1957 Thunderbird Full Wetsand

[JohnKleven]

This car came to me after a full respray. The car was properly prepped, with all windows, badges, trim removed before paint. However there were a ton of nibs (dirt in paint) that had to be sanded out, runs, sags, and a bunch of orangepeel. These first pics. show how the car came to my shop. The third picture show the amount of dirt I found in some parts of the paint. All these were sanded out and flat. I started by nibbing any dirt out of the paint with 1000 grit on a DA pneumatic sander. Then sanded the entire vehicle with 1500 grit, followed by 2000 grit.

 

[JohnKleven]

These pics show the vehicle fully sanded, then polished with a white wool pad and Menz Power Gloss. I then went to an orange CCS pad and SIP mostly at 3000 rpms, then slowed it down to 1000 rpms with a white CCS pad and Menz Super Finish. Unfortunately this paint was too fresh to wax, so I simply spray waxed with some Sonax Spray Wax.

 

[JohnKleven]

Here are a few more shots of the finished product. Now I just have to detail the thing. Gotta get all the sanding sludge out of the door jambs, cracks and crevices. Thanks for looking.





John

 

[RenuAuto]

Absolutely night and day difference. Incredible amount of work in doing that.

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Now this is a transformation. :bow :bow :bow

 

[Barry Theal]

You Rookie! LOL John I'll bet that project was a lot of fun. The car looks great. The metal Halides show all flaws. There is none. Was this one sanded completly flat? Car looks great.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

It absolutely amazes me what these body shops do. Rubbing and buffing is part of the job or else the paint job is worthless. My cousin did all my body and paint work (5 coats of clear with a we tsand in the middle of the coats) then final wet sand and buff and my paint is so wet and deep it looks like you can reach into the paint. Oh and between all the body and paint work the grand total cost me $3500. The work you did turned out great on that car!

 

[Legacy]

Super job. How long before you can seal/wax?

 

[JohnKleven]

You Rookie! LOL John I'll bet that project was a lot of fun. The car looks great. The metal Halides show all flaws. There is none. Was this one sanded completly flat? Car looks great.

Haha yup, thanks Barry. It did get sanded completely flat in most areas. If I can't get my buffer somewhere, or the paint is thin, it's not going completely flat. Unfortunately the minor ripples in this 53 year old car will not come out with sandpaper.

Super job. How long before you can seal/wax?

IF it was water based, I could wax it today. This however was not waterbased paint, and I would wait at least 45 days before waxing.



John

 

[E300Diesel]

Two Thumbs up for this one! :2thumbs:

 

[David Fermani]

Very nice John. You should post your work in the Pro Before & After Section. You'll get much more views/traffic there.



Question - what's the reasoning for using SIP @ 3000 rpms? At that speed/pad combo, doesn't the product dry flash really quick and scour the finish?Creating more work/refinement?

 

[Deep Gloss Auto Salon]

Very nice work!



How many hours of work do you have into this?

 

[JohnKleven]

Very nice John. You should post your work in the Pro Before & After Section. You'll get much more views/traffic there.



Question - what's the reasoning for using SIP @ 3000 rpms? At that speed/pad combo, doesn't the product dry flash really quick and scour the finish?Creating more work/refinement?

Thank you David. In a shop, I can use SIP pretty easily without it drying up. As you saw in a few pictures, the Powergloss leaves some pretty heavy swirl marks with a white wool. I will often polish with SIP at 3000 rpms, while working an area to build up some heat, then slow it down to about 1000 rpms. It does not scour the finish, or create swirl marks when controlled properly. After this I use Super Finish 106 and finish down at 1000 rpms.

 

[JohnKleven]

Very nice work!



How many hours of work do you have into this?

A lot... But seriously, I probably have 30 actual work hours into this one.





John