Everyone that uses Der Shiny Stuff really likes it. But I'm a Zaino man!
GATOR - What product did you buff your truck with? I seriously doubt the finish is so far gone as to require re-clear coating.
I am a total believer in 3M abrasives, if it were my truck I would buy a 500W halogen light (to see the scratches), a Porter Cable 7424 polisher (eBay $100) and a couple fine foam pads (eBay) then compound the truck with 3M Perfect-It II liquid fine cut rubbing compound (Napa or other auto paint supply house). If the liquid rubbing compound does not take out the etching then yes the truck will need to be wet-sanded, and you can do this yourself, you just fill a bucket with soapy water, keep the surface wet while sanding with 3000-grit paper until the surface feels smooth (close your eyes and then use your fingertips), then lastly go over the panel with the 3M liquid rubbing compound to haze the sanding marks.
After the rubbing compound, polish with 3M Perfect-It foam polishing pad glaze swirl mark remover for dark vehicles; those two steps should restore the finish to better than showroom new and most people are happy to stop at this point. If you want 100-point show car finish go over by hand with 3M hand finishing glaze.
Last step is seal the paint with acrylic sealant of some kind (Klasse All-in-One, Zaino, Der Shiny Stuff) - don't use wax, wax is dead. If you must use something over the counter then I have had best luck with NXT wax, it lasts longest but still that's only 3 weeks.
In the end you will have $300 and a couple weekends of labor in your paint job but it will be literally like looking in a mirror (yes you can comb your hair) and you will have improved the blue book value of your truck $1000. It will be far better than what you would get from a body shop or detailer, and I guarantee you will get compliments.
RE clear coat thickness - that's a load of BS, I just tonight I filled in some rock chips on the front of my truck with touch-up paint and then wet sanded smooth with 2000-grit, then finished as described above and certainly did not go through my clear coat; I would recommend 3000-grit though, the 2000-grit did leave some scratches that took me a while to get out (but they did come out). And the 3M foam polishing pad glaze is so gentle that no change in paint thickness was measured after 30-uses.
One of my favorite before/afters of my truck:
BEFORE - this is a clean fender, washed with Dawn detergent and cleaned with body clay. In the reflection of the halogen light you can see a lot of micro-scratches (spider-webbing, caused by washing/drying with common wash cloth or sponge in circular motion), and a couple long heavy scratches (caused by washing with a dirty wash cloth or sponge). You would never see these in the sunlight but under a halogen or flourescent light the real condition of the paint is very clear:
4-MINUTES LATER - Using a D/A polisher, foam pad, and 3M Finesse-It polishing compound took all the spider-webbing out and almost all the heavy scratches too - man just look at the difference. what you see in the fender is the reflection of a shop bench 3-ft from the truck, the pegboard and wrenches are 5-feet from the truck ...
Mr. P.
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Originally Posted by DamnYankee
