Best buffing tricks for oxidized, original paint?

[cudaspaz]

Any good tricks for bringing back original paint that needs a serious buff?

Was thinking a good scrub, some clay bar action then some cutting compound and finish off with a good polish, but open to any suggestions from the detail guys.

I'm doing a favor for a friend with a 69 Buick LeSabre that is a cream puff but looks like it has not been buffed or waxed for years and needs some love to bring the paint back.

 

[bkbond12]

AdamR would be the guy to ask.....

 

[CUUDAK]

Wool pad with 3M Perfect-it then a second time with a black waffle pad. Then a nice coat of butter wax by hand. It'll look better than new. Stay off the crowns!!

 

[AdamR]

Do you own a high speed buffer ? Wool pads cut the fastest and thats were I start with old paint. I follow it up with a less aggressive yellow foam pad on a DA polisher, and a polish with a white foam pad.If you want to go crazy, a lighter polish with a black foam pad and last is wax with a blue foam pad.

Lots of polishing but just like with sanding you need to keep going less aggressive to get rid of the haze and any swirls you will make with the wool pad.

 

[RedFish]

I wish I knew and was able to do my own cut and buff. My mistake was leaving my car in the hands of someone who doesn't know any more than I do. Anyway...
I thought the clay bar was much less agressive than a cutting compound and would be a more like second or third step.

 

[AdamR]

You want to do the clay bar before any buffing. It can mar the finish. We actually wash the car, rinse it, then clay it with clean soapy water, rinse again and buff. No need to use "clay lubricant" which is nothing more then a spray wax or detailer.

 

[cudaspaz]

Cool.
Thanks for the advice guys.

Adam, I have a cheap orbital buffer but my buddy has a variable speed professional buffer although I will have to check and see what kind of pads he has.

Do you have any recommended polishes I can get at the auto parts store since I don't have a lot of time to seek out high dollar, professional compounds?

I'm thinking Meguiars products if at all possible?????

I currently have Meguiars #7 polish, and #26 yellow wax which I've had great results with but not sure how well this will work with the neglected paint on this Buick.

 

[AdamR]

We use Meguiars 105 compound and 205 polish. You can probably get away with just 1 wool pad and one foam pad buy changing the speed of the buffer and pressure you put down on it just keep it flat. Use the orbit for the final polish and wax. The orbital wont cut the old paint well.

 

[ESP47]

What color is the car? Unless it's black or some other dark color, you won't need to go any further than wool and yellow padding it. If it's dark and you have to black pad, I've found using less compound at a lower rpm works the best. I probably use 1/5th the amount of compound as normal when black padding. Keep the pad as flat as possible to avoid re-swirling the paint. Adam is right about the clay bar. It'll mess up a black car easy and force you to buff afterwards. From my experience buffing old single stage paint jobs, the look only lasts a little while before it dulls out again.

I use a Makita buffer with 3M stage 1 and 2 compounds. After I'll put a pad on my Makita orbital waxer and usually go with Meguiars or whatever good wax is the cheapest at the moment. I used to dread waxing my cars until I got that orbital. Now it's easy as washing the car. A trick to wipe the wax off easier is to take two micro fiber towels and get one just a little damp. Use that to wipe the majority of the wax off and then go back over it real quick with the dry towel to buff it out.

 

[cudaspaz]

Well, my buddy said it would take 20 minutes to dig his buffer out so I told him don't worry about it and just used my orbital,with what I had.

I did the clay bar with the soapy water in a spray bottle and cleaned the crap out of the paint.
Rinsed.
Two coats of polish and two coats of yellow wax later and the sides turned out pretty nice but the champagne colored paint was worn badly on the roof, trunk and hood so there was still a lot of blotchy areas and the paint was so faded in spots that you could see the gray primer coming through and I was not able to get out all the dirty looking splotch marks that kinda looked like baked in bird droppings under the paint.

Busted my *** and the results pretty much sucked, BUT I am going to buy my own freaking variable speed buffers and the proper pads and compounds so I can do a better job next time.

I actually have a couple buddies that need to get their old jalopys buffed out so I have a couple candidates to practice on once I get the right stuff.

Anyone use Eastwood products?
Just wondering if they have a nice kit all ready to go.

 

[1968FormulaS340]

Is this a metallic colored paint?

If it is, and it's an old single stage, you can't buff it.

(Well, you can but it will look like hell.)


EDIT:

Just looked it up. Is the color Champagne Mist Ploy? That should be a metallic. You do not want to buff this.

 

[cudaspaz]

Is this a metallic colored paint?

If it is, and it's an old single stage, you can't buff it.

(Well, you can but it will look like hell.)


EDIT:

Just looked it up. Is the color Champagne Mist Ploy? That should be a metallic. You do not want to buff this.

Yep, and yep. Lol.

 

[AdamR]

Is this a metallic colored paint?

If it is, and it's an old single stage, you can't buff it.

(Well, you can but it will look like hell.)


EDIT:

Just looked it up. Is the color Champagne Mist Ploy? That should be a metallic. You do not want to buff this.

Why cant you buy it ? I know you ant wet sand them but I have never heard not to buff them and never had an issue ?


Also as for not having to go further then the yellow wool on light colored cars. The wool still causes the same damage on light colored cars (hazing) Its just not as noticeable. You should stil polish it out of your looking for the best shine.

 

[1968FormulaS340]

Why cant you buy it ? I know you ant wet sand them but I have never heard not to buff them and never had an issue ?

You can mottle the paint. The more aggressive you go (twisted wool pad + a cutting compound for example) the greater the chance.

A single stage metallic doesn't have a clear coat to protect the metallic. Any kind of cut can cause discoloration, stripes and or mottle.

You are really playing with fire here. You could go from a flat, dull car to one that is shiny but really uneven and nasty looking.

Or you could get very lucky.

 

[ESP47]

Why cant you buy it ? I know you ant wet sand them but I have never heard not to buff them and never had an issue ?


Also as for not having to go further then the yellow wool on light colored cars. The wool still causes the same damage on light colored cars (hazing) Its just not as noticeable. You should stil polish it out of your looking for the best shine.

I agree, I'd never just leave a car wool padded. That's almost like sanding without buffing afterwards. I was just saying on most lighter paint jobs, going to black pad and beyond isn't usually necessary unless you're just anal about it. 99% of the population couldn't tell the difference.

Cudaspaz, I would stay away from the gimmicky kits out there. Dewalt and Makita are the two cheaper but good quality buffers out there. The Dewalt can do a higher rpm and the cord on it is better quality. The Makita is quieter and smoother but you may have to replace the cord at some point because it's the softer SOW cord. I prefer the feel of the Makita to the Dewalt but they'll do the same job. You can go on amazon or any site like that and buy 3M Stage 1 compound (white) and Stage 2 compound (gray). Then get yourself a yellow wool pad and a yellow foam pad. If you want to complete the system, get a black pad and Stage 3 compound (blue). But like I said, it may not be necessary for your color.

I don't know if you've done much buffing but be careful not to leave the buffer on body lines very long and don't let the edge of the buffer run up against another painted surface because it'll burn the paint right off. This is especially true on newer cars with plastic bumpers. Paint burns off plastic way quicker than metal. You can leave the buffer running on a flat metal panel for quite a while before it'll burn through the paint. The talk about the metallic getting messed up is true but I've only seen it after wet sanding a scratch out. To be safe, I'd Stage 2 (yellow pad) it and see how it turns out before getting more aggressive and using a wool pad.

They're also great for buffing out your chrome bumpers as well. Hell, I even sanded the clear plastic cover of my AM radio and buffed it out using the same compounds.

 

[pastortom1]

If you use an abrasive "stroke" on a single stage metallic, depending on the grit, you streak the aluminum particles. Whether wet sanding, OR with a circular buffer, you can and probably will "streak" the aluminum.

However, on old metallic finishes, when used with mild compounds (AFTER cleaning with a clay bar to remove imbedded dirt), you can use a "random orbit" buffer like you'd use for waxing......They work much better to protect against streaking the metallic because the effective "strokes" are much SHORTER.....the smaller the "stroke", the more even the final buff will be.

Random orbit used slowly and methodically with light compound will protect it against streaking better than any other method, including hand rubbing......Hand rubbing with a good 'cleaner wax' when you're done is a good option.

 

[AdamR]

, going to black pad and beyond isn't usually necessary unless you're just anal about it. 99% of the population couldn't tell the difference.

I charge from $250 to $700 for a detail so I have to be anal, LOL

 

[CUUDAK]

Wool pad with 3M Perfect-it then a second time with a black waffle pad. Then a nice coat of butter wax by hand. It'll look better than new. Stay off the crowns!!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^As I said before^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Not enough info to go into real depth of detailing. Assuming the paint is 30 years old, scratched, oxidized and so on, is the reason I gave the brief idea. He will most likely buff through the paint anyhow. I was assuming he just wanted to "Clean" it up a bit, not make it a show car.:cheers: