The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Buffing clear coat

Well, I have at last gotten my garnish molding and dash clear coated. I took your advice and stripped the "off brand" clear coat off my parts and after much preping and sanding sprayed "DuPont" clear coat over "DuPonts" brand of paint. I am going to let the clear coat dry for a week while I attend the first show of the season in Myrtle Beach. Question is...with all these small parts with lots of angles what do I use to buff the clear coat with? I have several sizes buffers/sanders. Which size should I use? Also, what kind of pad(s) work best and what kind of compound? I will be at the show and can buy from the available vendors. I may cry if you say it should be down by hand. Thanks

Hello Beltfed.My question is why are you polishing mouldings?Clear usally lays down really nice on small parts like that and should look way better than the factory paint ever did,after all they did'nt even have clear then.Ya you may want to start crying now,but if your dead set on polishing these it can be very risky on cutting through the clear,I polished an entire full dresser harley once and it took two guys 35 hours to do(not too fun)Now depending what you have for polishers here is what I would try.take your big polisher with a white 3m pad and tape it down very good to a bench,hook up your air with a regulator on the end of the polisher tape the trigger wide open and adjust your preferd speed with the reg.Start with your first compund (Iuse 3m coarse cut)put some polish on your part and carefully work across the pad,don't forget to hang on, the polisher can grab this part in a second and spit it across the room, taking you right back to square one.Continue these steps through your compounds,right up to the finishing compound and a black foam 3m pad, then a final rub by hand.Remember this is very risky to polish small edge covered parts like this,the chances of cutting through are about 75%.You might want to wet sand with 800 and try laying down one nice wet coat of clear.Iam not trying to discourage you but sometimes tring to get paint perfect can drive you crazy!
:hammering:

beltfed, I sure hate to hear You putting so
much time and (grief) into Your dash and garnish
moldings...but to help You, We must ask questions
also...Why is it, you want more gloss to than the
final coat of clearcoat offers ? Normally dashes
from the factory are only 30% gloss...I will say
that if You tie a buffing wheel upside down to
polish Your garnish moldings, it will be a disaster,
and You will be looking to buy moldings...is there
dirt, or any other reason You need to buff Your clearcoat...Bill B

Let me start out by saying, I am NOT a painter. When I sprayed them I got little specks or bumps in the clear coat. Other places has overspray, so I need to "knock" those off for the mirror finish I want. I redid these parts because they are woodgrained and after 68 years of sun and cleaning the woodgrain was about gone. I know that the orginial finish was not hi-gloss but with $800.00 just rebuilding the orginial gauges I decided this part of the rebuild was going to make you "stop and stare". BTW Bent, I started building choppers when I was a kid just back from a war in 1971. I've had six hogs and never paid more than $100.00 for any of them. So, plese tell me if I hand sand them...what grits, what compounds and such. I will be leaving at "o-dark-thirty" in the morning in a '39 Chevy sedan custom. Wish me luck and see you there.

Ok now I'am with you ,start with 1500 wet.Get a small pail put some warm soapy water in it.Take your sand paper fold it into threes,now soak it in the water for about half an hour.Keep the paper clean,if you here any scratching sounds dip it in the water to clean it.Hand buffing is the way for this,and because your doing this now I recomend 2000 grit after the 1500 then 3m coarse cut,3m rubbing compound next ,and final step for the finish.also to wipe the polish away I would use a magic rag ask a bodyshop or your local paint store they will know where to locate one .If you need more info let me know and I'll get you part #s