Rear gas tank and front tilt hood pics..

[SVT32VDOHC]

Yeah, buy some 1500 and some 2000 grit. If you have rough areas hit those with some 1000 first. Dry it all off and see where your orange peel still appears. You'll see the flat areas you wetsanded, then the low orange peely areas will still be shiney. Try and use a block with the wet sand paper. It comes out much better. Don't buy cheap sandpaper either....use 3M stuff only.

I like using 3M Perfect-It II compound. Perfect-It III cuts faster but I also noticed is marrs up black paint too much. It leaves too many scratches. So stick to number II on a foam pad and rotary wheel. Then follow up and it rub it with some Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover (which is awesome) or some 3M Finesse-It. (never used this stuff, but my supplier says its great) You should have a nice glossy finish if everything is done right.

All this takes a lot of time. You get out what you put in, so if it takes you a whole week to wetsand and rub the car the way you want it....take that whole week. I might spend like 3 nights (9 hours) just wet sanding, drying and going back over spots. Then I'll rub it out usually in a day, then go back over spots the next day.

 

[MAC'n89Blckstng]

I hate buffing entire cars, it takes soooo damn long.

 

[satanas]

Yeah, buy some 1500 and some 2000 grit. If you have rough areas hit those with some 1000 first. Dry it all off and see where your orange peel still appears. You'll see the flat areas you wetsanded, then the low orange peely areas will still be shiney. Try and use a block with the wet sand paper. It comes out much better. Don't buy cheap sandpaper either....use 3M stuff only.

I like using 3M Perfect-It II compound. Perfect-It III cuts faster but I also noticed is marrs up black paint too much. It leaves too many scratches. So stick to number II on a foam pad and rotary wheel. Then follow up and it rub it with some Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover (which is awesome) or some 3M Finesse-It. (never used this stuff, but my supplier says its great) You should have a nice glossy finish if everything is done right.

All this takes a lot of time. You get out what you put in, so if it takes you a whole week to wetsand and rub the car the way you want it....take that whole week. I might spend like 3 nights (9 hours) just wet sanding, drying and going back over spots. Then I'll rub it out usually in a day, then go back over spots the next day.

Thanks SVT.. Yeah i want it done right so if it takes me all week so be it...LOL..

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

You're welcome. Take your time, and like I always say start this stuff with a clear head, don't rush anything. Once you get it all flat and buffed in one area, you get all geeked to see the rest of the car so you hurry, but don't....don't bother buffing anything til the cars finish is flat and dull and even.

 

[satanas]

You're welcome. Take your time, and like I always say start this stuff with a clear head, don't rush anything. Once you get it all flat and buffed in one area, you get all geeked to see the rest of the car so you hurry, but don't....don't bother buffing anything til the cars finish is flat and dull and even.

Thanks again will be going to the paint shop to get the compounds, one more thing you said to use a foam pad,.. ON everything all compound? or just on one compound, or do i go with different buffing pads or wool pads or waffle pads...? not sure which ones to use .. Sorry for all the questions!!!

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Thanks again will be going to the paint shop to get the compounds, one more thing you said to use a foam pad,.. ON everything all compound? or just on one compound, or do i go with different buffing pads or wool pads or waffle pads...? not sure which ones to use .. Sorry for all the questions!!!

Yes, on everything. I have never used a wool pad. IMO with how soft fresh paint is, wool is too rough. You could really tear up and scratch fresh paint. Foam is all you need.

I get the Meguiars yellow pad 8" and use that with the Perfect-It II. I really like the 8" Meguiars waffle pads for polishing. I use the grey one or the blue one which is even softer than the grey one for polishings and waxing. I like matching those pads with Meguiars #9 swirl remover and the #26 High-Tech Yellow Wax. Waffles pads are sweet, you'll love them.

 

[satanas]

I went to the paint shop to buy my stuff,,,,,,Never thought i would end up spending that much on the compounds, pads and the sand paper...wow.. good thing my girl supports my addiction to my car...LOL.. well anyways i started sanding the orage peel today .. boy did i have orange peel... I finished a top of a quarter panel. top of the door and some few pases of the front fender left it like that to show how much orange peel i had.. What i liked is that my dust/dirt i felt before are gone, its so smooth now.Also there was a really bad spot i had, I thoought i would need retouching up.. Wet sanded, it was good. I went with 1000 in some parts then hit it with 1500. Going to finish it with the 2000 after i do the whole car with 1500. I have some pictures not completely done i can still see some specs of the orage peel. should i leave it for the compound to take it off?will it take care of it or should i sand some more?heres some pictures.. will finish up sometime this week.. might take the day off sanding tomorrow had to many long days working, coming home and then working on my car... I don't want to mess things up because i was tired..pictures look dirty didn't clean after i sanded..

IS this exceptable can i finish it of with the compound or should i sand some more? i still have to give one more pass but with 2000..this bottom picture

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Wow man, great job so far. For your first time, I am impressed. You are 95% there. Those shiney spots here and there....sand those down more until they are gone. You want the entire area like the rest of the car where there aren't any of those tiny shiney spots. If you rubbed the car as it is right now, it would look great, but take the extra step to get rid of those spots and it will look fantastic!!

I took a bunch of pics of what I did to my car last night. I'll share them with you here. I'll also post them in my own progress thread....

This is after a quick pass with 1500 on my Dual Action sander.

This is after a follow up pass with the same peice of 1500 on my Dual Action sander.
Notice how the spots are (for the most part) gone. Those tiny tiny tiny spots I don't worry about, they won't show up. You want to get rid of the ones in groups....get it?

Almost perfectly wet-sanded section against fresh paint that has not been sanded on yet (in the light) Of course there is one circle...darn it...I'm gonna go back for that!!! LOL

You are doing just fine, keep it up and keep posting pics!!

 

[satanas]

That looks good... Well thanks for the tips..I'm actually going to go buy a DA sander, It will speed up work i want to polish this weekend..I have a 45 dollar gift card from home depot so might go get my DA...I was kind of scared to sand my car with 1500 but i think i got over it... Going power tomorrow....LOL.. Do you use an electric or air DA.. Thinking about buying the air DA...I'm tired didn't work on the car today.. Tomorrow i will...

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

It's a National Detroit DA. You don't have to get one that good, that's pretty much top of the line. Any DA will work fine. It runs off of air. And also....remember to keep that thing moving. Don't stay in once spot, keep moving. Keep in mind also, that the 1500 DA paper was like 75 dollars for a box of 25. If you are trying to keep cost down, you might just wanna finish by hand. At least you don't have a roof and stuff cause it's a vert. lol. I hate roofs, takes forever and you gotta stand on a ladder.

 

[hemi_fan]

There's a lot of good info in this thread! Nice pics too guys. I am thinking of trying my hand at bodywork this summer. Last year when I rolled my front fenders one had a bit of bondo in it and it cracked all to hell. I was thinking of taking it down with some 400-grit, then re-bondo, hit it with some 400 or 600 to smooth, prime, then hit it with some rattle-can touch-up paint and clear. Do you think it'll look half-decent or match the other black paint at all? I am just tired of looking at cracked bondo lol.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

400 won't smooth out or take off any bondo. If bondo cracks you are going to want to removed it until the crack is gone. It's best to take it all off and start fresh, but it depends on how much time you want to take and how long you wanna spend. I'd start with 150 if it's a small area, feather edge the area to smooth it out. Then start putting new bondo on it, sand, prime, sand prime til it's straight. Sounds easy, but it takes time and experience.

 

[hemi_fan]

400 won't smooth out or take off any bondo. If bondo cracks you are going to want to removed it until the crack is gone. It's best to take it all off and start fresh, but it depends on how much time you want to take and how long you wanna spend. I'd start with 150 if it's a small area, feather edge the area to smooth it out. Then start putting new bondo on it, sand, prime, sand prime til it's straight. Sounds easy, but it takes time and experience.

Good tip, its less than 1/2 inch on the bottom of the driver's fender. I just want it less noticable, don't want to go through a lot of trouble to re-do it perfectly. If I was going to put in that many hours I'd just pick up a new fender and get it sprayed professionally. I just want it so it's not as noticeable.

 

[satanas]

I started some more sanding yesterday i'm doing stuff by hand so its time consuming...Here are some pictures of my progress.. I did the top part of quarter, door and top of front fender...

 

[87GT Drop Top]

Great work so far. I can't wait to see it when it's done. I'm sure pictures won't do it any justice.

 

[satanas]

Didn't do much today been tired. To many overnighters. May work on it some more tomorrow..Seems like im loosing interest on the sanding..only worked for like 1hr today...I want to get the paint stuff out of the way already.I want to get it running to see how it sounds.. can't wait...

 

[satanas]

SANDING SUCKS!!!!...That's all I got to say!

 

[satanas]

Did some work this weekend ...need to do more sanding but I was curious how it was going to come out by giving it one pass with the pad it looked great will post some pictures tomorrow

 

[pedro]

You hate sanding! Tell that to me... I've been "painting" my car for the last 2 months, but when it comes to sanding, either it gets me too tired soon or Jesus, I don't wanna do it, LOL!

 

[satanas]

You hate sanding! Tell that to me... I've been "painting" my car for the last 2 months, but when it comes to sanding, either it gets me too tired soon or Jesus, I don't wanna do it, LOL!

Yeah tell me about it......I reallly hate sanding been doing that for a long time on the same car...lol