sand polish

[bubbaman]

new at this  - read where you paint  the body  let dry and  SAND POLISH  could you please  explain - THANKS

[Snake45]

Sand and polish are two separate things, though working toward the same end.

Check down in the Tips section. I'm sure there are whole threads on the topic.

[Skip]

I think what he is asking for is the descriptive actions of each.

Sanding refers to color sanding which levels out the high and low areas of the color coat and or clear coat using ultra fine   Wet sanding paper/ pads/ films from 2,000 - 12,000 grits and finer.

polishing refers to a series of liquid based polish compounds, which the grit is suspended in the compound.  Think rubbing compound.  A favorite polish system of a few people oon here is the Novus three part plastic polish system which is used on the topcoat and works well, needs no waxing.

Next step for both would be to wax the topcoat whether that be color or clear coat 

[Jeff Johnston]

For me sanding starts as soon as I break the kit out of the box.  I like to sand the whole body and hood to see all the sink marks, mold lines or other imperfections.  I use maybe 800 grit.  If there are any sink marks that I can't sand smooth, I fill it with putty, and some more sanding until its all smooth.

Then I primer the car, and once its dry, sand some more.  Only this time I'm sanding the primer with 3200 grit sanding pad.  The goal is to make the primer coat smooth,  You may have to spray a second coat of primer and sand it smooth as well.

Once the primer is nice and smooth, you color paint.  Your color coat should be smooth with no orange peel look.  If you have orange peel, sand it smooth and give it another coat of color.  Understand that if your primer coat isn't smooth, your color coat won't be.  If your color coat isn't smooth, your clear coat won't be.  I usually take 4000 grit sanding pad to level out the color coat.  If its smooth with your color coat the 1st time, no need to sand it.

Once you have a smooth color coat you can clear it.   With the clear I usually do 2 coats, and wet sand with 4000 grit in between.  After the final clear I start with 4000 and then with 6000, and then 8000 and finally 12000 grit.  You will see that once you get into the 6000 the shine starts to be seen.  The higher the number, the shinier it will get.  

Also once you start sanding with the 3600 or 4000 grit, it will dull your clear...not to worry, keep moving up through the grits and you'll see it will start to shine up. 

Final is the polishing.  There are model polishes out there (novus and "the treatment") but standard car polishes work well too.  I use maguires #2 polish first, and then Maguires carnuba wax.  

Hope this helps.

[bubbaman]

man you explained it to the  tee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!