yea you have to apply it thin. i read where the guy that came up with this method used a foam brush for edges he said be careful not to put it on too heavy or it will run and it dries fast the thinner you make it. try just a light dab on the tip.. also my wife said dabbing foam in water letting it semi dry then painting with it will help. she uses that method with her make up to stop the foam from absorbing too much makeup. just a thought to try to help you out AC439Originally Posted by AC439
6th coat today.
Another major mistake - too windy ! I had the car half way inside the garage for painting. The front was inside, no wind. The rear and top exposed to too much wind. Now the front looks good but the top, back and rear quarter panel prob rear doors too need to be repaint. I'm still using paint brush and a new brush every time. Paint was thicker this time and perfect, not running like last time on the vertical sides.
Jobs like this just can't be rushed....shouldn't have done it today due to the windy condition. My plan is to back the car inside the so I'm going to reapply paint to the rear half and the top.
Last edited by AC439; 02-15-2017 at 03:49 PM.
man i dont give a damn if you are using a brush or a roller that car looks 100 times better with it painted like that. i cannot wait to finish up suspension/ motor work so i can completely paint my car too. im jealous right now haha
Ok, car has 6th coats all around and I have not done the final 1500 or 2000 grits wet sandings yet. I'm not sure how smooth I need to get the paint to be before the final wet sanding. Is some minor imperfection going to be taken care of by last wet sanding and polishing ? or mostly taken care of by polishing.
I drove it to work today and my coworkers said it looks good. I'm going to take some pics tomorrow and post it.
Should I wait until after polishing before I put back on the honda logos ?
Went outside for some pics today, a little sunny day. Six coats only, have not final wet sand or polished anything.
2 more pics: reflections from top is not too good, needs polishing, Engine hood seems giving a good reflection .
wow!!!! before you do your wet sanding (final) let the paint sit for a couple days. let the enamel harden a bit. then i would use 1500 grit lightly then 2000 grit very very lightly. then i would wash the dirt and filth off the car. let it dry (or dry it your self) then use turtle wax rubbing compound. I picked both the rubbing compound and polish compound at autozone. it was cheap.
then after you put 2 or 3 coats of rubbing compound. wipe the car down again(with a clean 100% cotton rag)... i didn't rinse it or anything. then i went straight to polishing compound i used about 2 -3 coats you will see the finish and you can get a better finish the more coats you use. then i would throw the emblems on the car. that was my final step before driving it.
i also bought a little polishing kit that came with a foam wheel and a bonnet and some other polishing wheels. it really helps out saves the arms from too much manual labor haha
i hope this helps AC! let me know if you have any other questions brother
The rubbing and polishing compounds are the stuffs that confuse me. I don't quite understand their differences. Some said the polishing is fine cut while rubbing is not as fine cut in order to remove scratch marks. Some said just use the Meguire ultimate polishing compound and save a step. I sure will let it harden a bit before final wet sanding.
Also I don't see 1500 or 2000 sand paper in harbor fright. The highest they have is 1200. I also don't see these in Lowes. Not sure if Autozone has it ?
Last edited by AC439; 02-18-2017 at 09:38 AM.
it was hard to me to find 2000 grit but i found 1500 grit at home depot. im sure tractor supply co or walmart or even autozone has it.
and i googled it to find the difference. rubbing compound is to remove the surface damage. its a heavy duty type polish. and polish it for the final glass finish we look for.
i was scared to try the meguire though i read alot and watch alot of videos on them using it. i still went with turtle wax. and the rubbing compound honestly is important in my opinion it will remove imperfections from the wet sanding. then the polish will just make everything super glossy. but i used a lot of rubbing compound compared to polish.
once i used the rubbing compound it was pretty glossy then i hit it with a couple coats of polish. but then again your doing your entire car and i was only doing a hood.
i could see why people would say skip the rubbing compound and use meguire. just do your research before you make your decision. its all about opinon at this point lol apples to apples.
i would highly recommend buying a motorized polisher or a kit like i did for my battery drill it did great.
FYI: rubbing compound is like using 800 grit or 100 grit sand paper and polish is like using 1500-2000 if that helps any. its just stepping up the grit to a finer and finer grit to remove imperfections
You should be able to find everything you could ever need at a body shop supply place.
Car's looking awesome! Proceed carefully though. You make the paint look too good, and you'll need to replace the trim. Replace the trim and you'll need to replace the emblems. Replace the emblems and...... Well, you know.
Nice work!
Dr_Snooz
"I like to take hammers, and just break stuff, just break stuff." - Beavis
1989 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe, 240k miles, MT swap, rear disc swap
Shop manual downloads available here: CLICK TO VIEW
Well, ikr ! I surely will proceed slowly from this point. Will let the paint cure and harder a bit before next step. Thx both for comments.
i am very impressed i cannot wait until i am ready to paint my car fully!!!! get done fixing it up mechanically sound then my little dinosaur will be ready for paint!
Update: I waited 3 weeks then went get Turtle wax rubbing, polishing and spray wax today. I did the hood and headlights by hand. I think the paint really hardened and it was not easy to do it by hand. I skipped the final wet sanding (lazy me) and went straight to rubbing (x2), polishing (x2) then sprayed wax. I do not see a big difference compared to before. Anyway, orange peels becoming more apparent now. I'm considering getting a polisher and redo it. I may need to do 2000 wet sanding as well. You can compare the hood to the right fender (which has not polished or waxed, only 6th coats).
Last edited by AC439; 03-17-2017 at 09:20 AM.
wet sanding will get rid of the orange peel (atleast most of it) but other than the orange peel starting to show. IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!!! def. worth testing this out. now that you figured it out next time (if ever) you will fly right through it!!! great job man. glad you took what you read and applied it. i am not far behind you. i am finished with suspension fuel system coolant system about finished with oil system and then moving onto brakes!!! then ill paint again lol i couldnt justify painting my whole car when it wouldnt even make it to another state in the shape it was in lol
yeah, I am pleased with the result anyway. Tomorrow has to fix the tint - taking off and put new ones on. Windows can't roll down cause the tint is peeling off.
awesome man, are you planning on doing that yourself too? ive never tinted anything but i will attempt to before i paint over the summer.
yes, I have tinted before. The biggest challenge for me is the inside rubber strip at the top of the door panel rubbing off the tint. I think it has hardened over the years and pressing against the tint. Also tugging the tint under that rubber strip is a pain so I would take door panel off to put tint on. While I have the door panel off, I am planning to trim the rubber strip so it won't press against the tint.
Great idea man. I may need to do that as well!!! Thanks for the info.
That paint should be looking good now huh?
Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk
I bought a DA polisher from HF with a few pads. I skipped the final wet sanding straight to compound. I then realized it wouldn't give a smooth surface (the turtle wax rubbing compound just doesn't have the cutting power). The paint has also hardened a lot. I bought some 2000 grits and started wet sanding and it did not cut much either. The layer of water is floating the sand paper. I have to go back to 1000 to 1500 grits then 2000 grits (have not started).
Tinting was a pain in the butt. Getting door panels off was a lot of work and the clips at the top edge were so difficult to come off.
Will post pics once I get a chance to go back to wet sanding and polishing.
Last edited by AC439; 03-27-2017 at 07:35 PM.
LOL. Yeah, those clips are a gem. I remember getting my car back from the dealer once long ago. They had removed the door panel and when they reinstalled it, they didn't even bother reconnecting those clips right. The panel was just resting on top of the clips. LOL
Dr_Snooz
"I like to take hammers, and just break stuff, just break stuff." - Beavis
1989 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe, 240k miles, MT swap, rear disc swap
Shop manual downloads available here: CLICK TO VIEW
I worked on the roof, wet sanded with 1000 then to 2000. (I hated wet sanding because I don't have the faith I can get the reflection back doing compounding and polishing.)
I then used the DA polisher with an orange cutting pad and did about 4-5 passes using turtle wax rubbing compound over a period of 2 days. I am getting back a lot of reflections but those high spots wet sanded by 2000 grits still not giving good reflection and hazy looking closeup. I don't think I have developed the skills yet with the DA polisher. I ruin a pad already setting speed to 5 and using too much pressure pressing down. Now I slow it down to 3 - 4 and let the weight of the polisher to do the job. Also, I'm not sure how much rubbing compound to use. Basically is trial and error for now.
I am thinking I should move on to using polishing compound for 2 - 3 passes then wax it and see what happens.
Worked some more today - One pass of polishing compound then lazy spray wax. Somehow cannot get the shine no matter how many passes of rubbing or polishing. Today is a bit cloudy so the pics may look darker.
Last edited by AC439; 03-31-2017 at 06:48 AM.
love it man! looks a whole lot better in my opinion. i cannot wait to paint this spring!!!! or summer whenever i finish with a couple more things
The lower grit papers will cut deep gouges in the paint. You slowly transition to the higher grits in an effort to remove the deep gouges until you get a mirror smooth result. You'll have to spend more time with the higher grits to get down to remove the deep gouges left by the previous grit. If you move too fast, you don't get them all out. You end up removing a lot of paint before it's all done.
Another possibility is that you need to do something like a clay bar.
Dr_Snooz
"I like to take hammers, and just break stuff, just break stuff." - Beavis
1989 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe, 240k miles, MT swap, rear disc swap
Shop manual downloads available here: CLICK TO VIEW
When I did the 2000 wet sanding, a little bit water seemed to be able float the sand paper making it not cutting into the paint. That may be the reason that I am not getting a smooth enough surface before compounding / polishing.
I read about clay bar but they all saying it is to remove dirt but will not remove or cut into paint. I thought clay bar would *fill* imperfection on paint surface but apparently is not. Will clay bar help in my situation ?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks