I've only had my car for 4 months or so and I've been gradually bringing the paint to the standard that I've been looking for.

I have a 94 Black FD which is never in the rain and only has 20k miles. The previous owner never took it in the rain either...

One issue is the dealership prior to purchase had the car on the lot for 8 months prior to sale - needless to say the paint wasn't cared for the best. With that said it does have some light acid rain etching.

I'm confident I'll be able to buff out the acid stains as I cut into the paint more.. I've explored with my various waxes and found that I've had some problems with polish/wax combinations that have resulted in hazing.

So far I have found the following combo to be pretty good for the paint (remember Black fd). Generally, I've found the synthetic polishes and waxes to be more compatible and seem to leave less hazing.

So here is the approach which I think has worked the best

-- 3m dark swirl remover & polish - stuff is amazing.. Doen't cut as much as one would think to accomplish the swirl marks.

-- Mother's glaze (2 coats) (ez on & off + no dust)

-- And for wax I've had equal success with Eagle one teflon wax & Meguair's No.1 Yellow wax.

I've experimented with my Zymol Concours & Destiny and really haven't had luck - hazing being the biggest issue. I'm also not really interested in trying to get these work right now as I want to provide a higher level of protection.


If anyone could suggest a polishing compound that could cut a little more than the 3m swirl remover I'd be interested in knowing what to try. Esp for a black fd (no - clearcoat)

 

Listen, there's more to paint resto stuff than Mothers. It's a commercial product. There's professional/industrial stuff out there that is the real cutting edge product. Check out www.automagic.com. Depending on what you want to accomplish, they've got whatever you would require, without a doubt. What you can buy off the hardware store shelves simply is not the best product. Look around.

3M makes some good stuff. Talk to an expert too, they'll give invaluable advice on what procedures/steps to take.

You'd probably start with an abrasive cut and a wheel, move to the 3M stuff you're talking about, then to a liquid compound to remove imperfections ( I use Auto Magic 'Awesome Gloss', man is it good), then a final paste with high carnuba content. For those that say carnuba isn't good... cak you! It's natural, and forms a shell, what's to argue with.

 

One word...Zaino I use it on my Montego Blue it's amazing. Granted it does take a long time to apply it all and is fairly expensive and hard to get it works wonders.

 

i 1st learned of automagic in 93 for their tire dressing. ive considered talking to them again as they are about 20 miles from me.


As far as Zaino & Zymol - i think i need something with more cut initially..

 

try 3m perfect it rubbing compound #39002 first to get rid of the etched water spots. Next use 3m SMR. Then add your favorite wax.
Also check out www.Autopia.org. for more info. hope this helps.
btw brilliant black has clear coat.

 

Here's what I'd do:
i) Clay bar treatment
ii) Cut compound
iii) Semi-abrasive compound
iv) Auto Magic mild abrasive compound
v) Auto Magic no abrasion 'awesome gloss'
vi) Coat of 'World's Best Wax' brand carnuba for the mirror shine

Honestly, talk to a professional, he'll tell you what steps to take, and how many different compounds you need to achieve the final result.

Anything you buy off the shelves won't be abrasive enough to really get the kind job you're looking for done. The local parts store won't sell really aggresive cutting compounds because they don't want customers coming back freaking about how they ruined the paint on their Fiero. You'll have to look outside retail stores for industrial stuff (such as Automagic or 3M pro. line stuff or equivalent).

Also, be careful with the cutting compound and a wheel, you don't want to burn spots into the paint.

Good luck, from your pic the car looks good already, I'm sure it will look fantastic when you're done with it.

 

Perfect it is old news, the new Perfect It III system is amazing. I used Auto magic stuff for the last 10 years, its nice for quick bang em out jobs, but 3m is the industry standard. Most Auto Magic stuff is just fillers and doesnt last very long, its good for detail shops that arent high end, I used it only on auction cars and not customers cars. The 3m Perfect it III system ( I say system, its not one step ) is a swirl mark remover, follow it up with your favorite wax, once you get the finish right, a wax by hand once a month is all it will take to stay looking great. There new Finishing glaze blows away the old hand glazes and leaves the black with amazing depth.

 

2 words MOTHERS CLAYBAR......okay and a couple of more words! it works miracles! you can feel the difference on the paint!

 

a clay bar wont do nothing for the depth or gloss. It just cleans the surface dirt of the paint. If you use a clay bar on a black car it actually dulls the car a bit. A car that is washed and kept waxed never needs a clay bar. I never had to use a clay bar on any of my own cars.

 

39002 then 39009 then NU finish. Easy to apply, incredible results, you can use Nu Finish in the sun on a 90 degree day with no problem. Make sure you use a 3M foam compounding bonnet followed by a 3M foam polishing bonnet at around 1000 rpm for best results. You can polish at higher speeds as long as your on metal. Make sure you slow it down for plastic, and edges. also using a quik spray on detailer right after any of the waxes it will eliminate the places where the paint appears lighter or darker from the wax. Carl Byck

 

thanks carl! That is exactly what I was asking Rob.

I have the 3m SMR for dark cars and it is awesome
And I recently bought 39002 compound - I need a polisher though looking at the porter 7424. I'm interested in the differences between a polishing bonet and companounding bonet.

Personally, something which I learned was the Meguiars show car finish ontop of the smr noticably darkens the finish almost mosturizes it. I'd suggest trying it if you have a darker car.

by the way - the etching isn't noticable by touch or fingernail - is it something that can be polished out?

thanks for the feedback!

 

The Bonnets are essential for best results. The compounding bonnet is yellow waffle foam, and fairly firm, the polishing one is gray, and very soft. The makita 9227c(199.00) is the nicest VS polisher I have seen.The Dewalt dw849 is nice as well. You want to have one With a dial to control, and indicate speed. Start withe slow speeds until you get the hang of it so you dont burn the paint. BE VERY CAREFUL on plastic parts, they heat up very fast, I often use speeds as slow as 600rpm on plastic. I have a 97 Supra TT in Royal saphire pearl(dark blue), and this combo is very easy to use, and gives great results. Alot of the waxes mentioned above are great, but none are as easy to use as the NU Finish. You must wax immeiately following polishing or you will wax dust to your finish. The quik detailer will even out any "moisturizing effects" from the waxes. Peace, Carl

 

Here is the main page for 3M progucts. I've painted 4 cars myself and I love their products: http://www.3m.com/us/auto_marine_aero/aad/catalog/

Click here for their more industrial stuff. Once you're on that page, make sure you click on "glazes and polishes".

Here is some other detailing stuff that they sell online, and it's reasonably priced (click on "buy now" and then it gives you the individual items and prices):
http://www21.3m.com/dr/v2/ec_Main.En...P=0&CACHE_ID=0

And lastly, here is a cool video showing how technologically advanced they are:
http://easylink.playstream.com/allst...pot_repair.wvx

More of their videos: http://www.3m.com/us/auto_marine_aer...eo/index.jhtml

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, you can buy virtually all their stuff at any professional auto body supply store.

-Tom

 

for Porter Cable info check http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...threadid=14421

info on how to use check
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums...1430487&page=1

BTW the 3m rubbing compound #39002 should remove the etched water spots. Be sure to use 3m swirl remover or machine polish after. Then your favorite wax.

hope this helps

 

thanks everyone - great info. Cutting the entire thread and going to follow all the g2.

TOM - Any insight as to the difference between their "consumer" and industrial products? Their usage and benefits sound identical.

also I only see the perfect-it II line and not the III - was that a typo???

thanks!

 

That was just me saying their "industrial" stuff, not them. As long as the product name is the same, then it is indeed the same exact stuff.

What I meant by "more industrial" is that
a) they come in larger size bottles, so it's cheaper per ounce.
b)in the "consumer" line, they give you the main basic products but in the "industrial" line, they fill in the gaps in the product line with more darn product choices then you would ever want, which is good for pros looking for an exact product for a very specific paint problem.

And lastly, you said you saw Perfect-It II, not III, but I just went there and found III, not II. I'd assume II is dis-continued, but I'm not sure.

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/e...er/output_html

-Tom

 

cool - I hadn't seen that page.. some pages still show two. Much like their product selection, their web site seems to have equal overlap...