FLEX and color sanding

[fk00gsr]

Is the FLEX strong enough to buff out a freshly painted panel that has been color sanded with 1000 grit on a DA sander followed by 1500 grit on a DA?

I would be using:

CCS Orange Light Cutting 6.5 inch Foam Pad with M105

CCS Gray Finishing 6.5 inch Foam Pad with M205

[ryandamartini]

Try it and see. I use wool on the rotary with that low of a grit.

[fk00gsr]

I dont currently own one however, im interested in purchasing one if it could do the job. Id could even go up to 2000 grit if needed.

[Rsurfer]

I dont currently own one however, im interested in purchasing one if it could do the job. Id could even go up to 2000 grit if needed.

Why not go up to 3000 and use your da?

[fk00gsr]

I was trying to avoid doing a 4th pass with the DA nor did I want to have to start stocking up 3000 grit discs as they are a bit pricey.

[Mike Phillips]

Is the FLEX strong enough to buff out a freshly painted panel that has been color sanded with 1000 grit on a DA sander followed by 1500 grit on a DA?

I would be using:

CCS Orange Light Cutting 6.5 inch Foam Pad with M105

On fresh paint it probably will remove the majority of sanding marks and restore a high gloss finish but my guess will be if you strip the finish and look closely you'll still see sanding marks and likely pigtails.

Try it and see. I use wool on the rotary with that low of a grit.

I would finish out at as high of grit paper or discs I could afford and then use a wool pad on a rotary buffer too...

Sanding and buffing is hard enough... might as well make it as easy as possible... especially if the goal is 'good looks'.

I dont currently own one however, im interested in purchasing one if it could do the job. Id could even go up to 2000 grit if needed.

The key here is how fresh is fresh?

It's so funny, or weird or ironic, I'm not sure the right word, but all most all my posting life I have people post on the forum about working on "fresh paint", and in my mind that means a few day old so it's in this window of time where the paint is still "wet", not wet as in you could leave a fingerprint in it by touching it, but wet as in it hasn't fully hardened and buffing is going to be easier.

Then when I talk to the person, or via the forum post back and forth, it comes out that the "fresh paint" is "new paint" but it's not fresh paint, it might be 30 days, or 3 months or a year old and in the owner's mind it's "fresh paint", but by body shop standards it's no longer fresh paint as it's outside the window of easy buffing.

I talked to a guy just yesterday on the phone, he said he had a "fresh paint job" , I asked him how old the paint was and he said about a year and and a half! He said the local high school painted it as a project and while it was a good paint job it was dull and hazy and he was looking for a way to restore some gloss... wanted to know of a cheap way to sand and buff fully cured paint.

I was trying to avoid doing a 4th pass with the DA nor did I want to have to start stocking up 3000 grit discs as they are a bit pricey.

If the paint is truly "fresh", that is still more on the soft side of buffing than on the case-hardened side of buffing, then you might be able to get away with it but again, my guess is by using a Flex 3401, even with M105 and a cutting pad that if you inspect the results carefully you'll see sanding marks or sanding haze left in the paint.

If this is just a daily driver and you're not going for show car results then go for it... the fastest and easiest way to remove those sanding marks however with currently available technology is going to be with a rotary buffer with an aggressive wool cutting pad.

We sell name brand rotary buffers but you could even rent a rotary buffer for a weekend or purchase a used one or even get a cheapie at HF and make the job easier and faster...

I always end up asking this question because I don't know if you're working on an original but freshly painted 1964 Corvette Stingray or a wheelbarrow?

What are you working on?

IF it's real important to you and you paid a lot of money to get it to paint... then spending a few extra dollars and finishing out at #3000 or even #4000 will be worth it.

If it's some project that's really not a big deal to you then weigh your options and go do some testing... who knows.. you might be able to sand the paint and make one pass with your Flex 3401 and Shazam! the sanding marks fly out of the paint... that's why I always post...

"You don't know what you can do until you try"

So go out into the garage and do some trying...

[fk00gsr]

WOW... now thats what I call a detailed response. Thanks Mike!!!

To answer a few of your questions the paint will be fresh as in a few days freshly painted. The car is a 2002 Honda S2000 in Spa Yellow. Its my dads car and someone backed into the front fender in a parking lot. I will be doing the repair and will likely have slight orange peel which I will want to level out with the above mentioned process.

I do own a rotary with a combination of both wool and foam pads. However, Im clearly in need of more practive as anytime I bring out the rotary and hit a panel, it looks good until the sun hits it and then all you see are swirls and marring.

Maybe I can start with the rotary to bring most of the shine back and then finish off with the 3401 to help get rid of any marring or swirls I may have left with the rotary.

New plan of attack

Rotary w/ wool pad using M105
Flex orange M105
Flex gray M205

Thoughts on this? any suggestions in terms of adding, changing or removing steps? Obviously Ill play around with it when I start but figured Id ask if my plan is way off.

Thanks again!!!

Thoughts?

[Mike Phillips]

WOW... now thats what I call a detailed response. Thanks Mike!!!

My goal in life is to become a short copy writer... so far I'm failing...

To answer a few of your questions the paint will be fresh as in a few days freshly painted.

Cool. This is one of the rare times that we're discussing a wetsanding project before the paint is sprayed...

The car is a 2002 Honda S2000 in Spa Yellow. Its my dads car and someone backed into the front fender in a parking lot. I will be doing the repair and will likely have slight orange peel which I will want to level out with the above mentioned process.

Now we're talking... that's a very cool car, it's actually Honda race technology toned down for the public... worthy of your full attention and quality work.

I do own a rotary with a combination of both wool and foam pads. However, Im clearly in need of more practive as anytime I bring out the rotary and hit a panel, it looks good until the sun hits it and then all you see are swirls and marring.

Creating a 100% swirl free finish with a rotary is a skill that also requires the right products, pads and even good paint.

In my opinion, it's become a lot easier to do with the introduction of SMAT products like M105, M95, M205 and M86 and with the introduction of low RPM RB's it takes a lot less skill and experience than it used to.

I'm a huge proponent of finishing with a DA just to make sure the paint is 100% swirl-free because the only way you can prove to yourself or to the world that the end-results of your rotary buffer work are in fact 100% swirl-free is to chemically strip the paint and then move the vehicle into full sun and inspect and that's working backwards, dulling the finish to either prove to yourself or to others that you in fact left a 100% swirl free finish and I don't see many, or even any people documenting that on forums, just claiming it and unless I see the chemical stripping and exposure to full sun myself I don't tend to buy it just based upon a picture or a post.

Re-polishing with a DA "INSURES" a swirl free finish because you change the action of the tool for the last machine polishing step.

While it's true that on some paints you can lose some gloss and/or clarity, by the time you apply a quality wax you regain anything lost and you're guaranteed a swirl free finish that day and over time assuming the finish is taken care of.


[quote=fk00gsr;344858]
Maybe I can start with the rotary to bring most of the shine back and then finish off with the 3401 to help get rid of any marring or swirls I may have left with the rotary.

That's a proven plan of attack.

New plan of attack

Rotary w/ wool pad using M105
Flex orange M105
Flex gray M205

Thoughts on this? any suggestions in terms of adding, changing or removing steps?

Looks like a great process that should produce show car results. A lot of people on this forum will recommend doing one more step using a finishing polish that's even less aggressive than the M205 and while I agree that on some paints other finishing polishes will refine your results a little more, it's not a huge gain unless you're actually seeing swirls or haze left by the M205 and you should discover this during your initial testing or Test Spot.


So for most people and most projects, finishing with M205 is a great last step process and then seal the paint after 30 days air dry or whatever you're comfortable with. Some people say you can seal fresh paint in a day or two and I've personally never seen any problems with this but at this point in time I don't know of a single paint manufacture that states or recommends to seal paint until a minimum of 30 days pass.

Obviously Ill play around with it when I start but figured Id ask if my plan is way off.

Thanks again!!!

Thoughts?

Everything looks good...

Take some good before, during and after pictures.

You have a lucky Dad!