Polishing article update

Technology marches on as manufacturers scramble to source new income from old sources. I kind of thought this when I was introduced to the new 3M Trizak with its P3000 grit (yes 3000 grade!) foam backed sanding discs for fine action (.5mm) orbital sanders.

I had painted a Corvette a year ago in an expensive Kandy colour and after wet sanding and polishing I left the car in the body shop with a plastic cover over it as the owner's mechanic was to pick the car up and redo all the mechanicals. The owner has several cars so there was no rush. I got a call a week ago and they had almost finished the mechanicals and wanted me to get rid of the overspray. I was shocked to see the body shop had removed the plastic cover (I suspect to move the car and never replaced it). Every top surface had a heavy epoxy and two-part primer over spray on it! You could not see the color it was so heavy.

I got most of it off with reducer but the scrubby left scratches and the finish dulled. The clear had cured rock hard and just buffing would not bring it back. Using the Trizak paper and some water, I sanded the entire car and buffed it back to a spectacular brilliance in two days! I really thought I would have to reclear the car.

I had previously tried hand sanding a small spot with 2000 wet and spent over an hour trying to buff out the scratches left. The 3000 grade will not remove dust nibs but will remove scratches left from 1500 paper on hard, cured urethane.

Mirka also has similar abrasives (actually they had them first) in up to 4000 grit, and reports are it also works fantastic for saving labour times when cut and polishing. These are very expensive compared to regular papers but the time saved (and in my case - my ass) make them still cost effective. John

John