Edging - Buffing the paint around edges

[Mike Phillips]

Edging - Buffing the paint around edges


Edging or Edge - Buffing along an edge to knock it out before buffing out the rest of the major portions of the panel. By edging a panel first you don't have to buff near the edges as close when you switch over to a larger pad to buff out the panel.

[Mike Phillips]

Edging
I edged the entire car, edging means to go around and remove the sanding marks from all the edges leaving only the major portions of the panels left to compound.

Most people just compound the entire panel from start to finish and that approach works and is used in body shops all the time, but I like to edge all the panels for a couple of reasons.

1) This isn't my car and for that reason I want to be very careful. If it were my car I would edge it, even though it's not my car I treat it like it is my car.

2) Removing the sanding marks around all the edges using a 4" pad is actually very easy to do and gives you GREAT control over the process, especially if you have the Flex 3403 or a lightweight and small rotary buffer to work with. You remove most of the risk for burning and edge or a high point due to the control factor.


Here's the roof edged,















After I finished edging the roof, I was finished edging the entire car. The next step is to remove the sanding marks out of the center portions of the roof, the major portions of the panel. Using #3000 Grit Foam Finishing Discs, means it only takes a just a few minutes to compound out the major flat portions of the roof using the Makita with a W5000 Double Sided Wool Cutting pad with the M105.


The above taken from this thread...

If it has paint... it gets polished...

[mg6045]

Mike,

which pad are you using in the first picture ?

[CEE DOG]

Cool writeup Mike! Thank you! I usually polish the open areas first and come back with my 4" pad last but I think I like this way better.

[Devo242]

Mike,

which pad are you using in the first picture ?

Appears to be the Griot's 3" pads:

Griot's Garage 3 Inch Orange Polishing Foam Pad, foam polishing pad, Griots foam pads, orbital polishing pads

[James K]

Great tip. Makes a lot of sense. Thanks. Man I need a small DA.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike,

which pad are you using in the first picture ?

Prototypes from Lake Country. I used them extensively on the 1949 Chevy Sedan Delivery for all three rotary buffer steps where I needed surgeon precision. I passed my feedback on to Jason here at work today and he'll contact Lake Country. I'm not sure if or when we'll carry them but to me they are life-savers... (or paint savers)

Cool writeup Mike! Thank you! I usually polish the open areas first and come back with my 4" pad last but I think I like this way better.

I've done both ways and find that what works best for me is to major on the minors first, that's edging, and the major on the majors second, that's tackling the mass of the current panel.

Both approaches work but when using small pads I like to re-buff the area to do what I call a Cover Pass to shmoo that section over with uniform passes made by the same pad.

I person can even knock everything out using only large pads, did it that way for years, but now with more pad sizes, backing plates and tools available, it's nice option to be able to match the pad to the area you're buffing.

There's another type of edging that I'll update the first post to include.

Can anyone guess what it is?

[Mike Phillips]

There's another type of edging that I'll update the first post to include.

Can anyone guess what it is?

Forgot about this... any longtime detailers know of another type of edging?


And it's not this type of edging...

Edging the DA... A Game Changer



There is yet one more type of edging and it doesn't involve using a machine, it's done by hand...

[opie_7afe]

let me guess, to do the edges you cant really get to because its too easy to burn paint on a high edge, so you do this by hand to match it up to the rest of the panel when its buffed?. like say the drip rails on classic cars or edges where 2 panels meet. am i right? probably not but was worth a shot!(detailing is in my blood my dad has done detailing for 20+ years) as a side note i first used a rotary on my first car when i was 15, it was a 89 ford probe and man i left some horrible swirls in that thing! glad i learned from that mistake!

[Mike Phillips]

let me guess, to do the edges you cant really get to because its too easy to burn paint on a high edge, so you do this by hand to match it up to the rest of the panel when its buffed?.

Correct.


I have an article that talks about this here,

The Rule of Thumb


Excerpt...

[quote=Mike Phillips]

How to sand right up to an edge and remove your sanding marks by hand
There is a fix for the issue of sanding right next to an edge or a raised body line and that's by carefully sanding and then using Meguiar's M105 Ultra Compound by hand to remove your sanding marks. Another way to remove sanding marks next to an edge or to a raised body line is to use Spot Repair Pads on a rotary buffer using a technique I call Edging.

[quote]







A lot more information in the actual article,

The Rule of Thumb