Can I polish by hand or is that stupid?

[Kush X King]

As of right now i dont have a buffer im working on getting one from a friend possibly tomorrow maybe the next day. Is it possible to get great results by hand without killing yourself?

Also i have some weird looking water marks after i washed the car. And im seeing alot more scratches now. =(
The water marks have a blueish tint are in little groups and dont come off. What happened?

thanks guys

[RaskyR1]

This should answer your question... :D


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/20257-man-versus-machine.html

[Kush X King]

This should answer your question... :D


http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/20257-man-versus-machine.html

Thanks man. I gotta get my hands on a machine, i hope it can really do this :buffing: looks like fun

[Kush X King]

One more thing. Can i polish over polish? Cause if i do it by hand now and get my hands on a buffer ill wanna redo it.

[ScottB]

you can repolish several times as desired. Always remember to use the least abrasive paste and pads and only move more aggressive on as needed.

[Gary Sword]

Personally I have trouble moving my hand over 1,000 RPM's so I use a polisher.
:buffing:
If you have superman hands there's no need for a polisher. :props:

[Mike Phillips]

Also i have some weird looking water marks after i washed the car. And im seeing alot more scratches now. =(
The water marks have a blueish tint are in little groups and dont come off. What happened?


A little more information...

What are you working on?


New car?
Old car?
Original factory paint?
Repaint?
Water spots are either Type I or Type II


If they are Type I then normal washing followed by claying should remove most of the deposits.

If they are Type II then you'll have to level the surface by removing paint surround the spots.

See this thread,

What it means to remove swirls, scratches and water spots out of automotive clear coats (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/faq/19986-what-means-remove-swirls-scratches-water-spots-out-automotive-clear-coats.html)



:)

[Kush X King]

A little more information...

What are you working on?

New car?
Old car?
Original factory paint?
Repaint?Water spots are either Type I or Type II


If they are Type I then normal washing followed by claying should remove most of the deposits.

If they are Type II then you'll have to level the surface by removing paint surround the spots.

See this thread,

What it means to remove swirls, scratches and water spots out of automotive clear coats (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/faq/19986-what-means-remove-swirls-scratches-water-spots-out-automotive-clear-coats.html)



:)

e46 and e39 bimmers mostly. Ive got a black 5 series right now with a ton of scratches.

[Mike Phillips]

So you want to do something like this?


Before

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_before1.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600tapedoff1b.jpg


Half and Half
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwbeforeandafter.jpg


After
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside11.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside2.jpg



On the cover of a bottle
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/SwirlX.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg


You really want to get a machine...


:)

[BlackSunshine01]

wow how was that bmw done?

[Mike Phillips]

wow how was that bmw done?


This was actually an extreme makeover that included removing RIDS using a technique I call feathersanding.

Other guys before me may have done this, hard to tell the Internet wasn't around till the mid-1990's but I'm probably the first guy to document it.

Know one ever showed me how to do this, I just used common sense and figured it out on my own with the idea being to only remove paint surrounding the RIDS, not using the Bubba method of compounding and compounding the entire hood, or sanding and then compounding the entire hood.

I prepped this BMW for the 2002 Bimmerfest as a project I just came up with just for fun. I was still the new guy from Oregon at Meguiar's at that time. Now I'm the new guy from California at Autogeek. There's still threads about it on the Bimmerfest forums that date back to 2002

Here's one thread on MOL where I go over much of the technique.

Feathersanding (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3720)

Quote:
Originally posted by red vette
thanks Mike,
My mistake,yes I have been using scratch X for awhile now on all my vehicles,not having any luck though removing a couple light scratches,cannot be felt with finger nail,but repeated tries with scratchX still has not removed them,any idea's?

Johnhttp://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif
Hi John,


If repeated applications of ScratchX is not removing the scratches in your finish, this tell me two things,

Your paint is very hard.
It will require a machine applied Professional Line product to remove the scratches.

The way I usually remove is with an advanced technique that I call Feathersanding, which requires the use of Meguiar's Unigrit Finishing Papers (http://www.meguiars.com/store_meguiars/product_detail.cfm?parentURL=index_pro.cfm&sku=S-) and a rotary buffer.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/554unigritsmall1.jpg

Experience helps a little too! Below are some pictures from a Side-by-side, before & after demonstration I did for the 2002 Bimmerfest in Santa Barbara. First I used a rotary buffer to buff out one half of the car and remove all of the light scratches. Next, I took little postage size stamps of Nikken Finishing Paper and sanded each individual scratch till it had been removed. Next, I used a compound to remove my sanding marks. The results were a scratch-free flawless finish on a 1991 e34 BMW M5.

How To Remove Random Isolated Deeper Scratches using the Feather Sanding Technique

Before

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_before1.jpg

I compounded the entire finish before starting the below process to remove the shallow scratches and expose the deep scratches.


Process

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600tapedoff1b.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_nikkensandpaperpieces.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600feathersandingrightside-med.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_feathersandingcloseup1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600testing84compound-med.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwbeforeandafter.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_feathersanding1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside11.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside2.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2BimmerFestBooth1a-med.jpg

Random, Isolated, Deeper Scratches, (RIDS), can be removed, but it is an advanced technique that takes skill, patience and the right products to accomplish successfully. (A little luck helps too!)

Do you own a rotary buffer and do you know how to use it?



There's a bunch of threads on it each with more or less information and each with more or less pictures. Just do a search on MOL using the words Bimmerfest or feathersanding. Sometimes I think I spell feathersanding with a hyphen like this, feather-sanding, I'm not sure as I made up the word to describe the technique.

The original thread was hosted on the ShowCarGarage.com forum before MOL existed. Sorry to say the original vBulletin ShowCarGarage forum is now cyber dust.


The picture was used for SwirlX as a 'picture type' of what SwirlX can do, i.e. remove light swirls. I'm not sure it cold have actually worked for the initial cut on the hood which I did with M84 Power Cut Compound with a W-7008 Foam Cutting pad using a rotary buffer. The picture is just to get across to Joe Consumer what the product is used for.

I did the first side of the hood and then put the car on display at the 2002 Bimmerfest. Then after the Bimmerfest I did the passenger side of the hood.

Both sides took about 12 hours of some very careful work as this was the original clear coat finish on this 1991 e34 BMW M5. Keep in mind when I did this work on this car's paint, it was already 11 years old.


I would like to do another one for the Autogeek forum but I need a black car in really bad shape like this BMW was in and the owner has to pledge to take care of it after the work is done or it will just be for nothing.

Any takers?

Over the years I've received a lot of e-mails from around the world asking me how I did this? :laughing:




:)

[BlackSunshine01]

id volunteer my black stang but the effort would be a waste i have quite a few panels that need to be repainted and plastic panlels that need to be replaced and repainted. the worst one imo is where someone decided to throw a bottle at my door one night. booooo i was pissed.

[Mike Phillips]

***Bump***

Just for a second...

he he....