95 Dodge Neon midway success (nxt/rotary)

:bow That is an incredible improvement! The paint looks incredibly clear and deep! I know you now have some serious time invested in the paint on that Neon and it certainly has paid off well.



BTW, thanks for compressing the pics, I'm glad I got to see them all!
 
qwik said:
lets stick to the topic if we can, thanks.



Scottwax: i would like your opinion and suggestions on what i should use to get this even better. In person you can see there are still some imperfections but i know i am not going to get it like new that paint was very neglected (or maybe i can get it like new)



Would claying do anything before wetsanding? Will the clay reach down deeper than i sand? Will using DACP do anything or is my heavy cut compound/medium/fine already more agressive? Thanks
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If you are wetsanding, you will be removing all the bonded contaminents along with paint, so claying should not be needed. You might want to try DACP with a polishing pad and the rotary, then #80 Speed Glaze with the polising pad and PC. That should help clear up the paint...but without seeing your car in person, it is hard to say exactly what would be best.
 
Scott: like i said i used the following, let me know if i should stay with it or add something to it.



Wetsand with 2k grit

With vector rotary

Meguiars heavy cut compound with wool pad

Meguiars medium cut compound with maroon pad

Meguiars fine cut compound with maroon pad.



Menzerna intensive polish with PC 7424

Final polish

3M hand glaze

NXT



Believe it or not that area didn't have alot of time put into it. It took maybe an hour in the course of 2 days. That was experiementing etc. Now that i know what i would like to do i can move along. Like i said there are still some bad areas but i think that maybe if i sanded more i could have gotten them. Let me know your throughts scott, thanks.
 
Do you suppose that if you used the PC instead of the rotary to polish the wetsanded areas you would have had the same results? Or would it just have taken longer for the PC?
 
kb798 said:
Do you suppose that if you used the PC instead of the rotary to polish the wetsanded areas you would have had the same results? Or would it just have taken longer for the PC?
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A LOT longer!!
 
qwik-I think you are on the right path with what you are doing. You may need some additional rotary time but I would use Meguiars Professional line instead of Mirror Glaze (like Power Compound or even Diamond Cut). I just think they work better. Just watch that clear coat, if you get it under 1 mil, you lose a lot of the UV protection in the clear.
 
I wouldn't even bother wetsanding with a PC it just won't "cut it" no pun intended.



Scott: Do you know where i can get an inexpensive paint gauge to check the surface? To my knowledge i am using the professional line of products, the heavy/medium/fine are all on the pro line (right?) and the only thing i am not using is the diamond cut. Do you think using diamond cut/heavy cut/medium/fine is too much?
 
Scott i'm noticing a few swirls in the sun and some left over sanding marks, odd because i hit the surface with heavy cut compound and the wool pad several times, than medium and finally final cut with menzerna IP and FP. I was thinking of going to diamond cut compound followed by heavy cut or just replacing heavy with diamond after the wetsanding. Also thinking of switching menzerna intensive from the PC to the orbital might get some better results with the swirls. The only reason i believe i still do have some swirls is a) because i didn't rinse with a 50/50 solution (just carwash soap and water each round) and because of my damned turtle wax MF towel that may have had some trapped ish in it. :nixweiss
 
qwik said:
To my knowledge i am using the professional line of products, the heavy/medium/fine are all on the pro line (right?) and the only thing i am not using is the diamond cut. Do you think using diamond cut/heavy cut/medium/fine is too much?
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I think what Scott meant was to use the Body Shop Professional line. Yes, Heavy/Medium/Fine cut are all in the pro line, but they were originally intended for single-stage paints. The Body Shop Pro line is more for base-coat/clear-coat application. They are both a similar lineup as far as heavy to light stuff, but it would be more like Diamond Cut/Compound Power Cleaner/DACP vs Heavy/Medium/Fine. Plus, it seems like you could probably use just Compound Power Cleaner or Diamond Cut, and then go to DACP and just do two steps (and maybe a finishing SFP or something if you wanted). But I'm just speaking from my understanding of how these products were intended to be used, not from any personal experience. I've never used Heavy/Medium/Fine/Diamond/Compound at all... :)
 
Aurora40: thanks for the input but its only food for thought to me since you've never used any of the products and don't have a first hand experience, that is why i turned to scott. Scottwax is what auroa said true? Will i see any better results with my 3 stage paint job?
 
qwik said:
Aurora40: thanks for the input but its only food for thought to me since you've never used any of the products and don't have a first hand experience, that is why i turned to scott. Scottwax is what auroa said true? Will i see any better results with my 3 stage paint job?
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Bob is right. He was at the same Meguiar pro training class as I was. The Professional line was developed to work with modern paints.
 
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