How To Color-Sand and Buff Clear Coat To Get PRO Mirror Finishes!

Hi, it’s Tony with another live stream. Today’s topic is How To Color-Sand and Buff Clear Coat To Get PRO Mirror Finishes.

This is a pretty cool project. I kind of started this for you just a while ago. I sanded half of the hood in ten minutes. I’m give you a before and after results on this project. We do have some imperfections and we’re sanding them out. I’m going through both process right now.

I’m doing it with my DA sander, which is the cheap way. I used to color sand and buff all by hand. Although, it’s a more tedious process, you’re sure to get great results. You can’t make any mistakes if you do it by hand.

On the other hand, if you know how to use the DA sander, you can basically finish your cutting process a lot quicker.  I prefer dry sanding to see what you are cutting almost instantaneously, as soon as the dust is gone.

I’m using a 1500-grit with a velcro pad on my DA sander as shown in the video. I like Velcro because if you decide to wet sand with it, you’re not going to mess up the sticky paper.

I like to do the initial process with this, just to cut it down. Then, I like to wash it down with 2000-grit. That’s water sanding.

We want to take out the imperfections, the orange peel effect on the hood and make it look like the area where it’s like matte flat.

Sorry if the video is blurry. The videos within the VIP members area are unlike how I am streaming right now. All the videos are in HD, it’s absolutely clear and with higher video quality.

This matte area here is all done but, we’ll still wash it down with 2000-grit. You have to remember that 1500-grit is very fine, so you have to be in one spot for a long time to cut through.

This is an advanced skill. If you are uncomfortable with using the DA sander, I urge you to go by hand and block it out with water sanding slowly.

Now, we’ll finish it off with 2000-grit before we start to color sand and buff it out. The main thing about this is, you want to make sure that you take out the haze.

As we wet sand with my palm, it starts getting a nice green color. I’ll use my holy block to do this. It’s a lot easier with the block.

We have to make sure that it looks like the actual paint color when it’s wet. That’s when you know that you sanded enough with the 2000-grit.  I’m using the edge of the block as well.

I really don’t want to bore you guys right now watching the video, so I’m getting this done quickly, but you really need to take your time in doing this.

There’s a hump in this area here, what we have to do is angle with the hump as shown in the video. You go up and down with the hump using the corner of the block. Then, switch up your paper to get a new fine grit, close it up and wet it down again. Sometimes I like to go on circular motion when I’m finishing off.

Then, I’m going to dry this off very quickly. We’ll then wait for it to dry. Check out the video as I show you the difference.

Here’s a wool buffing pad from Buff And Shine. We’ll be selling these soon on our LearnAutoBodyAndPaint Shop Page.

I like to clean my buffer before I get started. You can get those buffer cleaners with the little wheel (I forgot what you call them!), but I don’t use them. I use a screwdriver.

The light wool is for general purpose. It’s a little coarse while the yellow wool is softer. Check out how I clean my pad with a screwdriver.

Here’s the Auto Magic Power Cut Plus 110. We’ll use the paint stick to dip it in, then spread it on the panel. We’ll do little sections at a time, preferably a 1×1 square, 1×2 square.

I have a Hitachi SP18VA Buffer, which I bought when I was 17 or 18 years old. It goes up to 3400 RPM. When we’re buffing, we usually use it around 1700 to 1800 RPM.

I like to start it at the lowest setting about 1400 RPM. I raise it to about 1700 to 1800 RPM once I get it on. Let’s go ahead and do our first coat.

You need to make sure that your panel is glossy after this process. If it isn’t, you need to put more compound and do it a little bit more.

You can see now that it has a nice high gloss to it. We’ll then hit it with the foam pad very quickly. I’m still using the 3M Perfect-It.

We didn’t spend a lot of time on the process tonight because I didn’t want to bore you, but this process should take a lot more time to make it really glossy. We’ll put a little bit of Mystic Spray Wax very quickly, then wipe it off.

It’s Tony from LearnAutoBodyAndPaint. Check out the video for the finished product. It’s a lot more glossy. That’s how you color sand and buff.

If you want to check out the complete step-by-step videos in HD, join LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Program. For all the newbies, grab your FREE 85-Page Auto Body And Paint Manual and learn more about DIY auto body work.

Thank you for joining me tonight. I hope you learned a lot from this demo. Join me again next week, Thursday at 9pm Eastern. Please Like, Share and Subscribe to my videos.

Talk to you soon! Cheers!

Tony

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