freshinXR

Hi guys,

My car has been painted for about three months now and is still looking great. It is all straight of the gun. My panel beater said for an extra grand he could make it look like a mirror by cutting and polishing the car again like you see on the show cars. He said that he put a fair few extra coats of clear on top so if i wanted to sand it back and buff it up he could do it. the car looks great as it is but it would be nice to have the mirror finish. I was also talking to someone else about this and they said you can use Braso to cut it back and polish it to that mirror finish. does anyone know if this is true, how hard would it be to use say a 2000 grit wet and dry to cut it back yourself and then buff it. What problems could i come accross doing it myself without spending the grand at the panel beaters (he has already got way too much of my money).

thanks chirs

Pilch

the clear coats certainly do allow for that mirror look, but my belief is that it is effectively for increased paintwork protection more than anything else. i've just used one of those buff & shine packs before, but only when patching up bad chips in the paint to help match the original and fresh paint. I wouldn't have done it if I had a top quality fresh paint job.

unfortunately its hard to do as good a job as the pro's without significant practice, and if u stuff it up the investment goes down the drain!

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auslandau

Not knowing how much you just spent, I would much rather pay a professional to complete the job than spend thousands and then start scratching away at the paint myself a few months later. If you only paid a pitance for the paint then by all means go for it and see what happens but would hate to stuff up a new paint job I just paid big money for. Also depends if it was a two pac paiint. Definately leave it or start on very small section somewhere you cant see that you can practice on.
Dont use Brasso on the paint. It is grouse stuff for chrome and plastic lenses, and absolutley reccomend it for that (have used litres of the stuff) but not on the paint surface. Can leave greasy spots thats almost impossible to get off. It is a very strong gritted cutting compound that has 'stuff' in it that protects the metal.

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'73 Landau/ ZJ Fairlane/ AU ghia/ BA XR6

tony xa

I would guess that what would happen is they would be able the sand out the orange peel and polish out the sand paper marks .
This is just a guess. With the extra clear coat this is proberly what they mean. $1000 would cover time to sand whole car and cut it .
Once again only a guess

freshinXR

yeah thats what the extra clear coats were for. It cost me about $7500 to do and just wanted to know if anyone has done a cut and polish like the way i mentioned. otherwise i guess ill just let the pros do it. How good is the meguires stuff. what would people recommend for polishing at home without the sanding back.

CRUISIN

www.zainobros.com

auslandau

.......for $7500.00 and you are not happy with the paint job or the bloke thinks he can do better, well he damn well should have done it in the first place and absolutley no reason for you to to even think of going anywhere near the paint work with sandpaper! (IMO)
Meguires stuff is good stuff for keeping it all nice and shiney and protecting it. As above, Zaino ggood too........

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'73 Landau/ ZJ Fairlane/ AU ghia/ BA XR6

davway

i agree. for $7500 you should have a mirror finish in my opinion.
got any pics you could share with us?

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tony xa

Is that price including panel work

freshinXR

yep it was a full colour change from bare metal, engine bay, everything which included cutting and welding rust and straightening etc....For the job i was after other places were quoting around 10 so the price was really good. The colour is a house of colour kandy which costs a lot just for paint. Because it was an XR it needed a lot of paint. The car does look great and better than i expected. But there is a certain finish that you can only get by blocking back the clear coat and then buff very hard. It looks amazing. Was just wondering if anyone has done it themeself. If not ill just stick to the meguires. i posted pics ages ago when she was bare metal but im hanging out till she is all together before i put anymore up.