Clear coat paint job

[BadJoey]

My car was painted last spring with base coat , clear coat . My question is can I buff that out or do I have to wet sand first . The car is all back together and I would just like to spiff it up a little without creating a big job or expense for myself .

[73Chally]

Was it not wet sanded when the paint work was done?  If not, then it should be to take out any orange peel.  If it has been sanded, then a mild buffing compound applied by hand like a wax should be good.  That's what I have been doing in the first year+ since the paint was finished.

[elitecustombody]

what are you trying to achieve? how does the finish look? if the clear previously has been wetsanded and buffed, there sghould be no need to sand it again, there are countless choices of polishes on the market, I'd do it with low speed buffer and foam pad, doing it by hand can create more problems then help with trapped dirt and scratch the s&*t out of paint

[BadJoey]

Car was never wet sanded . The orange peal thing isn't bad but car does not  shine as much I would like . To wet sand it now would mean taking it all apart again . I have buffed old lacquer paint jobs but never et sanded one . I'm worried if I tried sanding it would leave scratches . I was hoping I could use a course buffing compound ,then one a little finer and acheve some results that way ?

[torredcuda]

Just buffing will smooth out the paint and bring up more shine but will take longer,wet sanding is just a way to flatten out all the orange peel quicker.Be sure to be carefull near the edges(or tape them off) and be carefull not to build up too much heat in one area and burn the paint but otherwise buff away!

[73Chally]

what are you trying to achieve? how does the finish look? if the clear previously has been wetsanded and buffed, there sghould be no need to sand it again, there are countless choices of polishes on the market, I'd do it with low speed buffer and foam pad, doing it by hand can create more problems then help with trapped dirt and scratch the s&*t out of paint

How is hand buffing any different from a slow speed power buffer as far as trapping dirt?  I've done it 4 times in the past year and a half and no problems or scratches.

[elitecustombody]

How is hand buffing any different from a slow speed power buffer as far as trapping dirt?  I've done it 4 times in the past year and a half and no problems or scratches.

I've seen plenty of hand buff jobs,and it's very easy to scratch with some dirt trapped under the rag if doing by hand. Obviously you have never had the paint so slick,you make scratches by simply dragging brand new microfiber towel and it leaves marks,but you can only see that under certain lighting conditions,and if your eye is not trained to catch that,you just won't see it.

I've been doing custom paint and body for over 20 years and I still will never understand why would anyone would want to waste time rubbing paint by hand and job will never be as good as polished by a machine,no matter what products they use .

I hand rubbed lacquer paint job I did on my first car, and have came up with few tricks to save time when doing lacquer and come up with slick as glass jobs, but that was 20 years ago

I have got my sanding/polishing down so good, that even on black base/clear job I can start and finish with  3M Perfect-it II Rubbing Compound with Meguiars Burgundy Cutting foam pad and not leave any swirls,

[E-Body Products]

We did as Stefan suggests and your arms will thank you after you are done.

We wet sanded the challenger and buffed it and the results were really good.  No more orange peel.