Recommendations for Wet Sanding Lacquer Paint

MichaelM said:
Well done! Excellent turn around.



Thanks Michael.



Accumulator said:
In some cases of iffy single stage, the combo of a glaze like the Meg's pure polishes and a wax somehow works near miracles with regard to keeping the paint "healthy" for a long time. It's related to the "feeding the paint" thing that's not the utter BS with ss that it is with b/c.



Thanks for that info. BTW, what is "b/c"?





And hey, I'll just admit I prefer the "wax look" on single stage, purely a personal quirk of mine. And yeah, that does mean dust attraction :o



Well, then again, it's not *my* car! ;)



I might try adding a 'nuba over the OS.





Yeah, I expect it'll be fine. But if you notice a tendency towards quick drying/oxidizing/chalking/etc. then you might consider trying the other route. OR, if you decide you want to change the look in a way that makes the residual flaws less noticeable; the glaze/wax would probably help in that regard too.



Let me just throw this out there: I spoke with my friend today, and he said something to the effect of "this paint is doing funny things, it just seems like it is starting to show more defects again". He wasn't sure if he is imagining things or what. I haven't seen it in a week. I wouldn't think there would be an issue in such a short time...



Anyway, can you tell me exactly what you would recommend in terms of the "glaze/wax" route? You mentioned Meguiar's, and I have a largely unused bottle of M-81 hand polish laying around, would that fit the bill?



I also have some Top of the Line's Trade Secret 'nuba.



Could I use the M-81 over the OS, and then finish with Trade Secret? Or should I try to remove the OS first (if we decide to go this route)?
 
Rob Tomlin said:
Let me just throw this out there: I spoke with my friend today, and he said something to the effect of "this paint is doing funny things, it just seems like it is starting to show more defects again". He wasn't sure if he is imagining things or what. I haven't seen it in a week. I wouldn't think there would be an issue in such a short time...



Always hard (impossible) to tell what's going on just by talking about it, but I sorta suspect that the porous nature of the ss paint is factoring in. Weird stuff *can* start to happen pretty fast.



This is one reason why I like my Accumulator-proof approaches, less chance of something unexpected cropping up. With ss paint, that means glazing/filling to the max and then trying to lock it in with a wax rather than a sealant.




Anyway, can you tell me exactly what you would recommend in terms of the "glaze/wax" route? You mentioned Meguiar's, and I have a largely unused bottle of M-81 hand polish laying around, would that fit the bill?..Could I use the M-81 over the OS?



While I'm currently working with other stuff (1Z WPS, Autoglym SRP)as opposed to the Meg's Pure Polishes when working on "weird case" paints, those are also good and time-tested. The M81 sure isn't bad and probably strikes a nice balance between #7 (good but tricky) and #5 (mediocre but Accumulator-proof).



I'd repolish with #80 or M09 (needless to say, no IPA wipe/etc.) to clean off the Opti-Seal. The idea here is to get the Meguiar's "stuff" (which is also in the M80/M09) down into the pores/microfissures of the paint. Then do the #81. Let it sit as long as practical. Then #81 again. I'd really try to load up the paint with that stuff. Then wax it and just keep your fingers crossed.


I also have some Top of the Line's Trade Secret 'nuba.



I used that for a while back in the day. In this case I'd rather go with something like Collinite, something like that would last longer and be more likely IMO to lock in the glaze/oils better.



Again, this is tricky to diagnose. If it were here with me, I could imagine trying a few different things, letting it sit in the shop while observing, before I came up with the right answer. I realize that's not practical in most cases.



Single stage, especially compromised ss, can do really weird stuff, including soaking up products like a sponge and swelling/un-swelling. Part of this might be the potential issues from sanding enamel (yeah, it *was* necessary, I'm not :nono ); once you break that top build-film of the paint it sometimes just isn't quite the same.
 
Accumulator- thank you for that thorough reply.



My friend is coming over here later today, so I will have a chance to look at the paint and see exactly what it is doing, and develop a plan of action.



I might try to polish off the OS as you recommend, then just give him my bottle of M-81 so he can apply it over the next couple of days.



As for your comment about the SS soaking up stuff, I definitely noticed that applying the OS was much easier than normal because the paint really seemed to just soak it up almost immediately. Normally I would get some spots where the OS will not disappear and would need to be wiped off. Not the case on this car.



ETA: I don't have any M-80, but I do have some Klasse AIO, can I use that instead? Isn't M-80 basically an AIO?
 
Rob Tomlin said:
.. I don't have any M-80, but I do have some Klasse AIO, can I use that instead? Isn't M-80 basically an AIO?



I don't think I'd do that. While the KAIO would clean things up (and works well on oxidation), the little bit of acrylic (or whatever) stuff it leaves behind might very well hinder the (uniform) absobtion of the Meg's glaze.



#80 is a mildly abrasive polish with their Trade Secret Oils and other magic stuff in it. The M09 (most autoparts stores have it) is a *SUPER* mild polish with a *whole lot* of the TSO, like a mixture of M07 and some tiny bit of polish.



Maybe choose your mildest leaves-NOTHING-behind finishing polish if you don't have access to the Meg's M80/M09. You want the M81/Meg's stuff going onto basically clean/bare paint and I wouldn't try getting it that way with IPA or other such approaches.



As I said, this is just a tricky one and I really meant it about how I'd probably try all sorts of stuff with many "oh [stuff] " :hairpull moments before I found the right combo. It's not so much a case of trying to fix something as to work around issues that you're not *really* gonna resolve.
 
Accumulator said:
I don't think I'd do that. While the KAIO would clean things up (and works well on oxidation), the little bit of acrylic (or whatever) stuff it leaves behind might very well hinder the (uniform) absobtion of the Meg's glaze.



#80 is a mildly abrasive polish with their Trade Secret Oils and other magic stuff in it. The M09 (most autoparts stores have it) is a *SUPER* mild polish with a *whole lot* of the TSO, like a mixture of M07 and some tiny bit of polish.



Maybe choose your mildest leaves-NOTHING-behind finishing polish if you don't have access to the Meg's M80/M09. You want the M81/Meg's stuff going onto basically clean/bare paint and I wouldn't try getting it that way with IPA or other such approaches.



As I said, this is just a tricky one and I really meant it about how I'd probably try all sorts of stuff with many "oh [stuff] " :hairpull moments before I found the right combo. It's not so much a case of trying to fix something as to work around issues that you're not *really* gonna resolve.



Thanks again for the very helpful reply.



I have 106ff, but that doesn't fit the bill because of potential "filling" issues, I assume?



Other than that, the only other thing I have laying around is some poorboys SSR 1, 2, and 2.5.



I can hit Autozone, but last I was there, I don't recall them having *any* of the Meg's polishes such as M09.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
I have 106ff, but that doesn't fit the bill because of potential "filling" issues, I assume?



Right, at least IMO. Too great of chance of wierdness coming back in odd ways. But hey, I could be wrong about that.




Other than that, the only other thing I have laying around is some poorboys SSR 1, 2, and 2.5.



Maybe the SSR1 :nixweiss



I can hit Autozone, but last I was there, I don't recall them having *any* of the Meg's polishes such as M09.



The one in my area *does* have some Meg's stuff, including, IIRC, the M09. Maybe you'll get lucky.
 
So I'll admit I didn't read all 6 pages, but it sounds like the paint probably faded in the sun pretty quickly... I did an old red single stage red corvette a couple years back and spent 3 full days on it... forget my specific process, but I buffed it with a PC and optimum compound and finished with multiple layers of sealant after KAIO... looked amazing after I was done! I was pretty damn proud becuase it was so horrible when I got it... anyway, a few days later after a car show I get a call sayin its oxidized again... I thought it was a joke, until i saw it! And sure enough it was slightly oxidized... well I ended up buffin with optimum again and just using Megs#26... looked great and again... and this time it lasted... not sure if it was the mult different products I used or the KAIO or just the sealant or what, but simply just using a wax seemed to fix the problem.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
Yeah, I have to go by Autozone today anyway, so I will take a look. Otherwise I will just use the SSR1.



Good grief, I went to Autozone, Kragen, and a local place called Star Auto parts and none of them had Megs M09 or M80! :grrr



I even went by a Carquest, but they were closed on Sunday! :think:



ThatGuySkye said:
So I'll admit I didn't read all 6 pages, but it sounds like the paint probably faded in the sun pretty quickly... I did an old red single stage red corvette a couple years back and spent 3 full days on it... forget my specific process, but I buffed it with a PC and optimum compound and finished with multiple layers of sealant after KAIO... looked amazing after I was done! I was pretty damn proud becuase it was so horrible when I got it... anyway, a few days later after a car show I get a call sayin its oxidized again... I thought it was a joke, until i saw it! And sure enough it was slightly oxidized... well I ended up buffin with optimum again and just using Megs#26... looked great and again... and this time it lasted... not sure if it was the mult different products I used or the KAIO or just the sealant or what, but simply just using a wax seemed to fix the problem.



Interesting.



I saw the car today. It did look a little "funny". It wasn't as "clear" for lack of a better word, as it had some haze in it.



We didn't have much time, but I did polish the hood and applied M81 by hand. There is no question that this made a difference in the paint. It made it deeper looking, and made the red darker. Very nice. The surface really sucked this stuff up, but it would also gum up very quickly.



We didn't top it with anything, as I wanted to add another layer of the M81 before trying to seal it in.
 
Accumulator said:
Rob Tomlin- Hope you post updates and that the M81 works out OK. The way it's sucking it up makes me hopeful.



Will post updates, but I may not get back to the car for a week, though there is a small possibility it could happen before then.



ThatGuySkye said:
Sounds exactly like what was happening to me...



Indeed it does. When we get enough of the M81 on the car, I am going to put a carnauba on it instead of the OS.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
When we get enough of the M81 on the car, I am going to put a carnauba on it instead of the OS.



If you let the wax dry before buffing it off it'll quite possibly take any excess M81 off with it, so I'd be sure to wait until it'll pass the finger-swipe test. That used to work great for me when I was using the #7/#16 combo on ss.
 
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