Sanding marks

[tcfatboys]

Hey mike i did a couple of week's a detail. And i did the 1000grit follow by the 2000grit

ofcourse once wash & clay. Here in south baja is hard to get all the things you need to finish a job. So that's why i jump from 1000, to the 2000grit

i notice that once working with my dewalt polisher, i had problems eleminating the sanding marks.

Like i said, here there is not a next door detail supply shop / or body shop kind
i get all my supplies every time i go to l.a

i have use for some time / auto magic's / meguiar's professional series / 3m

but can you gave a me an advice what's one of the option's i have to resolve this sanding marks

[Jhaight11]

im just gonna take a guess and say you didnt refine the 1000 grit paper enough. tell me the process you took for this job.

[Perfections]

im just gonna take a guess and say you didnt refine the 1000 grit paper enough. tell me the process you took for this job.

I'd agree, also are you using wool pads?

[tcfatboys]

I use the yellow foam pad with my compound / at 1300 to 1400rpm.
I use 3m compound

i also have the wool pad / i thought that foam pad's were better.

[tcfatboys]

Hey jesse / well for this type of detail / i always wash it before any polish or wax.

Once wash / follow by the clay.
For this job i did the 1000grit wet sanding
follow by the 2000grit.

That job i couldn't have the 1500grit. That's why i jump to the 2000grit
tape part of the car with the green tape / i protect the front window.

I use my dewalt polisher at 1300rpm to 1500rpm with the 3m / compound

then follow the polish process with the auto magic ps-1 polish. I like how it works

and the 3rd step the hand wax / by meguiar's the nxt
last step the touch free / spray detailer also by meguiar's

in the process of the compound to the polish that's were i had the problem with the sanding marks specially on the front hood. The rest was ok.

I use the foam pad's / i stop using the wool pads cause beliving that foam was much better.

If you can gave me some tip's / that would help a lot / thank's guys

[A4 1.8tqm]

Your problem is probably that you didn't fully remove the sanding marks from the 1000 grit step when you did the 2000 grit step. So, if your compound can remove up to 1500 grit sanding marks, you are left with the remaining 1000 grit marks that you missed. You really have to be sure to get all of the previous marks out, during each step.

A good trick to help you tell whether you have accomplished this is sanding in one direction for each step. Say front to back, with one grit, then side to side with the next grit. This way it will be easier to tell if you have removed the marks from the previous step.

Also, next time your resupplying, look into the 6" sanding discs and soft interface pad's for a DA polisher. I highly prefer machine damp sanding to hand sanding and find that it is easier to get uniform results. At least for the big broad flat sections. It's just those darn discs are so expensive!

6" sanding disc search result-
Results for 6" sanding disc - Search

Soft interface pad-
Results for soft interface pads - Search

[jlb85]

Try to wool pads. I know the 3m compound on wool can remove 1500 grit. It is hardcore stuff, but keep it slpw and light, and step up the process little by little, inspecting often before proceeding to the next step.

If the wool does not work, then look into doing 2000 grit further. My bet is the wool and the 3m bottle of rocks will suffice, and will be much superior to yellow foam (which I hate).

[Mike Phillips]

A wool cutting pad is an abrasive when used with a rotary buffer. When you use a wool cutting pad and an abrasive compound you're using two abrasives.

You mentioned that foam pads are better?

i also have the wool pad / i thought that foam pad's were better.

I this case, the word better is a relative term.

Foam pads are better at finishing out nicer, when trying to remove sanding marks out of an automotive finish wool pads are better at abrading the paint.


One thing I always do when sanding or doing any type of buffing to a car is a Test Spot.

I first test out the products and process, (process is the product, pad, tool and my own technique, in your case your own technique), to one small area and make sure that I can make one small area look GREAT!

Then if I can I have proven my system and I have the confidence to tackle the entire vehicle knowing I can reach my goal.

A little story...

The reason I bring this up, and I don't know if you sanded the entire car down already, is because I met a painter that painted a Ferrari and then sanded it down and when he tried to remove his sanding marks he couldn't do it. He was using the entire 3M system.

At the time I was the Meguiar's Trainer for the Northwest, (Oregon, Washington and Northern Idaho), he asked me to come take a look at it and I did and even after re-sanding an area with Nikken #3000 neither of us could remove the sanding marks using 3M compounds or Meguiar's compounds with wool cutting pads on rotary buffers.

All buffing did was heat the paint up and restore a little shine and clarity to the paint, but the sanding marks remained.

He had to repaint the car and he changed paint systems.

So as others have said, test a section again using a wool cutting pad on around the 1300 to 1500 RPM range with your best cutting compound and see how that works.

Chances are good by simply switching to a wool pad you should be able to cut out your sanding marks.

Keep us updated!

[master detailer]

I use the yellow foam pad with my compound / at 1300 to 1400rpm.
I use 3m compound

i also have the wool pad / i thought that foam pad's were better.

wool pad is what you will need to get them out and dont try and get them all out the frist time do this step 3 to 4 times as the paint will get to hot if you stay in one spot to long keep the buffer moving and then let the paint cool before doing it agian 3m comp is 1200 grit you may need to go down to 1000 grint and up the speed of the buffer a little to get them out. clean pad alot .

[Mike Phillips]

wool pad is what you will need to get them out and don't try and get them all out the first time do this step 3 to 4 times as the paint will get to hot if you stay in one spot to long keep the buffer moving and then let the paint cool before doing it again

Good point.

If you're buffing a large section, about 2' by 2' squared and overlapping your passes you can usually buff till your compound is at the end of its buffing cycle, that is you need to stop anyways because you've run out of lubrication.

The smaller the area you buff using a rotary buffer, the less time you can buff it or risk getting the paint to hot.

See this article for the technique I use to keep from getting the paint too hot...


Fight or Flight Method for Gaging Surface Temperature