3M Finesse-it Polish

If the paintwork is that tired you need to compound it - polish will only protect. Farecla G3 on a medium foam mop, then finish with whatever polish you like best.

Ive seen the kits on eBay, but is mopping difficult? Dont want to knacker the car but wouldnt min having a go.

You should use Farecla G3 (rubbing compound) followed by 3M Finesse-it or 3M Ultra finishing polishing compound.

Or another alternative after compounding with Farecla G3 is Farecla G10 extra fine grade finishing compound suitable for twin-pack.

Some polishing info here:

Mechanical mopping is messy, sometime it's best to do it by hand with a wet mutton cloth to apply and rub and then a dry one to polish off.

The machine splatters the compound everywhere and can be very difficult to remove when it dries, especially on black plastic trim.

Stephen.

G3 will leave a very good finish if you know how to use it properly so as the abrasives can diminish. If you use it badly (too much water, particularly), it leaves a horrendously swirly finish.

I agree with Stephen on the point about splatter - it's worth masking black trim if you can't manage to be careful. Farecla have produced a product that can be used dry, called Total Dry, which I've been using and found very good, but I know it does give more cut than G3 or G6 on a wool bonnet, but it has it's own specific mop for use as a general compound, which may be designed to be a bit softer and reduce the cut a little. It's well worth emailing Farecla's technical bods if you're stumped, although I think they're more inclined to avoid questions obviously from Joe Public.

BTW, Does anyone know where I can get 3000 or 4000 grit paper in the UK without paying a lot for Meguiars stuff?

Wouldn't clay be as good? 3 M sell it.

Dunno. I don't want to clay the car. The paint has set absolutely rock hard, and even getting 2000 grit marks out is quite hard work with a wool bonnet, so I was thinking a grade or two of finer paper might do the trick.

If the paintwork is that hard you need a coarser grade paper not finer. Are you flatting black paint? if so this can be really tough.

A clay bar is ok on small defects high-spots like dirt etc, but not really suitable for the whole car as it picks up too many contaminants.

Various grades of wet-or-dry grit are available ranging from very coarse to very fine. Low numbers represent coarse grit, high numbers represent fine grit. Examples of common wet-or-dry grades are as follows: 220, 240, 320, 400,

I'd recommend 1200, 1600 or 1800, 3000 and 4000 if available are too fine, it would be like rubbing the paintwork with toilet paper.

Stephen.

The paint is very hard as it's very well cured white two pack. It will cut happily with 2000 grit but compound struggles to take the sanding marks out. It's not dirt between the paper and paint, and it's not rubbing marks from coarser grades - I've experimented very carefully to check this. The paint is just very very hard so compound struggles to cut it. Taking 1200 or 1500 grit marks out (G3 is rated to do 1500 grit marks) is hopeless.

In that case instead of G3 I would suggest you try Farecla G4 advanced compound which is more suited to *fully cured* twin-packs.

Using a mechanical polisher with a lambswool pad would appear to be the recommended way on fully cured finishes and polishing without water with G4 is also recommended.

Stephen.

The thing is, what I actually want is very fine grades of sandpaper. I'm already using a wool bonnet and total dry, which Farecla's technical director told me was the strongest cut available, after I'd explained what paint system I'd used and how the paint had become fully cured. A bit of

Bit infuriating as they're half sheets, and half sheets of 2000 at the factors cost 50p each...

At least now you have a link for obtaining your specific grades of wet-or-dry paper, although any paint factor should be able to provide you with this but you may have or order it in.

As you are attempting to flat hard paint with fine wet-or-dry and then compound it back up to a shine there are two compounds that come to my mind that are coarse enough to do the job. One is Farecla G4 and the other is Farecla SMART liquid compound, both these compounds will remove 2000 grade abrasions and are even listed as specialist compounds.

I have never encountered a finish yet that could not be polished with conventional compounds even epoxy resin finishes, so I find in hard to understand why you cannot polish out 1500 abrasions with G4.

G4 HS Paste Specialist Compound For use on all modern original and refinish paint systems:

High solids (well cured)

Features and Benefits: Provides a very fast cutting action, when used in conjunction with the Advanced G Mop Lambswool Pad Provides high gloss finish Silicone free Machine application only

For use with:

For use on: Well cured high solids OE Paintwork High Solids Paintwork Medium Solids paint

Removes: Acid Rain Dirt Dry Spray Overspray Scratches P2000 and finer abrasive papermarks.

SMART Liquid Compound Specialist Compound For use on all modern original and refinish paintwork systems:

Medium solids

High solids

Features and Benefits: Removes P2000 or finer abrasive marks Suitable for blending in the refinish paintwork to the original paint finish Silicone free For machine applications only

For use on: All paint SMART Repairs Outer edges of larger areas (no farther than 15cm from edge of panel) Small areas that are close to rear lights, number plates, windows, etc Sills and lower areas Bumper corners

Stephen.

But not for 3000 grit. Anyway, 2000grit

You could also look for 3M 281Q Wet-or-Dry 'polishing paper' (481Q-for silicon carbide instead of aluminium oxide) pink, mint or light green in order of fineness. Pink is 3 micron, mint is 2 micron and lt.green is 1 micron.

Converting from microns to the equivalent grit depends who you ask, though. I've seen 3 micron rated as 1500 grit down to about 4000.

Jewellers use the next step finer - polishing films. Same sort of thing, but with a polymer backing instead of cardy-papery stuff. However they go to 0.5 micron, then you start getting it rated in Angstroms. Which are very very small. And used for polishing fibre optics and lenses.