I am in the process of cutting and buffing a new paint job I did myself. I am using a 2000, then 3000 grit pad before buffing with maguiars 105 compound, then maguiars 205 polishing compound. I am using a wool pad on the 105 with a rotary buffer. Switching to a DA polisher with blue pad, firm pad with 205. Questions.. what rpm for the wool pad are you using, what rpm for the DA with foam pad are you using and what compounds are you using to get the paint very correct? Or what suggestions do you have to help me do a better job? Thanks

 

Perhaps my polishing approach will help with a consistent surface in cutting & buffing too. Or not. I’m no expert on body work.

I’ve had good success avoiding swirl marks in waxing/polishing by using a 4 pass pattern with 50% overlap. It works like this.

1st pass side to side. Let’s say driver’s side fender-to- passenger side fender on the hood.
2nd pass fore to aft. On the hood going from front to back. Or back to front. The main thing is that the pattern is 90° off the first pass
3rd pass side to side. Like the first, but maybe opposite - if you went driver’s side to passenger side in Pass1, this time maybe go passenger side to driver’s side.
4th pass aft to fore. Start at the rear center of the hood and go straight forward to the nose of the car. Then work outward on the same aft-fore pattern using straight lines with 50% overlap until you get to the edge of the fenders.

The main idea is that 4 passes in 2 90° separated directions gets you to a consistent surface.

I have no idea if this will help in cutting & buffing, but it works for waxing & polishing to achieve a consistent surface. Hope this helps and is worth further research or testing for you.

I will totally defer to any bodywork professionals who call this a terrible approach. I’m a rank amateur at this stuff.

Chris

 

I stopped using the 105 a while back, can't remember why. Most likely is that, like many other big name compounds, it shined up quickly but dropped off after a couple washings.
Anyway, If you are starting with 2000 and ending with 3000, you may not even need a wool pad. A foam made for compound will be gentler. Wool can sometimes be too aggressive. and leave swirl marks behind that too deep for polish to remove. Try it. I run my buffer at 1600-1800 RPM for first cut.
Then polish at 2000-2400. I still use my buffer with this. Not a fan of DA's unless a newby is trying to polish something. The key here is pressure. Medium, to start, and then lighten up. Be sure the foam is soft enough for liquid polish. I switch to a softer foam after that, to do a final glaze, or swirl remover.
Clean all pads often to prevent build up and ineffective buffing.

 

We wet sanded starting with 600 to 2000 grit then went with medium grit compound with wool pad only using the pressure of the weight of the buffer at medium speed then cleaned the car thoroughly before using a waffle foam pad and perfect it 2 polish. During compound and wool pad really have to pay attention to sharp edges it’s easy to burn the paint if it’s single stage or burn through clear coat. Yes, I have done this before and fixing a burn through is a pain.