My plan for this phase of the project was to tackle the removed body parts 1st, i.e. the tailgate, liftgate, and front fenders then move on to the roof, followed by the doors and quarter panels on each side. The process was to color sand everything up to 2500 grit and then go back and cut & buff everything.
Color Sanding
All went smoothly with the plan until I did the 1st piece – the liftgate. Unfortunately, when I was doing the body and prep work I always felt the the liftgate was in great shape and didnt require a lot of work, which was true until I went to color sand it and found a rather large nib that had installed itself when I sprayed the surfacer. Needless to say, even with 1500 grit I was though it in no time! So I had my 1st Opps!. I then went on to tackle the front fenders which went fairly well. I had a couple of areas where I did not lay down enough paint, mainly on the top inside edge of the fender where the hood fits. The thing I really noticed at this stage was that the Driftwood Beige was sanding much different than the Madagascar Orange. The beige paint seemed to be harder, so much so that I dropped down to 1200 grit when sanding it, and in some places I had to go down to 1000 grit to get through the orange peel. Once I had completed the 1200 stage I went back and hit it again with 1500, 2000 and then 2500 to make sure that I ended up with the same finish everywhere.
The next major change came when I did the roof. I had invested so much time in getting all of the dents and other issues out of the roof and working it until it was straight and true that I had to see how it looked buffed out after color sanding it. I have to say that it made my day when I was done with buffing it and looked at the reflection of my ceiling lights in the paint on the roof. It was worth all of the effort I put into it!
After doing my happy dance around the shop and out into the dooryard, I got back to work color sanding the rest of the car – again I was pleased with the way both of the passenger side doors came out after all the work that went into them.
Making a few touch ups!
Most of the touch up work after sanding came around the damn window openings and frames. When I was spraying I could never seem to lay down enough paint on these edges. In some areas I had to touch up and resand them a couple of time to get them anywhere close to being right.
Cut and Buff to the Finish!
This actually went fairly well, without a lot of major hassles or problems. I found a couple of areas that had somewhat of a haze to them when I was done, so I went back and resanded the hazy areas with 2500 again and then redid the cut and buff. The only area that I still am somewhat unhappy with is on the hood near the front where the large chrome hood ornament is located. I still have some fairly deep sand scratches that I am not sure that I can get out without going down to 400-600 and then repainting. For now I am leaving it be until I get the chrome on the hood and see how much of the affected area is covered up. In the end it maybe “Good Enuf”.