While the points on value and nickasil issues are valid let's redirect the thread back to paint.....

Here's a shot of how I sent it to Maaco. Since I did the prep and there was no trim (except glass surrounds) on the car I know that adhesion won't be an issue. I did pull up the surrounds and sand under there also. Then Maaco used a 3M product that holds the rubber up away from the surface when painting.

 

Here's a shot of W.I.P. (Wetsanding in process). I went over the car with 1500 grit and lots of water. Actually it was kind of nice as it was about 90 degrees that day and I put on swim trunks and sanded. I then buffed using Carbofinish Buffing compound. That stuff is amazing. With very little pressure the sanded surface buffs right up. It's a three step process. Here's a shot after the third step.

 

Sinister, that looks a good job. Did they paint the bumpers light bezels wing mirrors door handles etc when they blew the car in?
How many hours on prep? what grade did you flat to?
Any dents that needed attention?
Would like to know the steps you did on the buffing, are you going to clearbra it?

I ask all this as mine is due for paint in the next couple of weeks.
Cheers to a good job!

 

I love the look of a "primered" look XJ with the bumper off. It makes me want to take it hill climbing.

 

Yes, they shot all of the loose parts in the booth behind the car. (Booth was 32 feet long)

I spent 8 hours removing all the pieces. The hardest part was the trim around the D-pillar glass.

I had one dent in the left rear quarter just in front of the tire. It was about 2" in diameter otherwise the car was very straight.

To prep I wetsanded using 400 grit because they were putting down a primer sealer then painting and I wanted to assure maximum adhesion.

I wetsanded with 1500 grit to knock down the high spots and then buffed using Carbofinish. It's a 3 step process where the same polish is used with 3 different pads. I then hit it with a swirl remover and then a final wax.

I'm afraid I don't know what a clearbra is. Can you enlighten me?

Ken

 

That's a good work and very lovely finish , you can contact Dave (Innovative Detailing ) .I am sure he will also give you some tips if you need

Clearbra should be a clear mask to prevent some stone, bugs from hitting your hood

 

It looks like you are doing a pretty decent job to me, satisfying at the same time.

More pics please.

 

Here you go fresh out of the camera taken this morning.

 

I'm pretty much done with the exception of needing to find a set of fog lights. The originals are sandblasted and look pretty bad. Restoring them is out of the question as the lenses are glass. I'll likely use some aftermarket ones to keep the costs down.

Ken

 

Thanks for the compliment and I plan to talk to him about which regular wax I'll use on the finish. Hopefully for now I think I'm done. The biggest battle with Black is swirl marks. So far the swirl marks have not returned after the last polishing with Presta Chroma Swirl Remover. I followed up with a quick wax and now I'll give it a few days outside and a couple of washes and hopefully they are gone forever.

Ken

 

Ken, I've had nice results with Dodo Juice. Not the cheapest wax out there but a nice cleaning, then a hard wax and soft wax has proven quite durable from them. Plus of course it is British.

 

Can I ask why store outside for a few days? Did the place you had it painted have an oven booth to cure the paint? I know about swirls and black paint, was hoping when mine's painted it won't have swirls. I guess it depends on a few things like how hard the clear coat is on buffing. How hard the guy presses down on the paint.... I just want to avoid swirls! I know 2 pack paint can take up to 2 weeks to fully settle.

 

That reminds me. I remember my dad's Ranchero took a couple months to fully cure. It was soft for a LONG time. Maybe not enough hardener, or enough time in the oven booth. He waited about a month before wet sanding, and even then it was a bit soft, but came out really nice in the end.

 

The shop did have a 32 foot long booth as mentioned in a previous post and it was shot in urethane which cures via exotherm. It was fully baked and dry when I picked it up just a few hours after it came out of the booth.

Leaving the car outside has nothing to do with the curing of the paint. That is pretty much done and over with. As a matter of fact with Urethane paints the longer you wait the harder the job of sanding and buffing gets. Generally you should get started the day the car comes out of the booth. It's the old enamel type paints that you need to wait a month to mess with.

The reason for leaving the car outside is so the sun bakes off any of the residual oils from the polish used. It's the oils in the polish that can hide very faint swirls. Also a washing with Dawn dish soap will do the trick too. Once the oils are gone there's nothing but the finish to look at. If there are any swirls you will see them particularly if it's a dark color.

The main way to avoid swirls is to keep your buffing speed slow and the pad FLAT on the surface. Tipping the buffer on edge even slightly will give a swirl. Since these Jags have more curves than Jessica Simpson it's tough to keep the pad perfectly flat following the contours. However, if you pay attention and try to keep it as flat as possible you will be fine.

The polish you choose will also make a big difference. I used carborundum Carbofinish. It has diminishing abrasives and dries quickly. It's a 3 step process that uses the same polish and 3 different pads. The first is a wool pad the second is a yellow foam pad and the third is a black foam pad. The polish works very well and does not require much pressure at all. For example on any horizontal surface I would let the weight of the buffer do the job. While buffing in the first stage I would spur the wool pad after every section and never once did it gum up the wool. For the second and third stages I would keep the foam pads clean using a compressed air nozzle. Read and follow the directions exactly and your results will be excellent.

I then followed up with the Presta Swirl Remover to get any of the dreaded swirls that remained. Keep in mind there were very few swirls when I finished the three Carbofinish steps and they were mainly on the hood in the curvy areas. The Presta knocked them out entirely.

 

I sprayed cars here in the UK for a few years (we had our own custom shop)..Its not ALL about paint quality! Theres other factors not least the colour chosen...sounds silly ???
Some blues and reds oxidise..some of the silver blues just didn't take the clearcoat very well and peeled off after a short time ... also contaminants in the air..temperature thinner speeds/mix.. the list goes on ..I have witnessed excellent long term resprays using crap materials and really bad ones using top stuff......
Man I am glad to be out of the motor trade LOL