Buffed out the pinstriping myself (1 Viewer)

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My wifey is due back tomorrow night and I posted the wheeling trip my 6yo son and I took her 80 on last week. The pinstripes from pushing through brush were the worst I've ever done to any vehicle. So, I talked to a couple detailers and was kinda put off by the $200 price to buff out the scratches. I'm a loser at waxing and such and really have zero talent at it. But I went to the local auto detailing and paint supply shop and got some advice. They sold me 3M 05973 Rubbing Compound and suggested one of their $90 polishers. I decided to just get the compound and a terry cover for the cheapo orbital polisher I borrowed. Once I did this, he suggested I use the wooly cover it came with to get rid of the scratches, then wax with the terry cover.

So, i got home with misgivings. I was worried the compound would literally make the paint look 'sanded' and dull but he assured me 3M had the right combination that could take off clear coat to remove scratches but that would not happen. I timidly went after the worst panel, the front fender and used about 5 inches of the product squirted in a line. Went over the panel with only a few pounds of pressure, and hit the scratched area twice. Wiped it off and the scratches are GONE and the clearcoat is still glossy! How they do that I have no idea.

So, I did all the other side panels in a total time of about 15 minutes. Wiped the entire side of the truck off at once, then went back with a fresh towel for any residue. Wiping it off is unlike getting a wax off - you just rub it dry and it turns into a powder with no elbow grease whatsoever. No scratches from the buffer, either. I did it in the driveway on a calm day.

If I were more uptight, I'd put on the wax, but incredibly the truck's clearcoat was glossier than when I started and I just chose to go play with my son on our last day as batchelors and will wax it later.

So, for those of you like me unfamiliar with getting pinstriping off, it's a piece of cake. I spent about $40 on product and a cheap buffer like the orbital I borrowed is about $40 if you bought one. I have enough product to easily do this 15 more times. Cleanup of the pads was amazing - it's water soluble not like getting wax out of a pad. Took about one minute. So total of less than 1 hour to do including washing the car to get ready. Even an idiot can do this.

DougM
 
good to know, was about to experiment myself.

what is this wooley cover? is that like fake sheepskin?
 
Nice! :beer:

Now you can step up to stuff like the Porter Cable 7274 and more obscure/niche polishes and waxes ;)

I had a hard time believing it was possible too, but I dove in head first and loaded up on stuff from www.autopia.org and I swear by the time I finished the paint had to look better than it did when it came from the factory. :D


Maybe a nice father's day gift? The "perfect shine" kit is pretty good, but I'm curious to see what you got from the store as far as buffers go... most are a joke compared to the 7274.

Glad you too have become one of the convinced few who have brought a destroyed paint job back to life ;)

-----Nate
 
Yep that 3M is some great stuff, pretty much all of their stuff is. Usally that compound is used to clean up after painting followed by the hand glaze. Both are NOT a wax but straight polish and can be painted after application, so you really should follow with a wax. Infact I have both waiting to clean up my 'cruiser.
 
Nate,

The buffer is a piece of crap that's unbranded and has been sitting in a box for years unused. One benefit of this is the guy at the shop doubted I could get much done in terms of removing material to eliminate the scratches. What my ears heard was "Doug, that piece of crap is so weak it won't let you damage the paint." Yes, the woolie is a pad that is basically fake wool. It worked FINE. It whizzed the scratches right off and once I did one panel I knew I had the Idiot's version that prevented me from doing damage. So, yeah an nice Dewalt or Porter would be nice in the hands of a professional but this is the way to go if you're equally interested in not doing further damage and removing scratches.

Pictures, eh? Imagine a scratched up Cruiser - maybe 30 lines per foot in the clearcoat. Now imagine it sitting in the driveway an hour later reflecting a picture perfect Idaho sunset and looking startlingly glossy. That's it.

I'll look forward to putting the wax on. Based on this it will be a pleasure.

DougM
 
For wax, may I recommend P21S? :D http://www.p21s.com/

Cheap, smells wonderfully like wax, great beading/shine to boot!

At this point to "do it right" you need to swirl mark remove, glaze, polish, seal, wax. It's alot of work but thats how best to finish the job.


Out of curiosity did you clay the paint first? I'm surprised you had so much success with the wool pad on the buffer. The foam pads I use have varying textures and let you "fine tune" how aggressive you want your polish to act. Is it safe to say the wash-n-wax bug has bitten you? :D

It always puts a smile on my face after a great day of wheeling to wash the truck off and have the paint look better than the street-queen mall-rated trucks :cool:
 
Nate,

The buffer is a piece of crap that's unbranded and has been sitting in a box for years unused. One benefit of this is the guy at the shop doubted I could get much done in terms of removing material to eliminate the scratches. What my ears heard was "Doug, that piece of crap is so weak it won't let you damage the paint." Yes, the woolie is a pad that is basically fake wool. It worked FINE. It whizzed the scratches right off and once I did one panel I knew I had the Idiot's version that prevented me from doing damage. So, yeah an nice Dewalt or Porter would be nice in the hands of a professional but this is the way to go if you're equally interested in not doing further damage and removing scratches.
Doug, I felt the same as you, trust me! I was very timid about using the PC on my paint, and I felt like I was any second away from polishing right through.

I've since done a few cars, and I have to say the 7424 is a dream to use and I'm very confident a newb-polisher can do little to no damage following a few rules and using the right products. The key is to remember to start less abrasive, and if you need more abrasion, then step up your polish. Also, go slow, make regular slow and straight motions and you won't introduce swirls, and stay off the edge of the pad.

The serious detailer stuff is not a random orbital buffer... they use a rotary buffer which is a huge difference and has a big learning curve. I won't touch one with a 10 foot pole because the potential to destroy a paint finish is very high, but I'm told the random orbital buffers are all pretty darn idiot-proof.

Check out this link:
http://guidetodetailing.com/articles.php?articleId=47
 
I tackled the pinstriping on mine this weekend as well. I thought the paint needed a good detailing anyhow. I gave it a good wash, clayed the paint, and used a non-abrasive paint cleaner, before using Meguiars's ScratchX to remove most of pinstriping with elbow grease.

Before today I had never used detailing clay. I was surprised how much gunk the clay pulled off. I'd suggest trying it at least once given our vehicles are exposed to much more than the normal everyday driver.

I'll have to look into 3M 05973 for some of the tougher pinstriping.
 
Before today I had never used detailing clay. I was surprised how much gunk the clay pulled off. I'd suggest trying it at least once given our vehicles are exposed to much more than the normal everyday driver.

I'll have to look into 3M 05973 for some of the tougher pinstriping.
Detailing clay is a must before polishing, thats why I asked Doug. It always disgusts me after a year to clay and see what had etched itself to my clearcoat with the clay. It is also invaluable for removing road tar and lovebugs, and old clay is great for cleaning glass! Really old clay also works wonders on rims. Soapy water is, in my opinion, the easiest lube for it as well.

As far as scratch repair, my product of choice for the pretty bad stuff is sonus SFX-1:
http://autopia-carcare.com/son-410.html
It is a cutting polish that automatically breaks down into smaller particles as you use it, so it starts out pretty aggressive and leaves a perfectly flat paint finish when its broken down. The good thing about it though, is you can use it on SFX-1 though 3 pads depending on how bad the scratches is.

To be fair though, I do use 3M products when detailing the boat :cool:
 
Detailing clay is a must before polishing, thats why I asked Doug. It always disgusts me after a year to clay and see what had etched itself to my clearcoat with the clay. It is also invaluable for removing road tar and lovebugs, and old clay is great for cleaning glass! Really old clay also works wonders on rims. Soapy water is, in my opinion, the easiest lube for it as well.

As far as scratch repair, my product of choice for the pretty bad stuff is sonus SFX-1:
http://autopia-carcare.com/son-410.html
It is a cutting polish that automatically breaks down into smaller particles as you use it, so it starts out pretty aggressive and leaves a perfectly flat paint finish when its broken down. The good thing about it though, is you can use it on SFX-1 though 3 pads depending on how bad the scratches is.

To be fair though, I do use 3M products when detailing the boat :cool:

I'm glad I clayed the the paint today. I had never seriously considered using it until last week. It was well worth the effort.

ScratchX works the same way as Sonus SFX-1. The abrasives diminish as you work it into the surface :cool: Though, I don't think its as abrasive as the aforementioned 3M product.
 
Yes, the model the shop suggested I buy was a straight polisher - not a random orbit one. I also heard they can burn through the paint and do damage in an idiot's hands.

Speaking of boats, I'm planning to do mine soon. How do you handle the decals? Mine has a graphic package and I'm worried about scratching/melting them. Not a worry with the random orbit? I used a normal rotating one once and started to tear up decals so stopped.

DougM
 
I put blue painters tape over the decals if I'm using a heavy abrasive and try not to hit them... otherwise I just go over them. You can start to eat through them with a heavy abrasive and soak adhesives into the pad of the orbital, which is obviously a huge pain ;)
 
Ooh, good call on the tape. It's just mild oxidation on the deck/cabin so the 3M product I got will get most of it. Boats are way more of a pain with cleats, snaps, vents, hatches, rail stanchions and other interruptions. Give me a car anyday.

DougM
 
so the clay you speak of is a clay bar? ive used this on the taco years ago when lived by some RR tracks and was getting rust spots in the clear from the settling metal debris. For others a warning .... do not drop or contaminate or its ruined and will do lots o damage instead of good to the paint then.
 
This is great info for me. I've got a lot of pinstriping from going places a landcruiser barely fits. However I'm still reluctant to remove them as I don't want to lose even that little thickness of paint and I rather expect that I'll still be adding some stripes in the future.

I suppose I'll do this thing if I ever decide to sell the cruiser.


Kalawang
 
Doug, want another recommendation? Use Griot's Garage products. I have been using their products for about 5 years and have never had a problem or complaint. I have a Porter Cable 7424 and it is still going strong after 4 years. The paint sealant (now called One Step Sealant) that Griot's sells is great stuff. You put it on with the buffer and it has a small amount of polish mixed in. It really is a one step procedure. I just used it on a black 2006 BMW 650i and it did great.

Not affiliated with Griot's. I did meet him at a Porsche event and he really does use everything in his catalog prior to pimping it to the masses.

Riley
 
so the clay you speak of is a clay bar? ive used this on the taco years ago when lived by some RR tracks and was getting rust spots in the clear from the settling metal debris. For others a warning .... do not drop or contaminate or its ruined and will do lots o damage instead of good to the paint then.

The clay comes in a small bar that you can shape out. Some clay comes with lubricant. I used the clay kit that Meguaiars puts out. One clay bar should be big enough to do an 80, but I suppose it also depends how contaminated the paint surface is.

This is great info for me. I've got a lot of pinstriping from going places a landcruiser barely fits. However I'm still reluctant to remove them as I don't want to lose even that little thickness of paint and I rather expect that I'll still be adding some stripes in the future.

I suppose I'll do this thing if I ever decide to sell the cruiser.


Kalawang

I was reluctant as well to remove any paint, but have lived with it long enough and got tired looking at the pinstriping. To prevent removing good paint I did everything by hand with ScratchX. Sort of spot treating the paint only where it needed it. :beer:
 
excellent thread! Now I can work on my pinstripes.
Thanks
 
I use one of theose porter cable buffers and they work extremely well. The only downside is that when you're done, you body feels really shaky for about an hour since the buffer has crazy vibrations. You can also use sand paper with it which is a nice bonus. Buffers can get you in trouble if your not careful with them especially with dark paint. Years ago, I had a mishap with a black 911. I was close to tears as experience got the best of me. I learned to start with a side panel or an area least noticable. Even with tons of experience, I always start far away from the hood. Then do the hood last.
 

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