OK, i have just finished painting colour 1 on my car, many coats, looks great, just about to do a 1200 grit rubdown, just wondering, after the rub down how do i buff the paint up? i have bought a cheap buffer/polisher and am wondering what to do next? do i just use turtlewax or whatever as if i was buffing a normal (properly painted) car? is there anything specific that needs to be considered since i used acrylic?
any help much appreciated
Ryan

use a cutting compound, eg. cut and polish. then go over it with like a gel polish such as the turtle brand you mentioned.

keep in mind that you'll need to keep the buff moving fairly quick as not to burn the paint.

Ask at an auto one shop who sell such products...
I think it is called Linishing cream....
its a light cutting compound...

Waxes are usually FORBIDDEN at Paint shops...
as a small amount of wax on a cloth can ruin a good and expensive paint job....

Even with 1200 you will still see swirls, after 1200 use 1500 then 1800, then go over it with a rubbing compound, available from any good paint store.
If you havent used a power/electric buffer/polisher, DONT.
It is so easy to cut through the paint on the edges, it is not worth it.
How do I know this, cause I had to respray one of my doors because I burnt through the paint with one.
There is nothing wrong with doing it by hand, and also a lot safer.

After rubbing compound use a polish not a wax.
Rubbing compound is fine grit, polish is even finer.
After that leave it for a few weeks and give it another polish and if you are happy then give it a wax.

Worked for me.
I used Maguires polish

Cheers
Dave

hey use a foam buff pad as lambswool swirls the paint and dont forget to tape up the rubbers so you dont burn them either

Thats a good lookin busy

Ie you have not used a buff before dont use one.
They burn and cut through paint.

Use your hand, takes a bit longer but gives a better result.

Cheers
Dave

cool, thanks for all the advice so quick. much appreciated. 1200 wet'n'dry by hand has the paint looking real smooth so far, will leave it at this stage until i have painted rest of inside probably, just incase of any overspray.

is there any specific type of tape i should use to get a really sharp line on a 2-tone?

just make sure u press the edge of the tape real hard against the body so it dont sneak through!! personel experience!
cheers
rhys

:rudolf

mmm. its the sneaking that Im afraid of. done many masked paintjobs on different things in the past with mixed results.

wait 3 months for the solvent to dry out of the paint stops sinking after buffing.3m quality 1200 paper and a paint scotch pad.use a double sided wool buff pad with coarse compound gives a better first cut ,then fine cutting compound with a hard foam duff pad followed by a soft foam pad using swirl remover thats what removes swirl makes and cleans the paint for hand polishing.meguiers have all the buff pads and cutting compounds and are excellent. if this is your first time mask of the edges and gaps so you don,t burn them because you can wreck the whole paint job and body work with a buff.

3m make spetific tapes for painting 2 tones as well as painting pin stipes and the tape dosn,t bleed like masking tape.

1200 is fine for acrylic. Cutting compound is what you will need to start with. The brown mud lookin 3M cutting compound is easy to use and clean up. You can use either a wool or a foam buff pad, it is personal preference. I personally prefer foam as it is easy to keep clean by washing and you can get different hardness. Medium or soft would be better for acrylic.

You will have to use a polishing machine with about 2000 rpm. As a foam pad is smaller in diameter you will probably get away with up to 2400 rpm, but not anything like 2800 rpm. You will burn with that speed. Do the harder to get at areas by hand.

You can then use a finer polish like 3M Imperial glaze to get the shiner look. It will polish out finer scratches and is also easy to clean up.

Finally you can wax, silicon, whatever you like on top of that. It is a common misconception that panel shops won't use it. It is like a lot of things, it is how you use it, not the product that is the problem.

In regards to two tone tape, yes the tape you need is called fine line tape. It is usually blue in colour and looks almost like a pinstripe. You can get 1/8, 1/4 and it is able to be curved in al sorts of ways. It is what I used to tape up the flames on the HELBUS.

cool, thanks for that helbus, am getting some of the tape today, just trying to find the righr orange now. anyone know the paint code for orgasmic orange?