[flatford39]

out an acrylic enamel paint job that is about a year old. It is black and has no clear coat. It looks good but I want to freshen it up. It has never been buffed and has been in a garage undercover for the last year. Never been on the road nor exposed to the sun for an extended period of time. I suspect I can color sand with 1200 to 1500 and then buff as usual. What type of product should I be using????? The car is a 31 Ford Roadster Pick up. Thanks for any help here.

[kenseth17]

I am thinking with an enamel, it shouldn't be too bad to buff out, but a urethane or polyurethane could be a little tougher after that amount of time. Do you know if a hardener was added when it was painted to make it more like a urethane? Its been my understanding that a enamel without a hardener being added make take many many years to truely harden all the way through, which could make for unbuffability. Could be wrong here, but this is what I thought. If there are no real scratches, orange peel to work out and just want to bring back gloss, you probably wouldn't have to wetsand it. Basically you wetsand with the finest grit needed for what you are trying to accomplish, stepping down in grit to take out larger grit scratches making for easier buffing back. 1000-1500 will take out minor scratches, imperfections and orange peel. 600 wet is the coursest I would ever go and limit it to bad spots 1000 won't take care of. I would think a somewhat mild polish and glaze products would work good for what you are doing and would try going over first with a foam pad and see if you are getting the results you are looking for and if its taking out oxidation if you have it. If not, you can always wetsand and start with a more agressive compound or polish that will take out the wetsanding scratches you put in/ heavier oxidation. Look into quality products from someone like 3m or meguires (#7 I think but don't quote me) (I like 3m perfect it products), both around forever and make good products. Guess some single stage enamels can change color buffing based on what i've read here a couple times, don't think its the case with black. Maybe some guys who have worked more with enamel will have some suggestions of specific products, I've only buffed out a few heavily oxidized factory enamel jobs, In the late 80's and a little centari with hardener after it was painted.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by flatford39

out an acrylic enamel paint job that is about a year old. It is black and has no clear coat. It looks good but I want to freshen it up. It has never been buffed and has been in a garage undercover for the last year. Never been on the road nor exposed to the sun for an extended period of time. I suspect I can color sand with 1200 to 1500 and then buff as usual. What type of product should I be using????? The car is a 31 Ford Roadster Pick up. Thanks for any help here.

Do you know that that there is enough paint thickness on the car to be able to color sand and buff?
Whenever you color sand you need to be prepared to re-spray paint in case you sand through.
It would be a lot better to just buff it without color sanding. I like the 3M Finesse-It II with a wool pad. If there are just a few nibs, wet sand them very lightly with 1500 backed with a stick. (I use a paint stirring stick cut to about 3 inches long.)