buffing the paint

[kenshinS14sks]

1995 s14 stock aspen pearl white paint (hence: 14 year old paint)

so im thinking of preparing myself for the upcoming spring to "liven up" my car up a bit . . . for the purpose of reviving the shine and so the wax shine will last more than 1 - 2 weeks after a wash.

what i want to know is how much "wow" could i expect out of how many hours of work? i.e. if i get the meguiar's dual action polisher, polish the whole car, will the paint:
- look like it's just a few years old?
- not have anymore clear coat scratches?

will i have to color sand the whole car and then polish?? i've read up on a bit of polishing paint but wasn't sure exactly how much i have to do for the results that i want.

any feedback and experience will be much appreciated concentrating around the results and hours of work needed. thank you!

[repda916]

poor boy polish

[C. Senor]

depends on the buffer you get and what condition the paint is in right now....and the wax you use. i would say if you want to be careful, and take your time as you should. then i would say you'd spend about an hour or so just buffing the car. i would suggest clay barring it first. then you can buff it with a "cut" wax to try to get most of the small clear coat scratches out, then after the buff you can go over it hand waxing with a shine wax. if you're paint isnt all oxidized and jacked up, should look pretty good.

[kenshinS14sks]

"pretty good" as in . . . no more fine scratches and swirls? is it worth the buffing? the paint is in pretty good condition, no oxidation but some parts have lost a lot of clear but i dont see any areas where the paint is exposed yet

[C. Senor]

yeah pretty much no more fine scratches and swirl marks, as long as you do it right. if not you can make the swirl marks way worse and can burn the paint. it's worth the buffing if your paint is still good and do it correctly. it should come out fairly newish looking. but i only have experience with cars that are less than roughly 6-7 years old.

[silviaguy240]

wash, claybar, wash, cut, polish, seal, wax. it will take 3-5 hours to do a good job.

[C. Senor]

the seal is a pain. doesn't really do much if you use good wax either. save yourself like 30 minutes right there.

[silviaguy240]

oh and when doing it, try to do it in a cool, dry indoor area after washing and claying. sun and heat dry out products real fast and make them super dusty. but all you really need is a good light cut if you only have light to medium scratches and swirl marks. and you just need like mothers seal/polish (step 2) and mothers wax (step 3)

[chibo]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/chibo/buff-4.jpg?t=1230874360
Just a buff can do wonders.

I don't have any before shots, but you can get an idea from this..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/chibo/CIMG1405.jpg?t=1230875542
I buffed out worse than that, then went out and beat the fuck out of it after I decided it was pointless to sell. Suffice so say, the scratches were worse than anything almost any 240 owner will ever see... and they all came out with a cut and buff.

[1ZlowZ]

Would this work on my guitar? My guitar has a buttload of pick scratches I want to make it shine...