To buff or not to buff?? That is the question.

[mcpp66]

Most thickness guages I believe measure the base and clearcoat. To get a better sense of what the clearcoat thickness is, you take a measurement in the door jamb and subtract it from the measurement elsewhere. The reason being that the clearcoat is thinnest in the door jams.
As per Minimum paint thickness specs - Professional Detailing Business Forums

Using this as my base then since the door jambs came in at around 50 mics and the panel was 100 mics then I have about 50 mics (or 2 mils) of clear. Going by that I should have enough to work with, but this just seems too inexact for me to feel comfortable removing paint. I'm just going to recommend ColorX to bring the shine back. I wish there were laws that stipulated that manufacturers have to put on a minimum amount of clear coat. How nice would that be.

[Mike Phillips]

I wish there were laws that stipulated that manufacturers have to put on a minimum amount of clear coat. How nice would that be.

Now you sound like me.

[mcpp66]

Now you sound like me.

Greatness follows greatness

[mcpp66]

What was the reading in mils?

Kind of relative but I've always used the mil measurement so that's my frame of reference.

Regardless, stick with your instincts, experience and common sense. Educate your customer and maybe just use a light cleaner/wax, even something like GPS

Mike, it's about 4 mils.......would you feel comfortable working on that or is that a little too thin in your experience? In my mind once you get around 100-120 mics that gets into my uncomfortable range. Do you guys think I'm being too nervous or do I have legitimate cause to be uncomfortable with this thickness?

[Rsurfer]

Have you worked on Honda's and Infiniti's?

I'm not sure there is such a thing as normal. In my experience factory paint jobs have always been at least 130 microns, this was the thinnest factory paint job I've ever measured.

[mcpp66]

Have you worked on Honda's and Infiniti's?

Can't say that I have. I've only been doing this on the side for a couple of years during some summer weekends. Are you telling me that Honda's and Infiniti's are thin as well? Let me ask you this, what's your comfort level with the aforementioned (overall) paint thickness? Like I said I'm used to seeing factory paint thickness anywhere between 130 and 180 mics (though it was only my Camaro that was that thick) so perhaps 100 isn't as thin as I'm thinking based on my own personal experience. What say you?

[Rsurfer]

GM has a good layer of clear and quite hard. Between 90-100 medium to light polishing, 100-120 light compounding, 130-180 wet sanding and polishing.

Can't say that I have. I've only been doing this on the side for a couple of years during some summer weekends. Are you telling me that Honda's and Infiniti's are thin as well? Let me ask you this, what's your comfort level with the aforementioned (overall) paint thickness? Like I said I'm used to seeing factory paint thickness anywhere between 130 and 180 mics (though it was only my Camaro that was that thick) so perhaps 100 isn't as thin as I'm thinking based on my own personal experience. What say you?

[mcpp66]

GM has a good layer of clear and quite hard. Between 90-100 medium to light polishing, 100-120 light compounding, 130-180 wet sanding and polishing.

Well, I was thinking I'd possibly be "gutsy" enough to use a PCXP with an orange Lake Country pad with some SwirlX and work my way down to a black pad with 85rd. Being that this is a daily driver that sits outside 24/7 and is parked near an industrial plant where there's fallout I'm hesitant to do that even though that's a pretty light process. But he's like me and wants the swirls gone so I'll attempt a little buffing, but not much. Thanks for the advice.

[mcpp66]

I might even start with SwirlX on a white Lake Country pad and see how that does instead of going with an orange pad. My experience has been mostly on GM vehicles so maybe that's why I'm used to thicker factory paint.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike, it's about 4 mils.......would you feel comfortable working on that or is that a little too thin in your experience? In my mind once you get around 100-120 mics that gets into my uncomfortable range. Do you guys think I'm being too nervous or do I have legitimate cause to be uncomfortable with this thickness?

Taking into consideration your measurements are for total film build, it's my opinion when you have paint that is the 4 mil range that's pretty thin paint. a 3M Post-it Note averages around 3 Mils, so hold a Post-it note between your fingers and you'll have a good feel for how thin your total film build is. I go over this on page 6 and 7 of my how-to book.

Well, I was thinking I'd possibly be "gutsy" enough to use a PCXP with an orange Lake Country pad with some SwirlX and work my way down to a black pad with 85rd.

That sounds pretty safe as SwirlX isn't very aggressive, make sure you're not getting micro-marring from the cutting pad and if you are maybe just switch over to a polishing pad and take what you get out of it.

Also see page two of this thread since it sits outside all the time...

Beginning Clearcoat Failure