1969 Camaro - New Paint - Loaded with Swirls - Can this be fixed by hand?

[Mike Phillips]

1969 Camaro - New Paint - Loaded with Swirls - Can this be fixed by hand?


While I was out of town last week I received an e-mail from Rick telling me he just had is 1969 Camaro painted. He picked it up on Thanksgiving day and discovered the paint was filled with swirls. Here's a pictures of the car.




Rick reached out to me and asked me if the swirls can be removed by hand? He also asked if the paint can be polished now or if some time needs to go by before polishing.


The answers to the above questions are,



Can the swirls be removed by hand?

Yes but it requires MORE skill and technique to hand apply a compound or polish than it does to guide a simple dual action polisher over the paint and let the machine do the work for you. Modern clearcoats are hard in the context of car paint history. (I cover this in my how-to books in the first chapter). The human hand is simply too wimpy to RUB paint for HOURS.

I used to teach hand compounding for Meguiar's from 2002 to 2009. EVERY TIME I would demonstrate the proper technique for hand applying a compound and then would show how to use a SIMPLE and SAFE dual action polisher to do the same thing NO ONE wanted to try to rub their car out by hand. It's really a no brainer. Modern dual action polishers are so safe ANYONE can use one their very first time and professional results.



Can the paint be polished now?

For those reading this that might not understand this question, the reason for the question is because the paint is BRAND NEW. As in freshly sprayed. There's always some confusion in the car hobby about what you can and what you cannot do to fresh paint as it relates to specific products and procedures.

The short answer to the question is "yes". Yes you can polish it now.

The technical answer is some painters, this would be the people that are very knowledgeable about the specific brand of paint they are spraying and how they are mixing it and spraying it, they might wait and they might recommend their customers to wait until a few weeks and even a few months go by to allow the paint to fully set-up and harden. Then any shifting or shrinking that is going to take place will have taken place and thus any sanding, compounding and polishing work that will be performed will be performed to completely stable paint. I have seen fresh paint jobs that have been cut and buffed, (terms used to describe paint that is sanded, compounded and polished), change after some time goes by. By this I mean, after a new paint job was sanded, compounded and polished it looked GREAT! Then after a few weeks go by you see splotchy areas or places where it looks like sanding marks were not removed.

So there can be a case made to allow the paint to fully set-up before doing anything to it. If it were my paint job I would choose this option. In the "production" world, a fresh paint job is usually cut and buffed fairly quickly so the car can be returned to the owner. Some shops will return a car to an owner and say bring it back in a few weeks or a month and then they will do the cut and buff, it just depends on the shop and what's being charged for the paint job.



So to my friend Rick, here's what I suggest....

The swirls you see in the paint job are probably holograms instilled by the shop when they buffed the paint. This is NORMAL. This is the type of work most shops turn out, that is after they paint a cool car like yours they wet sand it to remove any orange peel and then they compound it with a wool pad and a compound and then they use either another wool pad and a polish or a foam pad and a polish to polish the paint. The results look shiny but in good light you can see a scratch pattern inflicted by the single rotating action of a rotary buffer.

At this point you can try to remove the swirls by hand and I will be happy to show you how. Or you can purchase a simple dual action polisher and myself and our forum are more than happy to show you how to use it to remove the swirls.

Since it's already swirled out and I'm assuming the shop cut and buffed the paint there's no harm in proceeding now but if you want you can also wait a few more weeks to allow any changes in the paint to take place and then remove the swirls.

Then after all the swirls are removed we can show you how to keep this wicked looking Camaro looking great all the time.


Just let us know...

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow! Beautiful Camaro!

Well said Mike.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow! Beautiful Camaro!

Well... close to beautiful.... the build looks good, now it's time for the fun part, makeing the paint look great.


We'll be doing a Facebook Live this Thursday night for the 1947 Lincoln Zephyr.

If anyone is interested, I'll show how to correctly work a comound over a clearcoat by hand to remove swirls and scratches.


I've never seen any videos anywhere showing the correct technique except for the video Richard Lin and I put out back in 2006 where in the video I demonstrated how to apply and work Meguiar's ScratchX. ScratchX is not near as aggressive as a compound but the technique I demonstrated is the same.

[Craig Parker]

I remember that DVD Mike, and I still have it. Lots of good information on it, and that Corvette turned out awesome.

[69 Camaro Guy]

Mike I tried to log on to your class last night but what I was able to see was the hand polishing portion and it wasn't very long.
I think you convinced me that machine is the way to go. I have no previous paint buffing experience and maybe someone could recommend the equipment and supplies for removing the swirls. This 3 year project is finally coming together.

[GSKR]

I would get Mike Phillips book on auto detailing how to.so much correct info in there on every topic imaginable.I would start with that before you dive into this knowledge wise and money wise.

[69 Camaro Guy]

Ok I have the DA Griot Polisher, 12 pads 6 orange 5 white and 1 blue the sonax ex-04-06 and the sonax liquid wax. Is there a video or book that will tell me which pad I start with and what is each pads purpose. The Sonax products also which do I start with and the volume to apply and how to apply.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike I tried to log on to your class last night but what I was able to see was the hand polishing portion and it wasn't very long.

I think you convinced me that machine is the way to go. I have no previous paint buffing experience and maybe someone could recommend the equipment and supplies for removing the swirls. This 3 year project is finally coming together.

Hi Rick,

Sorry I just now revisited this thread and found your posts.




[QUOTE=69 Camaro Guy;1456924]

Ok I have the DA Griot Polisher, 12 pads 6 orange 5 white and 1 blue the sonax ex-04-06 and the sonax liquid wax.

Is there a video or book that will tell me which pad I start with and what is each pads purpose.

I'll share a video link below and please watch it as it shows you EXACTLY what you want to do.

The Orange pads and the white pads are for use with the SONAX EX 04-06

Start with the orange pads to remove the swirls and scratches.

Next use the same product but switch to the white pads to refine the results from the orange pad step.

Then machine apply the liquid wax using the blue pad.

For the two steps with the SONAX EX 04-06 you want to be on speed 5-6. Watch the vide as I'll show you how to use the polisher. In the video I'm using the Porter Cable but the Griot's is basically a copy or version of the PC with more power.

Be sure to place a black mark on the back of the backing plate, I show this in the video. I show everything you need to know so instead of typing more, here's the video...

I would go ahead and do the Test Spot like I show in the video only in your case you're using the same product, the EX 04-06 but you're changing pads.

I don't want to confuse you but you can do your first test spot using the EX 04-06 with a white pad. If that looks GREAT then do the whole car wit this approach.

If the white pad is not removing the defects to your satisfaction then do a NEW TEST SPOT only for this test spot start with the orange pad, follow with the white pad and then inspect. My guess is this will get you to the show car finish this Camaro deserves.

The Sonax products also which do I start with and the volume to apply and how to apply.

I show this in the video too.... it's very in-depth.


I'll be by my phone after about 2:00pm today if you get stuck and need some help.

760-515-0444


It's not that hard, you're going to love how your Camaro looks!