My project

[TwoJ's]

Well I put the wheels back on, pulled it out and started wet sanding today. I have only worked on the heed and got it all flat with 1000 grit. I've still got to hit it with 1500 and then 2000 before the cut and polish. This is going to take forever.

Here it is right wen I pulled it out

[ikkitousen]

Hawt Dayum! Thats a CAR!
What is your painter setup?
Compressor and Gun(s)?

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DAMN WHAT DO I BUY NEXT!!!

[TwoJ's]

Hawt Dayum! Thats a CAR!
What is your painter setup?
Compressor and Gun(s)?

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DAMN WHAT DO I BUY NEXT!!!

Sorry, I missed your post earlier. I am unsure of the brand of compressor as it is not mine, but I believe it is 60 gallon. I am also unsure of the volume flow rate, but it was more than sufficient.

The gun is an Iwata LPH-400. It is a very nice gun, and that is why I am disappointed with the result. I don't know what was different, but the paint that went on the car was not nearly as nice as when we painted the spoilers, side skirts and bumpers. Something changed, and we could not figure out what the hell it was.

But all is well, it will just take some more hours of wet sanding, cutting and polishing. It will be worth it in the end.

[ikkitousen]

... Something changed, and we could not figure out what the hell it was.

But all is well, it will just take some more hours of wet sanding, cutting and polishing. It will be worth it in the end.

You know the paint probably went on the same if all was "the Same": Mix, temp, humidity, dust, primer, sealer, etc...
Just that the panels are bigger and flatter then the smaller pieces so you really notice any/all imperfections in the first few runs.

Did you shoot a thin base coat first or just try and get it all down in one go? Paitence may be more annoying but rushing gives more heart/back ache! Do it right the first time. hehe Sorry I'll stop preaching now!

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DAMN SOAP BOXES!!!

[TwoJ's]

Well I have been sanding on this a little bit at a time for a while now. It's been getting up to like 109 degrees some days and at least 100 for the last two weeks. So I have less motivation to be outside sanding. I've got 99% of the car done with 1000 and about half of it with 1500. I now wish I had just not used 1000 grit at all because it takes forever to get the scratches out with 1500. I took a couple of quick pictures just because. I tried to take a close up of a sanded area, but it just looked like non-glossy black nothing.

Here is a picture of a spot where the orange peel was really bad. This is the last area that needs to be sanded. This is right on top of the rear driver's quarter right behind the antenna hole.



The whole car wasn't this bad, but you can see why I had so much sanding work to do. Luckily the paint was laid on pretty thick.

Here is a shot of how the hood looks after 1500 grit sanding. It is very dirty because I haven't touched that area in a couple of days.



You can see the shaved washer nozzles and roundel.

[e30this]

hooood is soooo smooth.. mmmm I love it.. I have my trunk done right now. I still got so much work ahead of me..

[ThreeTwentyFissel]

Man, I love your Seat's, where can I get something like that?

[e30guydownunder]

great work! always love seeing others do stuff in their sheds at home :) Keep it up

[TwoJ's]

Man, I love your Seat's, where can I get something like that?

They are e36 m3 sport seats. I believe they are in a luxury package or something, I'm not really sure. I found them on the local cca forum.

[TwoJ's]

Well, I got my friend's buffer and wool and foam buffing pads. I have just spent about 20 minutes going over the hood for the first time. I am completely new at this so I am trying to get a feel for the speed I want, how much compound to use and just the general way of doing this. So far I am happy with what I see. It is definitely taking out the sanding marks (I decided to go up to 2000 grit). There are some swirl marks from the buffer, so I will have to get a random orbit (RO) buffer and some swirl remover to take care of that.

My camera is dead so I had to take these pictures with my phone. You can see that I have generally stayed away from any edge until I get a better feel for this process. I am afraid of burning right through the paint.

Here's a shot of the hood as it sits:



And here is a closer shot of the front middle section of the hood where the roundel was:



I started off using a bit too much compound. I also started off at 600 RPM, but I had to jump it up. I am using less compound and have found that about 1200 or 1300 RPM works pretty good. If you've got any tips for me, let me know. I can use all the help I can get.

[TwoJ's]

Well now that I see the pictures in full size, I can tell that the phone camera is not doing it justice. When I look at it from those distances it looks perfectly glossy, and you can only see the swirl marks up close. I'm sure they would be visible if I were to pull it out in the sun too.

And the shit that looks like wrinkled plastic is the plastic on the ceiling of my little booth.

[TwoJ's]

Well the hood is pretty much done with. Just needs to be polished really quickly.

Here are a couple of shots after wiping off a small area:





Looks like it should come out good after all.

[jflip2002]

Definitely a good job.. ended up looking a lot better than post #50 was promising. I envy that hood.

[TwoJ's]

Yeah, when I first saw how the paint came out I was shocked and depressed. I certainly didn't think it would come out this well. And then after wet sanding for that long only to have it look like wannabe flat black, I was even more discouraged.

But you'd be amazed what you can do with a buffer; I sure am. Your paint is single stage, so if the hood is straight, and the paint is still there, you can definitely get it to look like that.

[jflip2002]

Yeah, high speeds are great tools. I dont know if you guys have P&S supply (they supply detail shops and what not.) But they have two products called "Haze Away" and "Velocity Glaze", they are super rich petroleum products which just FEED the paint, they make things look amazing. I even took some 1500 grit and the HA and VG to a big acrylic fish tank that was scratched to hell, and made it look as good as new.

(I envy your hood because mine has some long scratch/crack along it).