what to follow up after 3m perfect it 3 rubbing compound?

[chiapetchua01]

hey guys

so i finished painting my car

i'm going to hit it with 1500 and 2000 grit wetsanding

i have a pc7424 and it came with perfect it III rubbing compound

the guy i bought it said it would be great to clean up all the scratches from the wetsanding

my question si what do I follow up with after? is there anything i can follow up with that I can pick up at a walmart, target, or kragen type of store?



Thanks!

 

[Accumulator]

..so i finished painting my car

i'm going to hit it with 1500 and 2000 grit wetsanding

i have a pc7424 and it came with perfect it III rubbing compound

the guy i bought it said it would be great to clean up all the scratches from the wetsanding

my question si what do I follow up with after? is there anything i can follow up with that I can pick up at a walmart, target, or kragen type of store?

Welcome to Autopia!



Which 3M PI-III RC do you have? They made a few different ones (gee, PI-III stuff was superceded by PI-3000 a long time ago, thought I was the only guy still using PI-III!).



Via PC, you don't want to use the PI-III Extra Cut; it won't break down properly. The PI-III RC 05933 finishes out pretty well but won't work all that effectively (or at least not too efficiently) on 2K scratches unless the paint is very soft.



For a follow-up, you could look for Meguiar's Scratch-X v2.0 or maybe even just their Swirl-X. Or check the yellow pages for the local autopaint/body supply store and see what they have.



If I were doing the work, and using a PC for this, I'd do the final sanding with 3K or even 4K.



Even if it means dragging this out and taking a lot more time, I'd rather do things properly and have a greated chance of satisfactory results than jump in and try to do something that's not likely to work out very well

 

[chiapetchua01]

thanks for the response!

so i believe its the 05933 don't have the bottle next to me but i'm pretty sure that's the name



so here's the order i'm getting at so far:

1500

2000

3000

4000



then hit it with:

1. 05933

2. some sort of swirl remover

3. polish

4. sealer



sounds good?



on a side note, i don't think i sprayed enough clear coat

kinda cut through the paint on a corner not noticeable from far but it makes me wary

how long should i spend on an area sanding? i want to sand till the area is completely dull right, no small patches of shine?



and what's the most effective way to protect clear coat?



Thanks!

 

[Accumulator]

thanks for the response!

so i believe its the 05933 don't have the bottle next to me but i'm pretty sure that's the name



so here's the order i'm getting at so far:

1500

2000

3000

4000



then hit it with:

1. 05933

2. some sort of swirl remover

3. polish

4. sealer



sounds good?

Others here know a lot more about wetsanding than I do; I pretty much just muddle through when I really need to do it. That said, IMO you could probably skip the 4K.



Yeah, after the 3M PI-III RC 05933 you use a swirl remover. How aggressive you'll need to be will depend on how hard the paint is and how bad the residual marring from the 05933 is. DO NOT quit with the 05933 until *ALL* the sanding artifacts are gone; people often switch to a milder step too soon.



That said, I like to follow my compounds with M205 (really, *REALLY* oily though) or 1Z High Gloss Polish. But Menzerna has a lot of products that are at least as good as either of those (I'm just not an authority on that line).



I don't wax/seal fresh repaints until they've cured/finished outgassing. In the meantime I use a fresh-paint-safe glaze like Meguiar's M05. But I hear Optimum Car Wax is approved by Ford for "post-production" paintwork, and others do just go ahead and wax/seal fresh paint.

on a side note, i don't think i sprayed enough clear coat

kinda cut through the paint on a corner not noticeable from far but it makes me wary

I'd fix that right now before going any farther. Cutting through is off-the-scale bad; even just thinning the clear a lot is gonna precipitate premature failure. Clear oughta be so thick that cutting through isn't even remotely a consideration.



Seriously, IMO if you don't get more clear on there the whole thing will probably end up being a waste of time (yeah, I realize how awful that sounds but I really want to impress upon you how serious this is).

how long should i spend on an area sanding? i want to sand till the area is completely dull right, no small patches of shine?

Again, you'll get better info from somebody more knowledgeable. *I* would just cut the high spots down a bit which would leave some patches of shine in the "low areas", but that's because I'm a fanatic about having a healthy paintjob. People who are fanatical about having dead-smooth/zero-orangepeel paint would go farther but you need a lot of clear if you're gonna do that.



Remember that you'll be taking off *more* clear after the sanding (compounding/polishing) and you need to also leave enough for future corrections. Again, it should be so thick that you never even have to think about worrying.

and what's the most effective way to protect clear coat?

Keep it thick and (once it's cured) keep it protected with wax/sealant. And avoid sunlight, bird-bombs, bug guts, etc. as much as feasible.