Polish after paint?
Author
Discussion

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

259 months

Monday 2nd April 2007
quotequote all
Have almost completed repainting some coachwork on my vintage car, I used a synthetic coach enamal applied by brush for the final coat. How long should I wait for the paint to set before polishing and I usually use a carnuba wax will this be OK for the new paint too? Thanks.

shelbysteve

118 posts

250 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2007
quotequote all
Bush painted! How many coats did you do? was it painted in open air? or inside then baked in an paint booth oven. are you going to flat and polish it shortly?

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

259 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2007
quotequote all
Hi Shelbysteve, I took the old paint off to almost bare metal, rust treated and repaired damaged areas with fibrepaste. Prepared and etch coated, applied high build primer coat then applied 3 coats of high build undercoat. Wet and dry between each coat and now applying two top coats, I will flatten between coats. As mentioned I applied by hand brush using a coach enamal. Had to do all this outdoors and then drove the car into my garage to dry off and harden. It is a vintage car so perfection on finish in this case is not a issue, altho I have made sure that there are no brush marks of course.And it looks ten times better now its almost done. I've only done the mudguards and valances as the main coach work is OK.

I was going to have a go at spraying but thought it all a bit of a hassle what with the safety issues and DIY. So now to think about polishing, hence my enquiry

shelbysteve

118 posts

250 months

Wednesday 4th April 2007
quotequote all
Hiya!

Coach enamel is hard stuff, like 2 pack spray paint it goes hard very fast. it sounds like you have done a very good prep on it, after wet and drying it i guess you have compounded the paint with Farecla G4, you can compound by hand then do you have any 3M hand glaze, its now called 3M Finesse-it, you can finish it with this and it will come up like glass if you rub it in untill it disappears and it removes swurl makes and great for polishing things like wood trims inside when they get scratched by fingers etc,you will only need a small amount to a area as it goes a longway and wipe it hard backwards and farwards and then ez off the pressure untill it starts evaparating, if you do it twice on the panel and you see no paint on mutton cloth then youll know the paint has gone hard enough and theres no problem in giving it a wax polish. But i bet when you hand glaze it your look at the panel thinking you dont need to wax it.

I have found it very rare for paint to be contanimated by wax polishes even after a hour from the paintshop, as you may know its mostly because a paintshop doesnt want waxes and silicones anywhere near a bodyshop. i hardly ever polish my cars with an expensive wax polish, i let the paint breath as is and use hand glaze for a shine.

Heres a picture of my bonnet with a hand glaze only, Click on link to enlarge[URL=www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2102025][/URL]



Edited by shelbysteve on Wednesday 4th April 10:39



Edited by shelbysteve on Wednesday 4th April 11:05

crankedup

Original Poster:

25,764 posts

259 months

Wednesday 4th April 2007
quotequote all
Thanks for info Steve, good job I asked I did'nt have a clue about any of that. Such is the power of Pistonheads
I'm off to compound now thumbup

shelbysteve

118 posts

250 months

Wednesday 4th April 2007
quotequote all
Cheers!

Make sure the coth is damp before compounding and use a spray bottle with water to keep the compound moving around. again straight farward and backwards movements and to a medium weight with your hands depending on the finish you have.

All the Best.


Edited by shelbysteve on Wednesday 4th April 11:10