im a n00b when it comes to polishing... im going to order my PC random orbital tonight... what pads/swirl removers/polishes would you suggest i get along with it?

ty for the help

I have orderd 2 Porter Cable/Meguiars PC's from here.
http://www.autodetailingsolutions.com/

Go to www.autopia.org and click on the "Learning" button at the top and then download the e-book on detailing. That book is like the Detailer's Bible.

Basically any 'good' polish range will be fine for what you need. I have a number of different polishing pads. Everything from a Cutting pad down to a Finessing pad. I start with the cutting pad and Poorboy's SSR3 and then work my way down to a fine polish with a finishing pad (I only use the finessing pad with a sealant). I use 2 of each pad as the polishing will give a huge amount of paint pickup to the pad. I use the first pad for the first section, then soak that pad in the cleaning solution while I use the second pad for the next section. Then I alternate between pads and always use a clean pad for each section.

almost done...

http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/almost.jpg

That is looking horn!!!

heres how to get the final coat to go on a lot smoother:

-mix some mineral spirits into the brightside. I think i ended up with a mix of only 10% mineral spirits, but it seemed to help smooth the paint out a lot better.

-put the final coat on in <50 degree weather. When i put my final coat on, i applied it in a 42 degree garage. I guess it gave the paint more time to settle and level...

Lookin good! Have any close up pics? I'm actually considering doing this now.

i second that notion, because red could use a paintjob ... UPS brown anyone?

This is what my bonnet looks like after a less-than-perfect wet-sand and then polished with a swirl remover and a cutting pad.

http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/...1119100452.JPG

That's FRICKIN AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

whoa

Heres how it was when i got it:
http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/1.jpg

after wetsanding:
http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/wetsanded.jpg

first coat goin on:
http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/firstcoat.jpg

after 4 coats, its done for a week.. then i can polish it...
http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/done1.jpg

http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/done2.jpg

http://www.neonshaun.com/miata/done.jpg

I love that grey. That's the color I was thinking of too.

I really want to do this on my jeep but I'm too lazy

Mate, that miata of yours is looking beautiful!!!

I do a lot of reading on different detailing sites and your car already looks like it has a factory paint job. Based on the results the detailers are able to achieve on the cars that they work on, you should be able to get your car's paint looking perfect after you do your final wet-sand and polishing.

And achieving that for less than $100 is priceless!!! :bigtu:

Good shit b1m2x3. Now do mine!

pretty damn good looking results from the pictures. can you post up some links to the products you used?

bmx, could you take some pictures of it with better lighting? I'd like to see the color under sunlight to get a better idea of how dark it is.

hey Aussie and b1m, did you guys do the door jams? I already found a local Brightside distributor if they would answer the phone. Who did you buy yours from b1m?

Yep, I did the door jams. I took the doors off my car for the Brightside job which made them a lot easier to paint. I also grabbed a spray can of gloss black that I had lying around and sprayed paint as far up behind the front fenders as I could. That stops the streak of red that was visible through the panel gap between the doors and the front fenders.

now if only it wasn't 28 degrees here....

Aussie Driver, which just to make sure are you using Brightside Polyurethane?

And a general question for everyone, is there a way to get regular black to appear satin black? Someone on my motorcycle forum mentioned something about it.

Yep Loki047, my car now has the Interlux Brightside as the top coat. Although now that I have to get the side repaired after being hit by the 4WD, I am starting to get tempted by Interlux Perfection. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to get the insurance to pay for the Perfection.

The only satin paint finish that I know of is the Metal Armour paint that I first tried. Every time it rained, the finish lost gloss and after a few months it had an interesting satin/matt finish.

Well I dont have to worry about rain cause my motorcycle almost never sees rain, but the tank does see gasoline from time to time.

I really want satin but i dont know if I can get that with brightside paints Mights just have to go plain black.

Ive been reading the mopar thread how did he keep his paint from changing with the rain and such?

Couldn't you make it satin black by doing a final wetsand with around 2000grit and then not polishing it? You could use a random orbit with a sanding disk to get it to be uniform and not have sanding lines.

You could just wet sand it and leave it, but then every time you washed it and dried it then you would be polishing it just that little bit.

It is probably your best option though.

Ill probably just rub it with a damp rag, what about the clear coat over this stuff?

Hey Aussie, how well would that black match the oem black?

I wouldn't have a clue mate. I've only ever seen a black miata in photos.

Well i guess I might be finding out soon enough.

wow good job. I too saw that write up, but didint think much about it, figured it would not have turned out so good on other cars

anyone have any updates?

Nope. I'm still waiting for the insurance companies to sort out their differences after my accident in November, then I might actually be able to get the accident damage fixed. After that I'll be able to paint it again and finish it all off. So I'll be looking towards the end of Jan to get anything useful done.

any longer term updates on these projects/how the paint has held up?

please make this a sticky, I want to redo my car In a metallic skyline blue, do they have that color paint in the material you used....this Is perfect since im suce a cheap basterd , yay awsome job man thanks for showing us the light

The paint has held up really well except for one area that was "bird bombed" and then wasn't washed for 2 months as Victoria (the state where I live) has been in stage 3 water restrictions since the new year and we're not allowed to wash our cars unless it is in a proper car wash or it is washed with tank water. This drought sucks....

I finally got the chance to wash it last weekend with some of my in-laws tank water and my car looked as good as the day I painted it (except for the bit that was bird bombed).


The International Brightside does have a few different Blues (you would hope so since it is a marine paint) but none of them are metallic. You can check out the link to their website on the first page of this topic.


I only have two more weeks until school holidays and now that it's raining more than once a month (and I have just a hope of getting some water into my new water tank) I should be able to finish it all off once and for all. I will post heaps of pics once it is all done.

good to hear, im feeling better about this paint now. Just dont know if im brave enough to try it.

Done and Done

thanks bro.

this is such a rediculously good DIY for any track car

Well since it was a 40 dollar paint job heres my bike... Before and After.

Very sexy!!!!!

Thank you, anyone want to buy it?

this is seriously the most guenious thing I have ever seen. I went to Harbor Freight and picked up paint guns and everything and painted my miata myself... lets just say, nothing compared to this. This is awesome and has so much potential.

SWEET i cant belive you applied it with a roller that is awesome

i'm not sure if this was asked already...

did you primer the car and then roll it with Brightside?
I found a boat store that sells a Quart of Brightside for $38...
to paint the car i would need more than a gallon... Anyone seen
a cheaper price? How much paint was used to cover the car?

Most of the paint went straight over the old factory sunburnt pink but the (US) driver's side of the car was primered by the panel shop after they fixed the accident damage.

I did two coats of Brightside (with a little bit left over) from a 1 litre can. I assume that a quart is a similar volume. If you get a gallon, you could probably paint three or four miatas.

4 quarts = 1 gallon
2 quarts = 1 litre
2 liters = 1 gallon

*edit* correction 1litre = 0.8798750577418006 quart..

someone double check if i'm correct on this one...

i believe the thinner for brightside is 233 or something similar.
what ratio did you thin it to? or just 50/50? I'm guessing it
would take more than two coats if i paint a white car to black huh?

I only saw three shades of blue, no effects or anything fancy.
I'm considering doing a two tone on mine...
http://www.wholesalemarine.com/mm5/m...w=&range_high=
see where it says "select a color" those are the ones i've seen...

4 quarts = 1 gallon
3.785 litres = 1 gallon
Can you imagine trying to fit a gallon of milk into a two litre bottle of soda?

I thinned the Brightside for the top-coat by a ratio of 5:1 and I used Mineral Spirits as the thinner. My car currently has only 1 coat over the primer where the damage was fixed, and the coverage is almost 100%. There are a couple of places where the black is thin but from 2 feet away, it's invisible.

Two coats should be fine to go from white to black.

5 part paint to 1 part thinner? (sorry i've never done thinner)
and thats for 2nd coat, whats the first one mixed at?

Yep, 5 paint to 1 thinner.

The first two coats weren't thinned at all. They were straight from the paint can.

beautiful, once I get megasquirt going (and it looks like im on the right track again) Ill start looking into this stuff.

i got megasquirt, crankshaft seals, main bearings, custom Fiberglass console, muffler, and neither one of those are finished, lol.... AND, i'm still looking into doing this.

4.5461 Litres = 1 gallon
http://www.taylormade.com.au/billspa...ion_table.html

can you imagine 4.5 litres into a Gallon? lol

I assumed you were talking about US gallons. From same site:

1 gallon = 4.5461 litres
1 US gallon = 3.785 litres

sorry for the conversation steer but you're right my friend.
Who would imagine a gallon changes value from one place to another.

As patriotic as I am I must say that I prefer the metric system