LIVE BROADCAST - Tuesday, May 5th at 3:00pm Eastern Time - Tips & Techniques

[Mike Phillips]

LIVE BROADCAST - Tuesday, May 5th at 3:00pm Eastern Time - Tips & Techniques



LIVE BROADCAST

TUESDAY May 5th at 3:00pm Eastern Time

Tech Session with Questions & Answers






I will be going LIVE over on the Autogeek Facebook page on Tuesday, May 5th at 3:00pm Eastern Time.

I will be talking detailing techniques and tips to help you improve your detailing skills and Yancy Martinez will be taking questions from you to be asked live.

This is going to be packed with great insights to help you out.

Be sure to tune in!


Got something that you want answered? Post your question below in the comments.


Click this link to watch or ask questions

[Mike Phillips]

For this Live Broadcast we're going to share tips and techniques for how to machine damp sand using the Scuff & Buff Technique on this 1937 Ford Woody.


How-to Wetsand using the Scuff and Buff Technique - 1937 Ford Woody







The bumpy looking paint that surrounds the perimeter of the overhead florescent lights is Orange Peel.

[Mike Phillips]

More....

These pictures show the orange peel better. It's because the sanding discs on the paint make it easier for the camera to focus and capture the surface of the paint versus just taking a picture of the paint.






Here you can easily see what orange peel looks like.







This will be a Live Broadcast on Tuesday, April 28th on the Autogeek Facebook page. If you're on Facebook you can ask questions in real-time as I demonstrate the process.

Autogeek Facebook Page






Later, it will be posted to our YouTube Channel.

Autogeek YouTube Channel

[Mike Phillips]

More....


If you have questions about wetsanding or anything related, if you post them here.

Yancy will read the questions and I'll answer them during the broadcast.


And if you want, try to stump me.

[Dr Oldz]

I have been sanding paint since I was 12. It is an art form and must not be rushed. I also am fascinated by it for some reason. I’m looking forward to this video as you never too old to learn new/different techniques. Cool project and thanks for doing these broadcast.


I wish AG carried the 3M 1.25 or 1.33 inch sanding daisies in different grits. They work great on the PiXiE for small areas. Also wish someone made a one inch foam interface. I made my own from a 3 inch interface.

[Mike Phillips]

I have been sanding paint since I was 12. It is an art form and must not be rushed.

Totally agree.

I wish AG carried the 3M 1.25 or 1.33 inch sanding daisies in different grits. They work great on the PiXiE for small areas.

Also wish someone made a one inch foam interface. I made my own from a 3 inch interface.

Copy that. I turn a sanding disc over and use a backing plate for the size disc I want and then draw as many circles as I can fit and then start cutting. I think cutting the Mirk Abralon discs wastes my scissors.


The reason we don't carry lots of sanding options is because they don't sell a lot. And the reason they don't sell a lot is because most people don't wetsand thier cars and most people should NOT be wetsanding their cars due to how thin factory OEM paint is. It's a recipe for disaster.

For custom paint however, it's a lot safer but you still have to be careful. This car has a custom paint job and later after it was restored the hood was repainted. When it came to me the finish quality on the hood looked horrible. Because I didn't know anything about the painter and the paint job - I played it very safe and only used #5000 grit on it. And - No problems.

Review: Wolfgang Si02 Paint Sealant








I'll treat this 1937 Ford even more careful because it's single stage metallic. I actually don't like sanding on single stage metallic and told this to the owner of this car. But he's been so happy with the other cars we've done the Scuff & Buff too that he said go for it.


I'm going out to the garage right now to do a prep wash on the car and then I'll start sanding everything but the hood. We'll save that for the Live Broadcast. I'm not going to buff out my sanding marks though, I want Yancy to capture all the sanded panels first.

[Aaryn NZ]

I'll treat this 1937 Ford even more careful because it's single stage metallic.

Interesting ...

Given that I’m assuming this sweet 37 is a recent build - is there a reason this was painted with single stage metallic Mike?

I’m going to do my best to tune in for this one but as I do have a couple of questions, I’ll post those questions in the likely hood that I won’t be able to join in to the live broadcast. Either way, I look forward to viewing.


Aaryn NZ.

[Aaryn NZ]

I have a couple of questions Mike.

I actually stole this text from what I posted over on this thread - How to machine damp sand - remove orange peel & paint mottling - 3M Trizact - Griot's G9


What foam interface is that you’re using with the 5 inch disks? Do you have a “go to” foam interface or do you keep it “synergistic” within he same brand?

Given the normal rule of thumb - “you get what you pay for” obviously the higher quality sanding disks will essentially be more expensive, what size area is deemed to be the life span of of said disk?

I see all too often, vehicles from body shops come into the shop sporting pigtails. Now I know for the most part a lot of issues conceived in a bodyshop are derived from laziness or carelessness or a combination of the two but clearly some pigtails are considerably deeper than the ones that HAVE been removed - is there a consistent reason for this Mike? Is it contamination of the disk or surface (particles on or between the two surfaces) that were inflicted in the finishing stages & laziness deemed it “too hard” to return to previous steps to remove?

Or is it a sign of a poor quality choice of materials?

Technique?

We had a “high profile” guest who held a class down here at the NZ Detailing Conference last year & this was much of what made up his “class” & he mentioned the compatibility of hook & loop differences can also play a part in poor results - example - too stout of a hook can ... ahh, not sure how to describe it but “transfer” “imprint” through the disk if that makes sense?

Aside from all my questions, it appears sanding is becoming more & more a part of mainstream detailing. I think to a degree this is acceptable within the finer abrasives but what I’m seeing down here in NZ is a trend has started where so many shops are hitting every vehicle with 3000 as there first step. Pretty frightening stuff in my opinion but unfortunately parts of this subject weren’t correctly explained during that class & now most see it as gospel because this person is “high profile”.


Aaryn NZ.

[Mike Phillips]

I have a couple of questions Mike.

I actually stole this text from what I posted over on this thread - How to machine damp sand - remove orange peel & paint mottling - 3M Trizact - Griot's G9


What foam interface is that you’re using with the 5 inch disks? Do you have a “go to” foam interface or do you keep it “synergistic” within he same brand?

I have some 5" Griot's INTERFLEX pads, they sell these as a part of the BOSS system.

I also have 2 other 5" interface pads, I think some are from RUPES from years ago and the others may be 3M branded.


Most companies that offer sanding discs also offer interface pads. I have thick and thin interface pads from different companies. If I want to be SUPER careful I use the thick interface pads, sometimes two of them. If a more aggressive cutting action desired then I use the thin interface pads.

Good question.

Given the normal rule of thumb - “you get what you pay for” obviously the higher quality sanding disks will essentially be more expensive, what size area is deemed to be the life span of of said disk?

I hate that question. Everyone always asks,

How long does the sanding disc last?


And of course, everyone wants the sanding disc to last forever. :wink:


The answer is, how long a sanding disc lasts depends on the paint hardness and user technique.

I see all too often, vehicles from body shops come into the shop sporting pigtails. Now I know for the most part a lot of issues conceived in a bodyshop are derived from laziness or carelessness or a combination of the two but clearly some pigtails are considerably deeper than the ones that HAVE been removed - is there a consistent reason for this Mike?

Is it contamination of the disk or surface (particles on or between the two surfaces) that were inflicted in the finishing stages & laziness deemed it “too hard” to return to previous steps to remove?

Or is it a sign of a poor quality choice of materials?

Technique?

The answer is all of the above.

Basically the most important thing is to work clean. A pig tail happens when either an abrasive particles comes off the disc and is sandwiched between the disc and the paint. OR some other foreign particle does the same thing.

I have to say, I have never had a problem with pig tails. But, I always practice working clean.

We had a “high profile” guest who held a class down here at the NZ Detailing Conference last year & this was much of what made up his “class” & he mentioned the compatibility of hook & loop differences can also play a part in poor results - example - too stout of a hook can ... ahh, not sure how to describe it but “transfer” “imprint” through the disk if that makes sense?

That's correct.

The goal when machine sanding is to transfer the tool action to the surface of the paint. There are things that can interfere with "action transfer" and mis-matched hook-n-loop can be one of those things. Thick interface pads will also decrease the transfer of the tool action.

Aside from all my questions, it appears sanding is becoming more & more a part of mainstream detailing. I think to a degree this is acceptable within the finer abrasives but what I’m seeing down here in NZ is a trend has started where so many shops are hitting every vehicle with 3000 as there first step.

Pretty frightening stuff in my opinion but unfortunately parts of this subject weren’t correctly explained during that class & now most see it as gospel because this person is “high profile”.


Aaryn NZ.

I don't recommend any type of sanding for MOST people because most people are working on cars with a FACTORY FINISH.

MOST of the CUSTOM wetsanding done in the world is NOT done on new cars with their factory finish but on CUSTOM CARS with CUSTOM PAINT and this means much THICKER paint.


I know it's great bragging rights to go on Facebook and show off the car you just wetsanded but keep in mind the person doing the sanding and the people giving him "likes" have probably never read these three articles because these three articles are not on Facebook. Facebook is a horrible medium for meaty info like I put out. Just sayin....



This first article I wrote to TRY to clear up all the confusion about WHAT paint is normally wet sanded. It's a way of saying, don't listen to the guy that says he's an expert if he's telling you how to wet sand your car and your car has the factory finish. It means the "expert" doesn't really now what he's talking about. And worse, anyone that listens to the expert and sand or buffs through their car's clearcoat finish - where's the expert now? That's right, it's not his $$$ problem.

The time stamp shows I wrote this in 2009 - that's 11 years ago as I type today on April 30th, 2020 - and that is me hand sanding a 1956 Lincoln Premier in a parking garage in Monterey, California in 1999 I think. This car has a CUSTOM paint job.


Wetsanding - Fresh Paint vs Factory Paint







And of course, I share this article a LOT

Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips


he factory clearcoat on a new or modern car measures approximately 2 mils thin.

The average post-it not is around 3 mils thin. This means, the factory clear layer of paint on modern cars is THINNER than a Post-it Note. Wrap your brain around this!






And in my car detailing classes, I always share this info when we go through the wetsanding portion of the class. So I took what I teach and made it into an article. It's real simple stuff but sometimes INFORMATION must be presented and presented in a simple format for the masses to grasp it. Or wrap their brain around it.



Wetsanding removes paint - Compounding removes paint - Polishing removes a little paint

[Mike Phillips]

And.... here's something I say all the time, been there done that, this is why I know how to type or say thing,



Words cannot describe the heart-sinking feeling that overcomes you when you discover you have sanded or buffed through the paint



Not good. Not fun.


Everyone needs to experience it themselves to fully understand what I wrote above and when it happens to you - I pretty sure you'll agree that what I wrote is ACCURATE.