Removing fine scratches 67 fastback?

Bdubbs

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Hey guys,

Winter is closing in, and now that I have a heated shop to work in I plan on doing a lot of detailing on all 3 cars.

Upon purchasing the 67 this summer, the previous owner had it "professionally" detailed. I'm guessing he only had it waxed. It's not very impressive and I see a bunch of fine scratches.

My plan is to remove them, but looking for some advice on how to go about it.

I believe it's a single stage paint, but not 100% sure. It just looks different to me.

Currently I have some Wolfgang products, but might be trying out Griot's Boss compounds.

I'm heading to the shop soon and will try to get better pictures.

BTW I have a porter cable polisher.
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5.0Black

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First off, beautiful car!

Second, and more to the point, the scratches. Hard to say without seeing more, but I would say start out light and work your way up in aggression as needed. You can always work your way up in aggression in terms of pad and product to save on clear, but you can't take clear back.

Sadly I am not too familiar with Griot's or Wolgang polishes, I know they are good companies, but I use different polishes (Rupes, Jescar, Sonax etc). Sonax perfect finish may be worth while for you to pick up as it is a great one step product. For fine scratches it should make quick work while finishing down great. I would try pairing sonax perfect finish with a finer foam pad (think Rupes White or Lake Country White) and work my way up to most likely a medium cut foam pad (Rupes Yellow or Lake Country Orange) on a pc as needed. If they are fine to moderate swirl marks than this should take it out on a pc7424xp.
 
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Bdubbs

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First off, beautiful car!

Second, and more to the point, the scratches. Hard to say without seeing more, but I would say start out light and work your way up in aggression as needed. You can always work your way up in aggression in terms of pad and product to save on clear, but you can't take clear back.

Sadly I am not too familiar with Griot's or Wolgang polishes, I know they are good companies, but I use different polishes (Rupes, Jescar, Sonax etc). Sonax perfect finish may be worth while for you to pick up as it is a great one step product. For fine scratches it should make quick work while finishing down great. I would try pairing with a finer foam pad and work my way up to most likely a medium cut foam pad on a pc as needed,
Thank you, and I appreciate the help.

Here is some scratches around the antenna. This paint seems to scratch easily.
Screenshot_20210920-112140.jpg


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5.0Black

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No problem, happy to help! The paint scratching easily could be due to the paint job on the car as well as many other factors. If it were me I would do a full decontamination wash including a fine claying, inspect then begin correction on buffing.

Just curious, what pads, polishes and compounds do you own?
 

Bdubbs

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No problem, happy to help! The paint scratching easily could be due to the paint job on the car as well as many other factors. If it were me I would do a full decontamination wash including a fine claying, inspect then begin correction on buffing.

Just curious, what pads, polishes and compounds do you own?
Thanks!

I currently have lake country 5.5" pads in orange and white pads. I plan on ordering more, and might order some more aggressive yellow cutting pads for my other cars. And some less cutting pads than the white ones.

I've been using Wolfgang total swirl remover 3.0 and the final glaze 3.0.

It seemed to work decent on my 90 coupe, but this combination didn't remove all fine scratches.

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5.0Black

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Thanks!

I currently have lake country 5.5" pads in orange and white pads. I plan on ordering more, and might order some more aggressive yellow cutting pads for my other cars. And some less cutting pads than the white ones.

I've been using Wolfgang total swirl remover 3.0 and the final glaze 3.0.

It seemed to work decent on my 90 coupe, but this combination didn't remove all fine scratches.

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Reading what you have I would say you have tried light to moderate. I have not used Wolfgang swirl remover, but I know of it. I would say that it and Sonax PF are pretty similar polishes in the sense both are medium grade polishes. If it were me I would invest in two more stages of aggressive pads and a quality compound.

Given you don't know the thickness of clear I would try out the lake country yellow pads as my next step. I would also invest in meguiars microfiber cutting pads too as your most aggressive cutting pad. Compound wise I would try out Jescar's correcting compound. It works fine with a foam pad, more cut than what you have and it works stunningly well with meguiars microfiber pads.
 
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Bdubbs

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Reading what you have I would say you have tried light to moderate. I have not used Wolfgang swirl remover, but I know of it. I would say that it and Sonax PF are pretty similar polishes in the sense both are medium grade polishes. If it were me I would invest in two more stages of aggressive pads and a quality compound.

Given you don't know the thickness of clear I would try out the lake country yellow pads as my next step. I would also invest in meguiars microfiber cutting pads too as your most aggressive cutting pad. Compound wise I would try out Jescar's correcting compound. It works fine with a foam pad, more cut than what you have and it works stunningly well with meguiars microfiber pads.
Solid advice. For the record, I haven't tried any of this on the 67 mustang. I only used it on my 90 coupe.

Like you stated earlier, I should start with the least aggressive cutting pads and see how it turns out.

I'm trying to gather all the supplies that I'll need. I believe I have 4-5 orange cutting pads and 5-6 white polishing pads.

So I plan on ordering more pads, just a matter of what. I figured I'd try some yellow cutting pads on the 90 coupe.

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5.0Black

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Solid advice. For the record, I haven't tried any of this on the 67 mustang. I only used it on my 90 coupe.

Like you stated earlier, I should start with the least aggressive cutting pads and see how it turns out.

I'm trying to gather all the supplies that I'll need. I believe I have 4-5 orange cutting pads and 5-6 white polishing pads.

So I plan on ordering more pads, just a matter of what. I figured I'd try some yellow cutting pads on the 90 coupe.

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Happy to help! Oh gothca, I thought you had started already with the product, my mistake. Has the car been repainted or is it original? If you don't know that is fine, but it will reinforce what I am about to say below.

I still stand by the products and starting out as least aggressive as possible, but I would add in there that if you can either: 1. invest in a paint thickness gauge or 2. go to a pro to see if they can measure for you.

The lighting in your garage looks good so check out the edge work of your painted panels. Your car is red so look for noticeably lighter red, pink, or even white at the edge of panels. If you see that, don't touch it until you measure the paint thickness.

Also, don't freak out if your pads instantly turn red, common for single stage paint to quickly turn the color of the car being buffed. You will swap/clean pads more frequently but the process of buffing is the same.
 

Bdubbs

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Happy to help! Oh gothca, I thought you had started already with the product, my mistake. Has the car been repainted or is it original? If you don't know that is fine, but it will reinforce what I am about to say below.

I still stand by the products and starting out as least aggressive as possible, but I would add in there that if you can either: 1. invest in a paint thickness gauge or 2. go to a pro to see if they can measure for you.

The lighting in your garage looks good so check out the edge work of your painted panels. Your car is red so look for noticeably lighter red, pink, or even white at the edge of panels. If you see that, don't touch it until you measure the paint thickness.

Also, don't freak out if your pads instantly turn red, common for single stage paint to quickly turn the color of the car being buffed. You will swap/clean pads more frequently but the process of buffing is the same.
The car was originally Lime Gold. Not sure how long ago it was repainted. One would think it's always been red if you didn't know any better.

From a little research, if it's single stage it's completely normal for the pads to turn the same color as the paint. That will make me nervous.

I can buy a paint thickness gauge.

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NastyGT500

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To see if it is single stage paint: take one of your micro fiber towels and some polish and hand polish a small area lightly. If it is SS, you will have paint transfer onto your towel. If it is base/clear you will not.

I would then want to know 'how much paint/how thick it is' prior to doing any work. You will need a Paint Thickness Gauge to see what you are working with.

Then, I would start with the least aggressive method first. That is; your least aggressive pad/polish/compound combo first and see what results you achieve. THEN you can step it up incrementally, gauge your results and continue from there.

You will also benefit from some good lighting, you can work with your main lights off, and just use your detailing lights to see your progress, and also to get some good before pictures of your defects.

(If it is single stage, you will be able to utilize different methods/products in order to achieve excellent results)

Good luck, have fun and keep us posted!
 

Bdubbs

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To see if it is single stage paint: take one of your micro fiber towels and some polish and hand polish a small area lightly. If it is SS, you will have paint transfer onto your towel. If it is base/clear you will not.

I would then want to know 'how much paint/how thick it is' prior to doing any work. You will need a Paint Thickness Gauge to see what you are working with.

Then, I would start with the least aggressive method first. That is; your least aggressive pad/polish/compound combo first and see what results you achieve. THEN you can step it up incrementally, gauge your results and continue from there.

You will also benefit from some good lighting, you can work with your main lights off, and just use your detailing lights to see your progress, and also to get some good before pictures of your defects.

(If it is single stage, you will be able to utilize different methods/products in order to achieve excellent results)

Good luck, have fun and keep us posted!
Very good information!

I'll definitely follow the procedure you posted above!

Should I order a paint thickness pen or a digital one?

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NastyGT500

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It is always nice to have a PTG, go digital. Easy to use and once calibrated will give you a good idea of what you are working with.
 

CobraBob

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Brady, do you have detailing lights? If not, do not do anything until you get them. Trust me, there's a reason why serious detailers/detailing shop use them vs. regular overhead lighting, no matter how bright they are. You probably are already set on buying them. Just wanted to emphasize that you do need them to get the results you're looking for.
 

5.0Black

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Brady, do you have detailing lights? If not, do not do anything until you get them. Trust me, there's a reason why serious detailers/detailing shop use them vs. regular overhead lighting, no matter how bright they are. You probably are already set on buying them. Just wanted to emphasize that you do need them to get the results you're looking for.
This^ While the lighting in your garage looks good, having a light dedicated to inspecting/finding swirls is important. I personally like scangrip lighting. If you can justify a multimatch lineup + stand then cool, if not even just their penlight or sunmatch light are very useful at locating swirls that regular lighting won't.
 
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Bdubbs

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Brady, do you have detailing lights? If not, do not do anything until you get them. Trust me, there's a reason why serious detailers/detailing shop use them vs. regular overhead lighting, no matter how bright they are. You probably are already set on buying them. Just wanted to emphasize that you do need them to get the results you're looking for.
Lighting is very

This^ While the lighting in your garage looks good, having a light dedicated to inspecting/finding swirls is important. I personally like scangrip lighting. If you can justify a multimatch lineup + stand then cool, if not even just their penlight or sunmatch light are very useful at locating swirls that regular lighting won't.
I just have a normal Menards tripod LED light. Those scangrip lights look small. Just put the light on the area I'm working on?

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NastyGT500

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5.0 Black and Bob hit it. Super important. 5.0-you're a man of good lighting taste! LOL, what I use as well. Love them.


Bdub: Yes, you want to light up the area and area around where you are working. And the lighting we are speaking of are dedicated/made for/proper wave length for working on paint...
 

Bdubbs

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5.0 Black and Bob hit it. Super important. 5.0-you're a man of good lighting taste! LOL, what I use as well. Love them.


Bdub: Yes, you want to light up the area and area around where you are working. And the lighting we are speaking of are dedicated/made for/proper wave length for working on paint...
I looked at the Scangrip light. Is one sufficient?

Or a kit like this

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5.0Black

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I looked at the Scangrip light. Is one sufficient?

Or a kit like this

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The kit you sent is a nice kit, however I would buy from Detailed Image, they have 21% off through Friday so it would be a decent amount cheaper than Ebay. Better service too.

Given what we know so far, the primary use is lighting to aid in paint correction/inspection. I think a Multimatch R is a great option to start with as the heart of your lighting kit, plus a scan grip tripod. You could stop there as it has solid performance and can be used in multiple ways (by hand, magnetically to metal and tripod). It is a great tool to expand upon for the future as you can by an upgraded tripod bar and another Multimatch R to have two of them mounted for greater viewing.

From there you could add a match pen r for just quick tests down the road for convenience. I also like the I match 2 for interior detailing and tight spaces. These are not a "need" though, but useful.

I am curious what others have to say on this matter as well!


5.0 Black and Bob hit it. Super important. 5.0-you're a man of good lighting taste! LOL, what I use as well. Love them.


Bdub: Yes, you want to light up the area and area around where you are working. And the lighting we are speaking of are dedicated/made for/proper wave length for working on paint...
Thanks. I see you are a man of good taste as well! lol. Pricey, but worth every penny!
 
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NastyGT500

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I agree. I think the R would be the most versatile. Can use it like a handheld light or on a stand/tripod as mentioned above. Excellent lighting...and they will show you what you paint 'really' looks like it.
 

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