Can you use a DA polisher to remove sanding scratches? - LIVE Online Detailing Class - Wednesday July 17th 2024

[Mike Phillips]

Can you use a DA polisher to remove sanding scratches? - LIVE Online Detailing Class - Wednesday July 17th 2024


***Update***

Here's the live broadcast archived on the Dr. Beasley's YouTube Channel.

Here's the class promo video

I’ve been asked this question for over 20 years in the online car detailing world. Join us today when we go LIVE at 4:00pm Eastern Time and find out the answer to this question.

You can watch this LIVE online class on the Dr. Beasley’s Instagram Page, Facebook Page or YouTube Channel.


We go live at,

1:00pm Pacific Time
3:00pm Central Time
4:00pm Eastern Time


Watch and interact on any Dr. Beasley's social media platforms.

Dr. Beasley's Facebook Page

Dr. Beasley's YouTube Channel

Dr. Beasley's Instagram Page



And remember, when you join us for the live broadcast you can interact in REAL-TIME! (can't do that after the fact).

See you here!


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

More...

My friend and son-in-law, Royce recently painted his 1992 Chevy C1500 Pickup. This is a do-it-yourselfer paint job and there is a LOT of Orange Peel in the paint. To answer the age-old question,

Can you remove sanding scratches using a DA Polisher?

We're going to sand the hood flat and then I'll use a rotary polisher on one side of the hood and a free spinning random orbital polisher on the other side to see if the DA Polisher can in fact do the job of a rotary polisher.

Here's a few pictures of the truck before, during and after.

Here you can see the level of orange peel.

Here's a close-up of the same area.

Backstory
This is a do-it-yourself paint job, where Royce purchased a large outdoor walled tent and after doing all the body work himself, then painted the truck using a marine grade, acrylic urethane single stage paint.

Royce is a Custom Boat Builder. He's had 2 of his own custom builds featured on TV. Royce has an extensive background in painting and gel coating boats. The goal for this project was to get LOTS of paint on the car, with no care about orange peel because he knew the orange peel would be flattened out via sanding. The BIGGER PICTURE goal was to have plenty of paint on this truck because this will be a daily driver, parked outside 100% of the time under grueling South Florida sun and rain.


Join us as we demonstrate how to remove orange peel out of custom paint via dry sanding by hand followed by dry sanding by machine. After the sanding, we'll use the Dr. Beasley's NSP Primers to remove the sanding marks and polish to a swirl-free finish. Afterwards, we'll seal the paint using one of the Dr. Beasley's Ceramic Coatings.

Just to showcase Royce's talent... here's his John Almond, 23' Formula Center Console Boat that he completely rebuilt and customized from a carcass that had a tree growing out of it in a field where he purchased the hull.

Here's the other boat, a 15’ Hobie Skiff, that Royce completely customized and was also featured on Florida Sportsman Project Dreamboat in 2016

When I say this guy is TALENTED - don't take my word for it, watch the videos linked to above and let Royce walk you through how it built each boat to suit his boating lifestyle.

And if he can custom build boats for a living, he can lay down the paint on his own truck.


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

More...

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***

Here's the live broadcast archived on the Dr. Beasley's YouTube Channel.

Mike

 

[Mak]

Awesome video and information once again. I don’t like sitting around watching long videos… prefer to read when I can. However, I always enjoy watching your videos and have no problem making it through without fast-forwarding and jumping around.

One question or topic I was hoping you could expand on. I noticed you said that with single-stage (which is what I used on the F100 I painted) that it will often polish better with a free spinning machine.

I was surprised when you followed the Flex 3401 with the old Porter Cable and wondered why that would give a better polish than the forced rotation RO you had just used.

I’ve been using the Rotary w/ wool, followed by the Beast and black foam pad on my cut & buff job. I’m now wondering if I should try my old Porter Cable for a final pass after I get her all done.

 

[Mike Phillips]

One question or topic I was hoping you could expand on. I noticed you said that with single-stage (which is what I used on the F100 I painted) that it will often polish better with a free spinning machine.

I was surprised when you followed the Flex 3401 with the old Porter Cable and wondered why that would give a better polish than the forced rotation RO you had just used.

Great question and thank you for asking.

For years i used to type,

"Half my forum work is simply remembering the work I've done and where to find it"

Luckily, the answer to your question dates back to the year 2012 - so that's how long at a minimum I've known that free spinning random orbital polishers will finish out nicer more consistently on a wide spectrum of paint finishes and especially soft paints.

One example of this would be a very rare car I buffed out with single stage paint.


Here's the article,

Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf


And here's the pertinent portion of the discussion with a question from forum member, Crazy Amos.

What made you decide to finish out with the G110 vs the Flex?

Pad size selection or the non forced rotation maybe?

And here's my reply.

Good question...

I find on softer paints like this car has that the PC style [polisher] with a Fine Cut Polish finishes out nicer than with the more powerful FLEX 3401.

The paint on this car was incredibly soft.

I only did my test spot using the Flex 3401 and end-results were acceptable, I did the 8mm free spinning step just to "make sure".

I also machine applied the wax using the Meguiar's G110 polisher.

Saw this car recently while working on a Maserati, still looks just like it looks in the pictures.

And the reason I titled this thread the way I did,

Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf

If you look at the time stamp of the first post, I did this detail job 12-23-2012, 09:48 AM - Or December 23rd, 2012 - Right before Christmas.

The car was red which kind of goes with the Christmas idea and Rudolf would be considered a very RARE Reindeer, just like this Ferrari.

Kind of lame, but after creating over 50,000 threads on the old geek forum, I try to be a tick creative.


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

Here's some pictures from that project...


Before - Paint was dull with oxidation and millions of swirls and scratches.

After - richer looking paint.

Before Condition

Test Spot - Before and After

Final results

Very tight and compact interior.

My long-time friend, pj from Dodo Juice in the U.K. came by to visit. We went to lunch and then stopped by the shop, Blue Marlin Motors, where I did the work.

Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

Those photos would have been taken with a Canon Rebel, probably version 2 or 3

The picture with pj would have been taken with my iPhone 3

 

[Mak]

Here's the article,

Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf

Thanks much for the response and links. that’s one nice Ferrari…

 

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks much for the response and links. that’s one nice Ferrari…

Cars like that are cool to detail, and at the same time, a real pain in the rear to detail.

Would have been nice to have it on a lift. Wonder what happened to it?


Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

More...

I stitched the 5 separate vertical clips into a single video so you can see the progress from start to finish. Kind of annoying to watch but you can always click away.

Mike