one week old FRESH black PPG paint - safe to use Meg's UC and UP?

[66gtk]

I just got my black car from the body shop. Perfect flat sanded/buffed paint, but swirls and marring from the crappy rotary buffing job the shop did.

Is it too soon to use Meguiars Ultimate Compound and/or Ultimate Polish? I got some bugs on the way home from the shop and used Ultimate QD to get them off. Is this also safe to use, or not?

[Evan.J]

I believe that both are body shop safe there fore they can be used on fresh paint. I would first start out with UP and see if that fixes your holograms (I'm assuming thats what the body shop did to your paint).

[cplchris]

wash it with nothing but a shampoo, (no wash and wax, no shampoo+conditioner), wait 1 month before you wax or seal it or correct it, and use extreme care when polishing it, i would use up or 205 on a white pad and see where that gets you before using compound or a cutting pad, do you have a da or are you working by hand?

[cplchris]

the only body shop safe stuff i would suggest is farecla (not sold on ag) or 3m's newer chemical cut compounds and polishes (also not sold here),

[Mike Phillips]

I just got my black car from the body shop. Perfect flat sanded/buffed paint, but swirls and marring from the crappy rotary buffing job the shop did.



Shocked! Shocked I am....

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/images/smilies/scared.gif




Is it too soon to use Meguiars Ultimate Compound and/or Ultimate Polish?

I got some bugs on the way home from the shop and used Ultimate QD to get them off. Is this also safe to use, or not?




UC and UP are not body shop safe.

How old is the paint? Like 3 days? 3 weeks?


What is it you're working on?


:)

[Mike Phillips]

What is it you're working on?


:)

By your forum nickname I'll guess a 1966 Mustang?


What do you have for tools to remove the swirls? Also what pads?


:)

[Evan.J]

Mike I was going form a list that Michael Stoops posted

On the list here he has that Ultimate compound is listed as safe unless I'm and reading wrong

Body Shop Safe or Not? (http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?39257-Body-Shop-Safe-or-Not)

Thoughts?

[cplchris]

Mike I was going form a list that Michael Stoops posted

On the list here he has that Ultimate compound is listed as safe unless I'm and reading wrong

Body Shop Safe or Not? (http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?39257-Body-Shop-Safe-or-Not)

Thoughts?

anything with fillers is not body shop safe regardless of what the manufacturer says.

[Evan.J]

Hmmmm upon some further reading I have seen they are not body shop safe Hmmm Goofy!

[Setec Astronomy]

Yeah, isn't there a difference between being "body shop safe" and "new paint safe"? Being body shop safe means that it has not silicones to cause fisheyes if a to-be-painted surface gets contaminated with the product.

New paint safe is something that won't seal the surface trapping residual solvents.

[sjb89]

I sand and buff PPG paint the next day after spraying it. I do this every day, no problems. Urethane paint is catalyzed (has a hardener ) so it should be fine. You can use products that aren't "Body Shop Safe " , as long as you are not buffing the car in or near a body and paint shop .

[66gtk]

UC and UP are not body shop safe.

How old is the paint? Like 3 days? 3 weeks?


What is it you're working on?


:)

Paint is 7 days old. The hood is fiberglass, the bumpers are plastic - the car is a 2006 Shelby GT-H. Car was painted earlier this year, but had the hood and front bumper redone last week due to rock damage.

I have UC and UP. I have white and yellow and orange pads. I have a Porter Cable Polisher. I also have sealant, but I won't use that until I give it a couple months to fully cure. Just want to make sure it's safe to use the Megs and if any extra care in technique is in order for fresh paint.

Thanks!

[Mike Phillips]

anything with fillers is not body shop safe regardless of what the manufacturer says.




Polishing oils fill and lots of body shop safe compounds and polishes use some type of body shop safe oil to lubricate and buffer the abrading action. Without these polishing oils the abrasives will tend to scour the paint.

Water based compounds and polishes doesn't automatically mean there's zero polishing oils in the product either.

I've been posting to forums as long as the software has been invented and all my my forum life I've always seen people describe the word fillers in a negative sense but they forget the big picture and the big picture is the reason any of us are polishing paint is to create beauty.

Unless I'm missing something? Who would spend time, energy and money to polish paint to have it look scoured, hologramed or swirled?

Polishing oils in either body shop safe products on consumer products lubricate the surface while the paint is being abraded and thus create beauty. As a side-effect of the lubricating aspect of the abrading process the oils "can" remain behind and fill.

That's not an evil plot on the part of the compound and polish manufacturers, it's just part of how things work.


But yeah... here we go with the word fillers again... :D


:dunno:

[Mike Phillips]

I sand and buff PPG paint the next day after spraying it. I do this every day, no problems.

Urethane paint is catalyzed (has a hardener ) so it should be fine. You can use products that aren't "Body Shop Safe " , as long as you are not buffing the car in or near a body and paint shop .





The above is actually correct in that catalyzed paint is fully cured within a window of about 24 hours or less. Thus using non-body shop safe compounds and polishes is not a "real" issue.

A person should not use non-body shop safe compounds and polishes in a fresh paint environment however as you risk contaminating the shop.


These types of topics have been coming up for decades and on my article list I have a number of carefully written articles that covers these topics in detail under the heading,

Articles on Car Paint

Here's one...

Fresh Paint - But you can touch it... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/28717-fresh-paint-but-you-can-touch.html)




:)

[Mike Phillips]

Paint is 7 days old. The hood is fiberglass, the bumpers are plastic - the car is a 2006 Shelby GT-H. Car was painted earlier this year, but had the hood and front bumper redone last week due to rock damage.



Very cool car...





I have UC and UP. I have white and yellow and orange pads. I have a Porter Cable Polisher.

Just want to make sure it's safe to use the Megs and if any extra care in technique is in order for fresh paint.

Thanks!



If it were me? I'd use them for the reasons stated above... the paint is already reached 99.9% of maximum full cure or full harden since it's been over a week and no compound or polish, body shop safe or not is going to have a negative affect.

As for technique?

If it were me I would start by doing a Test Spot. That is test out the pads and products in the order you're planning on using them over the entire panel or entire car and then check your results really well after the last polishing step to make sure you're getting the results you hope for and dream about with this car.

If all looks great, then proceed over the rest of the car or the hologramed panel(s).

If you see anything that doesn't look right, post back here what you're seeing and I'm confident others will chime in to help...





I also have sealant, but I won't use that until I give it a couple months to fully cure.




That's the norm. You'll always find guys on forum posting under anonymous nickname telling you it's safe to go ahead and "seal the paint" using a wax, sealant or coating but two things,

1: It's not their car or their paint investment.

2. There's not a single paint manufacturer that states or recommends sealing their paint system till at least 30 days have passed.


Yeah yeah yeah I know what some forum members will say,


"The paint is catalyzed and fully cured and so it's okay to go ahead and seal the paint regardless of what the company that actually makes the paint says"




So you can listen to the guy posting under a nickname on a forum or the paint manufacturer, it's your investment.

I always say to those that recommend sealing fresh paint immeadiatly....


What's the rush?


Also, I have a very in-depth article on this topic that really addresses any and all points of discussion...

Don't wax your car for at least 30 days! (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/26967-don-t-wax-your-car-least-30-days.html)


I have an older article from 2004 on MOL called,

Paint Needs to Breathe (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3704)


The article on the AGO forum is basically a re-write and update of the original.



So to the OP...

Go for it. Do your test spot with the UC and the UP and then inspect. It could be the UC is capable of removing the holograms with only the white polishing pad and it could also be the UP is capable of removing the holograms with the white pad.

When working on any paint and especially black paints, the goal is to always use the least aggressive product to get the job done and this doesn't just mean the liquids it also means the pads.

The reason why is using the least aggressive product LEAVES MORE PAINT ON THE CAR to last over the service life of the car and hold up best against UV rays from the sun.

But also using the least aggressive product is doing what I call working forward the process of creating beauty as more aggressive pads can leave haze. So if you can remove the defects with either or both less aggressive pads and products then do it.


Now how about a picture of this bad boy?


:)