buffing or sanding out sgl stage paint

[Jakno]

My 35 Ford Pickup was painted in 2018 with PPG sgl stage acrylic enamel Dearborn Blue. I have not done anything to the paint since except wash with soap & water. I'm thinking about cleaning up the paint by buffing or wet sanding and giving it a good coat of polish and hard wax to preserve it.
Any advice or experience you could share ?.

[flat-v8]

I painted mine ('36 PU) with single stage urethane, never touched a spray gun in my life! And it looked like crap! Couldn't figure out how to lay down single stage perfect in one sweep, so I just sanded down all the runs, drips, and orange peel, basically the whole truck! and put about 4 coats of clear coat, then was able to sand that smooth with 2000 and buff out with Meguiar's polish, turned out pretty nice! I got lucky, pure amateur!

[mrtexas]

Buy a 1000 grit stone to get the runs out. They are the size of a matchbox. Too much chance to sand thru with paper. Start with 1000 grit, then 2000 then buff. Easy but be careful of edges and don't sand thru.

[37 Cab]

I think you mean start with 1000 grit, then 2000 then buff. I usually start with 1000 then do 1500, then a medium compound followed by a fine compound if necessary, then polish.

[Jakno]

Is it best to always sand prior to buffing if the paint has minimal defects ?.

[37 Cab]

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A buffer and polish will shine your surface but will not remove any surface scratches or imperfections. If it is already pretty nice I would sand with 2000 staying away from edges you may not want to buff the sanding marks from. Do a panel both ways and see what you like.

[Flathead Fever]

Unless you know how thick the paint was applied I don't think I would go sanding on it. Paint is expensive and somebody might have just sprayed enough paint to cover it with no intentions of color sanding it. Especially if they thought hey were going to sell it. Plus if the body is wavy and you color sand and buff it out the paint those imperfections will really show up like one of those wavy mirrors in a carnival fun house.

If you do decide to color sand it pick a spot like the roof so if you do sand through and need to repaint it you won't notice it.

[flathead48]

Always sand before buffing, that levels the paint and removes orange peel.if you try buffing first you will probably burn through before you smooth out the paint. I normally start with 1200 wet with soft rubber block than 1500 ,2000 then 2500 just be careful near edges or ridges. Use a small rubber squeegee about 6 inches wide to wipe down the area you are working so you can see your progress. Good luck

[Willit Stop]

Wet sand in the direction of the panel with 2000 wet paper wrapped around a flexible sanding pad,similar to semi-dense foam rubber so it will conform to the shape of the panel. Using a bucket of water with a few squirts of dish soap as a lubricant, wet an area,sand, then squeegee off the water with a rubber squeegee. You will then see if you've sanded enough. Don't go too far....a few shiny spots will be ok. As mentioned before,stay away from edges while sanding or buffing.Do those by hand. Buffing or rubbing compound comes in different grits,just like sand paper and also for machine buffing or hand rubbing. If you choose to machine buff with a medium compound followed by a fine compound, you will need a buffing pad for each. Do not mix them up. The medium compound will contaminate the pad meant for fine and will leave swirls.Use very light pressure and very slow speed while buffing. Ask your local automotive paint store which compounds and buffing pads would be best. Wash off any dirt before you wet sand. It will take some time.Be patient and do one panel at a time. Good luck.

[VeryTangled]

Originally Posted by Jakno

I'm thinking about cleaning up the paint by buffing or wet sanding and giving it a good coat of polish and hard wax to preserve it.
Any advice or experience you could share ?.

Buff by hand and polish can't hurt anything, can it? Sanding or orbital buffing... Who knows? Step 1 then step 2?

[bill3337]

I've done a few of my cars for a show finish, but you need to know how much paint is on there. With base clear, I shoot 3 coats of base and 4 coats of clear. I block sand the clear to start with 800 grit to get rid of orange peel and any runs. With runs, I put a thin film of polyester putty over the run with a bondo spreader and start sanding with 800 or 1000 grit. That way the run will show through first and the putty will protect the paint around it, until you've got the run virtually out. I block again with 1000 grit at 90 degrees to the 800, then follow up with 1200 at the same angle of the 800, then 1500 at 90 degrees, then you can sand once more with 2,000. I do the 2000 to follow the front to back lines of the body. I have a Trizact sander and sometimes will use 3000 and 5000 on the Trizact (da) before polishing, but you don't usually need to go that far. I use the 3M polishes with my buffer, with diffent pads for each compound. Keep everything spotlessly clean. I do it once with #1, then follow with #2 and #3 and then make a final pass with #3 again in a da polisher to help get rid of any swirl marks. You can skip a few steps, but in the sanding, always follow up with the next grit. You could start with 1200 or 1500 if you're not worried about orange peel. The principal of sanding 90 degrees with each varying grit is so you can tell when you've completely removed the sanding marks from the previous sanding.....that's a critical step. Here's a shot of the door on my '33 five window that was done that way.

[38bill]

Does the paint have major flaws like runs or overspray? If not I sure wouldn't sand it. Check out the products from 3M or some other brand vendor. There are plenty of polishes and glazes with different abrasives to start with that would be much safer than sanding. If they don't get you the results that you want you can still wet sand. You will need several different grades of polish after you sand anyway so you wont be out anything.

[Jakno]

Thank you Gentlemen for all your advice and experience. Gives me the courage I need.