How many times can you buff out scratches with a rotary?
I have a rotary and the Lake country pads and know how to do the procedure pretty well now as far as buffing out inperfections, swirl marks, scratches, and such....My question is...now that Iam addicted to this and every time I take the car out I seem to find something new that I just know I can buff out...soooooo how many times can one buff out scratches before its really too much? I mean can you buff over the whole car say half a dozen times during the year and have no problems or are you actually removing some of the clear coat each time you use a rotary and buffing pads? Iam guessing just from common sense that you are removing some of the clear...either that or your moving it around....hmmmmm
every time you buff you remove clear coat 6 times a year imho is way to much if you are going to polish your vette that often i would recommend getting a paint thickness meter .If you remove to much clear you will have paint failure looks like blisters and no uv protection all good things in moderation
When polishing the rule of thumb is to start with the least abrasive polish and pad and move more aggressive only as needed. We also offer paint cleansers (P21S, Pinnacle) that can strip old waxes and sealants to prep a nice surface for new products, generally these are not very abrasive at all. Sometimes polishing might not be needed. Also using proper washing and drying techniques should reduce the amount of times polishing is needed.
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Location: Ponte Vedra Beach / London State: Dazed and confused
Isocyanate Clear Coat Thickness
Most vehicle paint film systems (127 - 178 µ) comprise a Primer coat of 2Mils (50 µ) a Colour coat of 1-2Mils (25 -50 µ) and Clear coat 2-3Mils (50 - 75 µ) Removing more that 0.5 mil (12µ) of clear coat will cause premature paint film failure as UV protection percolates to the top of the clear coat.
Paint Removed by Polishing
Using a medium abrasive polish and a rotary polisher will remove approximately 0. 1 Mil (3µ (Microns)) from the paint surface (typically 4 passes at 1500-1800 RPM) but there are many variables such as polish/compound and speed / pressure used that may affect the paint removed) These numbers should be checked with a paint thickness gauge (PTG)
Environmental Damage
The rate of environmental exposure that negatively effects (clear coat) paint varies widely with ambient conditions (UV radiation, Environmental Fall-out, paint protection used, etc) but an approximation of 0.005Mil (0.13µ) per annum is about average; protective coatings polymer sealants, wax, etc), being renewable are meant to be sacrificial (it is subjected to oxidation, thereby by saving the clear coat)
The recommended maximum clear coat removal is 0.5 Mil (12µ)
Approximate amount of paint removed by rotary polishing 0. 1 Mil (3µ)
Environmental Damage erodes the clear coat at a rate of approx. 0.005Mil (0.13µ) per annum
These numbers are offered as a guide only, as there are too many variables to provide any more than an approximation.
To help measure you'll need a paint thickness gauge like the PosiTest DFT Coating Thickness Gage. They are expensive but a great investment for anyone who details with a rotary buffer.
I do my 92 Polo once a year with Pinnacle Advance Swirl Remover and Advance Finishing Polish and my PC the hand wax throughout the year. I don't think that this is too much, but thought I would ask. I would like to continue with the once a year process, because I have had great success and lots of looks and compliments.
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach / London State: Dazed and confused
PosiTector 200 will work on composites (plastics, carbon fibre, fibre glass, etc). The ideal setup if memory functions for metals aren't important would be a (a) DFT Combo for the metals and (b) a PosiTector 200 B/Adv for the composites (these two PTM's cost approx $1000).
To help measure you'll need a paint thickness gauge like the PosiTest DFT Coating Thickness Gage. They are expensive but a great investment for anyone who details with a rotary buffer.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Greg @ Detailed Image
Like others have said, a paint guage is a great suggestion but most of them useless for us Vette guys? I have always wanted one but since the majority of the cars I polish are not metal I cannot afford a few G for one that works on plastic cars.
To answer the original posters question... It is kind of a loaded question IMHO since there are SO many variables such as method, what product, what machine and duration of each polish session not to mention severity of the scratches you are removing and paint hardness and thickness which vary on every car. Greg has the right answer with using a paint depth guage but unfortunately it is a very expensive solution especially for us vette guys. I think common sense and experience is probably then next best solution. There really is no easy answer.
There are paint thickeness guages that measure SMC / fiberglass. I have one (Ultrasonic) . There not cheap.
Would you share or PM me what you recommend. This whole paint depth thing has me intrigued especially since I just spent several hours removing a scratch 1 um at a time. To the naked eye, you can't see but with the right light and angle I can find it but I am afraid to remove anymore clear.
So are there any pro's out there that went too deep and just had the clear re-shot on the car? What would a good re-shoot of clear on the whole car cost?
Would you share or PM me what you recommend. This whole paint depth thing has me intrigued especially since I just spent several hours removing a scratch 1 um at a time. To the naked eye, you can't see but with the right light and angle I can find it but I am afraid to remove anymore clear.
So are there any pro's out there that went too deep and just had the clear re-shot on the car? What would a good re-shoot of clear on the whole car cost?
You read my mind...I'll bump it one step further. Since the depth of the clear is what we are talking about. Not only would I like to know what it would cost to re-clear a car but say you decided to bite the bullet and have the car repainted and wanted them to use a couple of additional layers of clear. Would there be any downside to doing that? and what would that cost. I know that paint jobs are the toughest to price as it comes down to the quality of paint your using and how much your paint place is going to charge you. Let's just say for a comfortable number we'll say $5000 to repaint the car and shoot it with the normal amount of clear coat...what would a couple of additional layers cost? Being the prep work would be minimal seeing that it would already be in the booth for the base layer of clear. Would you think it would cost like $500-$800 more? This sound reasonable?
You read my mind...I'll bump it one step further. Since the depth of the clear is what we are talking about. Not only would I like to know what it would cost to re-clear a car but say you decided to bite the bullet and have the car repainted and wanted them to use a couple of additional layers of clear. Would there be any downside to doing that? and what would that cost. I know that paint jobs are the toughest to price as it comes down to the quality of paint your using and how much your paint place is going to charge you. Let's just say for a comfortable number we'll say $5000 to repaint the car and shoot it with the normal amount of clear coat...what would a couple of additional layers cost? Being the prep work would be minimal seeing that it would already be in the booth for the base layer of clear. Would you think it would cost like $500-$800 more? This sound reasonable?
hmmmm subscribed...
i can't imagine the extra coat of clear costing more than 100, but you run into a problem where if the paint is too thick you run the risk of it cracking, but then again i dont know with these newer paints, i just remember in 90's my dad had his porsche repainted and he added tons of clear to make it look a mile deep, and about a year later there was a crack in the clear
Corvette Store
How many times can you buff out scratches with a rotary?
all good things in moderation 
. There not cheap.
