What's the differance between rubbing compound and wetsanding? Also, is POLISHING compound just a milder rubbing compound? Can I still do any of these to me car even though I don't have a new paint job? Will it take off the clear coat etc. Just fill me in on this stuff.

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1984 Firebird SE
1985 Camaro z28 305 engine T-5 Five Speed Tranny, 92 Camaro Leather Seats Console, carpet everything. Soon to put in 700R4 and 427CI. (Hopefully.
To view my car go to:

http://geocities.com/jmboriss/bluecar.html

 

Wet sanding you will have to buff afterwards, but if done correctly & with enough clear caot you can have a mirror like finish.

When you say "Rubbing Compund" I can only think you would be referring to polish. whic you would more than likely use AFTER you wetsand. OR you can use a rubbing compund to polish your existing finish.

Wetsanding then polishing the surface will give you more of a show car finish. If you have Oxidation, it may be necessary to repaint your car in order to get a great shine. Without looking at your car in person this is hard to detrmine, if not impossible.

When you do anything like this you will always run the risk of going through the clear coat, especially on edges... To explain... When you have fine scratches in a paintjob, or in just about anything for that matter, that make the paint dull, to get the scratches out you have to go down to or below the scratches deepest point.

<img border="0" src="http://www.usol.com/~okfoz/images/paint/paintscratches.jpg" width="667" height="115">

As you can see here a scratch of #1 will eventually begin to rust, and would need to be primed, color coated & clear coated in order to fix.

#2 may begin to rust, because primer is porus & might begin to rust after some time..

#3 is only into the color coat and would need to be clear coated & then wet sanded to get the scratch gone.

#4 is most scratches & is only superficial, you could wetsand & polish to remove, if fine enough ou might get away with just polishing.

Old paint that is hazy may have a couple of contributing factors:
1) could be from fine scratches like #4, if this is the case then a good polish will remove most of the hazieness.
2) if the paint has oxidized, then you might be able to polish out the oxidation, BUT because of the age of the paint, it is more than likely to come back after a short time. In effect, the paint is beginning to break down & deteriorate from the UV rays.

I hope this is a help.

John

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87 Formula 5.1 TPI Auto Modified (Yellow/Black)

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14.8sec 1967 Buick Riviera
1990 Buick Riviera (driver)
83 Camaro
83 T/A

 

rubbing and polishing compound are two different things... and 1984Firebord502, you had it correct, polishing compound is just simply a milder abrasive than rubbing compound.

 

Your right, they are similar... I had a brain fart earlier... Still, if you use rubbing compund, then you might still have to use polishing compound.

It still depends on the severity of your scratches...

John

 

Thanks. So if I got a macco or Earl Shieb paint job, should I get 2 layers of clear coat? Then after all the paint has set for a couple days wetsand? Or would it be better to do the rubbing compound deal? Thanks.

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1984 Firebird SE
1985 Camaro z28 305 engine T-5 Five Speed Tranny, 92 Camaro Leather Seats Console, carpet everything. Soon to put in 700R4 and 427CI. (Hopefully.
To view my car go to:

http://geocities.com/jmboriss/bluecar.html