it's gonna be pretty

Sweet! I've been toying with the idea of doing that to my hood, rear fenders and trunklid on a boring weekend some time, but I don't know if I trust myself to do it right. Make sure to post before and after pics and a some tips on how not to mess it up :nice:
 
Dont burn through the paint. It is VERY easy to do. Only wet sand and buff the flat areas, NO CURVES! Oh, and I would probably only use the 2000 unless the clear is really chitty, or its in an area that has ALOT of clear on it.

Do you have all the right pads and compounds?
 
Well, 2 days later, and I'm almost done! I'm a few minutes away from finishing the buffing, then on to polishing. I also decided to paint my mirrors and cowl panel flat black while I was doing some "show" work. I can't wait to roll it out into the sunlight! They say black is the hardest color to wet sand/buff, but I've got her looking pretty good! Only 3 hours til sunset, and I still have to wax it.

Squeeze- I went to the body shop I used to work at, so I've got all the right compounds and whatnot. I've seen enough buffing/polishing with electric buffers, so burning paint hasnt been a problem.

See yall in a few hours..
 
Ok, toe typing in progress!! Sorry for the suspense, I had to work last night. As I stated earlier, I wet sanded the whole car using 1500, then 2000 grit. Buffed with an electric buffer with 3M Rubbing compound, then with 3M's Performance finish followed with Meguiars Deep Crystal (whatever that means) system Carnauba Wax. Smooooooth as a baby's bottom!!! And yes, my arms were pretty dang tired. Also, the mirrors and cowl panel look great in flat black. The pictures I took with my camera are decent... I took some more creative ones with my moms d-slr. I'll see if I can get them and post em up later. The pics dont do it justice, however my front bumper sucks..

The beginning:
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Everything wetsanded:
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Cowl getting prepped for paint:
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Mirror prep:
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Painted cowl:
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Painted mirror:
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Nice deep gloss :nice:
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Just like a mirror!
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All done!
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Victory!!
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This came in the mail the day I finished, what a wonderful day it was... This will be going in my 68, on a future 351 Windsor. Its a 670cfm vac secondaries with elec choke :D
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Daaayyyyyymmmnnn skippy :nice:

That looks great! I especially like the front-end pic, looks ridiculously glossy. I'm sure the pics don't do it justice. I might just get myself an electric buffer/polisher one of these days and have a go at it. My paint has so many swirl marks, and I probably can't afford to paint it this year.
 
It really didnt cost too much. You really only need 2 sheets of 1500, 2 sheets of 2000, wet sanding block, rubbing compound (~$7), polishing compound (~$7), wax. The electric buffer is most expensive, maybe around 30 bucks at Wally world. It just takes a whole lotta time and being careful.

You dont necessarily have to sand it- buffing and polishing would probably do some good.

The front end pic is my background :D
 
looks good..I buffed my hood,fenders,1/4 panel a few weekends ago at work becuase I just painted the door and fender...hard water spots were a PITA...I used that 3m rubbing with wool pad,3m (black) polishing compound. I did it in 45 minutes and came out pretty good. I should have wet sand 2000grit but im saving that for a sunny day at home and not at the shop. Oh yeh meguiars carnuba wax does great after the "cut and buff"