladly I live here in fl.
high today was around 63.
Too cold for me!

 

topped out at 15 here.just wondering when you said it was hot out when you got your orange peel paint. what would be the ideal temp to spray. I remember when I tried to paint my first fbody about 13-14 years ago I got the same affect but it was in the 90's that day if memory serves me correct

 

15?!! Now thats COLD!
I think it was like 90 in the barn when I sprayed my car.
I believe the ideal temp for single stage urethane is somewhere in the 65-75 degree zone with low humidity.

 

OK,I finally finished her today.Next task is the fourth gen styled stripe kit.

 

looks good, I think a different set of rims would make it look alot better, also your car is the first one I think would look good with the 4th gen mirrors.

 

Thanks Tmic87TPI
what wheel would you go with for this car?
I picked up the 17" centerlines for $300 and kinda like them.
BTW,I will not ever put 4th gen mirrors on my car.Just cuz I don't like the idea of drilling into the side posts in front of the windows to make them fit.

 

yeah, I don't blame you for not wanting to hack up your car just to do the 4th gen mirrors, just thought I'd throw the idea out there. as for the rims Im not sure, rims really are a matter of opinion so if you like the ones you have I'd stick with em.

 

Thanks. BTW,I just scrolled through your car domain pics and gotta give you big time props!
Its not everyday you see a young person like yourself taking such a big interest in the automotive body field.Stick to it if you enjoy it.
And I don't know why but for some reason I absolutely LOVE your hood!LOL

 

haha I love that hood too, are you going to put the "ram air" decals on the side of your hood scoops? and thanks, I've put alot of work into my car, it should all be worth it once I can legally drive lol

 

yep,ramair decals are currently lying on the desk awaiting their new home.

 

Hey Timmys89gta, I bought the polish/sander that you got. How did it work fine for you and also what size bottle of X3 did you get and would it be enough for 3 to 4 cars. ALSO those pads did you get them for X3 also or from somewhere else. thanks

 

sooooo you guys are saying that you buffed/sanded the orange peel out ?

we had trouble with orange peel on the 85 elky when we painted it recently, and we had to sand down the car completely and reshoot it, twice.
actually, i shouldnt say we, as i didnt have anything do with the paint prep or painting processes, i was in charge of and did the engine, body panels and glass setting(the easy stuff to me)


this was during the 90s degree high humidity temps before winter hit a few months back

the third time painting it finally turned out pretty ok, well after it cooled off outside down to the 40s or lower
(humidity lowered a bit)

what a pain..

 

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site went down when i was trying to post this..

 

I bought 1 qt. bottle and have very little left.
If you have more cars to do I would recomend buying at least 2 bottles of the polish.
Sorry but I don't have a link for the foam pads righ now.