Fd3BOOST

Thanks man, I hate paying someone to do something I can do myself.



Anyway just to update a bit. I sanded out most all the fish eyes on the bottom and sprated it again. Now it looks much better. Some orange peel but about 90% better than it was. I have the top sanded down to 600 and I will buff that out and be done tomorrow. I have the hatch almost ready for a base coat of color. I welded a patch over the wiper hole and there is no wing so it will be very clean. If I don't have any more problems I should be all set by the weekend. Anyone wanna suggest an adhesive to re-install the hatch glass?

89 Rag

butyl, bonds very well, easy to follow instructions on the tube, can't get wet (like from washing the car) for a while, and it's always a good idea to roll the windows down a crack when you use it, sucks to install glass hatch or windshield then slam the door shut and pop out the new glass.

Fd3BOOST

Yea that would suck. Luckily the hatch is off the car and will stay off for the glass install. Also the Fd hatch glass has four 10mm bolts attached to the glass to help tighten the seal once installed.

89 Rag

Perfect, Its just one of those things, if i hadn't watched someone pop a winshield out of a truck by slamming the door shut with the windows up after the install, I would have never guessed the outcome! LOL. At least someone @ Mazda had thier head screwed on straight and added some extra fasteners to aid w/ the install.

Rob x-7

your buffing out 600 scratches?

Fd3BOOST

Yea, I do it all the time. I guess you sand it further? I don't see the need when I have never had any problems buffing 600.

Rob x-7

How long does this take you to buff and what do you use?



No one wet sands paint for buffing with 600, there is no need

for it and I cant see all the scratches coming out considering

even the most aggressive of 3m compounds gets out 1000

scratches. I would actually be a bit weary of sanding fresh paint

with 600, how many coats of clear are you putting on there?



I guess I have never seen paint that needed to be sanded with 600

You want to go for the least aggressive process you can get away

with to achieve a mirror like finish that will STAY mirror like

Fd3BOOST

Well thats interesting. I have never started my sanding above 600. Then again I am used to furniture finishes which are softer and do not lay out half as nice as these paints did. I did sand with 600 but assuming that you thought it best to sand up to 1200 or so that is exactly what I did. I sanded with 600 then with 1200 for a few hours then spent the rest of the night buffing it out. It looks kick ***. Out of curiousity Rob, what product do you use for the final buff and do you use a foam or regular buff pad? I used a regular pad and I always have used the 3M pink fill & glaze. I'm interested to see if you had something better?



With the furniture If I had to do a high gloss finish I would sand 400 if layed out poorly, 600 is layed out nice. Buff with 3M brown, then white, then pink. Takes apx. 2-3hours for an average sized dinning table with one leaf.

89 Rag

I would start w/ 2000, then 1500, then 1200 if necessary, although most of the time @ the detail shop I'm not sure how much clear is on the car when I get it, my friend, who owns the shop, always stresses about not sanding through, so that is the way I was shown how to do it, of course it always sucks to learn on cars that, at the time , were worth more than the house I was living in! I was also shown to use a sheepskin pad to polish and a foam pad to finish, sorry to butt in, just thought I would share...

Fd3BOOST

Not butting in at all, I like to read through all the opinons. Thanks for sharing. So you were taught to start at 2k and work backwards in grits? I don't quite see the logic in that.