Finishing for body shop after 3k sanding?

[FinishingTouchA]

Next week I have a 71 Challenger coming in. I have yet to see the project but was told the body shop wet sanded to 3000 grit. The paint is 2 or 3 weeks old. I've done corrections on custom paint before but never finished a fresh paint job from sanding.
I'm thinking Flex with a LC hybrid wool or orange pad with FG400. I also have a Rupes 21 and think a B&S microfiber pad might be a good option. I have experience with a rotary but not with fresh paint so I'm leaning away from that. Any suggestions on how I should go about this? I have lots of different pads and machines and almost every Menzerna compound. The job is Thursday so if I need to order something I pretty much need to know by Monday.Thanks!

[dcjredline]

You think you will need a compound to get 3k sanding marks out? AFAIK FG400 is for 1200 sanding marks. Id bet you could do it with a polish or AIO pretty easy.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

You think you will need a compound to get 3k sanding marks out? AFAIK FG400 is for 1200 sanding marks. Id bet you could do it with a polish or AIO pretty easy.

You want to level all the sanding scratches.

Sometimes they start off with 1k 1,200 and then go behind with 3k sometimes not all of those lower number scratches get out.

A polish can and will take out 3k however it takes multiple passes to make it perfect so whats the point of doing 3 passes when you can do 1-2 with compound it all depends on the sanding and paint i guess

[DetailDrivenEugene]

Been doing custom paint finish work for over 15 years. My go to for new paint is 3m perfect it ex rubbing compound # 36060 with a wool pad on a rotary followed by 3m machine polish #05596 with a 3m perfect it grey waffle pad #05738. Compound dusts up, but the polish finishes swirl free IME. Make sure they put enough CC, and watch your edges.
Feel free to call or pm if I can help in any way. I'm only an hour away.

B

[RedXray]

With fresh clear you shouldn't have any problem cutting 3000P with any of the da machines you have. Sure the rotary is faster in the hands of a skilled detailer/painter. I have no problem cutting one day old clear with a rotary and a wool pad. If it's in your comfort zone go for it.

I shot this SPI CLEAR cut it the next day using a GG 6", LC 6.5 orange CCS, M105, cut like butter, no rotary needed with this clear system. That said some clears are harder especially with the economy systems.

[DetailedByPrecision]

Polishing aftermarket repaints and OEM paint is a whole different ballgame in certain ways. Body shops usually start with 1000,1200,1500 grit then move up to 3000 grit to refine. Not all sanding scratches will be refined by the 3000 grit so compounding will still be necessary/fastest method. Before you do any polishing examine the whole car first for the following:

Look for:

texture matching. High peaks and low peaks

Dirts

Fisheyes

Runs

Sanding scratches not fully removed/missed



After inspecting each panel for the above and if each panel checks out then start with your test spot to determine how hard is the clear coat you are working with. Once you get the system down you can use the same system for the whole car. Proceed to polish the whole car. Afterwards use an LSP that's body shop safe until paint fully out gassed/cured.