tennja wrote:
Did you ask the local "expert" Cincy Aquaholic? I know he has had good results with his repairs and pinstriping as well.
Since Tennja brought it up, and Cincy Aquaholic is too good for us lowely Four Winns types (unless you have a cooler full of Coors Light), I'll post his wise musings on repairing scratches and dings.
Here he goes:
In my opinion, you have 3 kinds of gelcoat damage:
1) fine scratches like fender rub that can be buffed out with a rotary buffer and good polish (no compound - see below) then waxed for high gloss
2) scrapes that require a degree of wet sanding that can be blended back in, then polished and waxed as above
3) those requiring the patch kit. then steps 2, 1.
Difference between 1 and 2 is easy if a buffer can't knock them down sanding it is. Trying to decide if wet sanding can handle it versus needing a patch is more difficult. Of course most depends on how deep but also is there enough gelcoat in the area to wet sand around to blend. You don't want to sand just the scratch cause it will leave a noticeable "dent". I made that mistake once. But gelcoat is thicker in some places allowing you to blend more. Wet sanding is as easy as it gets so I prefer that over trying to patch when I can.
I believe wet sanding requires no lower than 800 grit working your way up to at least 1500. You can even start with 1200. It sands very easy so fine grit works just takes abit longer. At 1500 you will be left with a smooth yet dull surface. Don't let it scare you. Using a rotary on low speed with a wool pad will bring the gloss right back.
To do this, you need a rotary like this.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/C ... pricetype=No need for anything fancier. My Milwaukee is to heavy for the job if you ask me because its heavy duty for sanding and grinding.
In my opinion, the port cable which runs around $100-120 is good for applying wax every month or so and cleaning the little bit of grime and water spots you see in between full fledged polishes. It won't spin fast enough since its dual action to generate the heat needed to remove actual scratches though but may work on some dull spots. But I do like it because it saves my arm from the "wax on" part.
Without seeing them its hard to tell if wet sanding will remove your scratches versus needing a patch. In my opinion you don't want to make the mistake of wet sanding only to find out later that its too deep and needed a patch because getting a patch to adhere to a sanded spot versus a scrape with sharp edges is very difficult. You may even be better off using patch and then sanding it and if you happen to sand all the patch away and end up with a smooth surface even better. Make sense?
My favorite, after trying $100's of different kinds of polishes is by far is this:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... o?pid=8998 Used it on my black and nothing came close. Also great on metal. Very easy to use. Follow it with a good wax like Flagship or the ProPolish.
For the buffer you will want a good wool pad. For a porter cable they have different foam pads depending on what you want to accomplish. I like the black and white ones for waxing.
Login
FAQ
Search
