campbellshotrods

iTrader: (1)

So going into painting the bumper for my Trans Am I was a little cautious since I've never painted anything with so many grooves, pockets, and holes, such as the foglights, and turn signals. I was able to get it painted decent enough, but there was too much orange peel in some of the holes I just had to wet sand them. I was able to rub them out some by hand to make it look okay. That was only intended to be temporary. Now how does everyone on here go about buffing inside these crevices? The buffers I have are the typical rotary units, good for flatter panels, not good for the holes of the bumper.

Is there something the professionals use? I've done a lot of buffing in the past, but it has been on muscle cars, and more square vehicles. Would the "Mother's Powerball" for paint work on this? Is it high speed enough to actually buff it out fairly decent? Like I said, I'm just concerned with primarily the foglights, turn signals, and also the fender vents. I'd like to get everything together so I can do a super detail in a few weeks.

99zee

iTrader: (4)

There are some 3" pads out there, but they still may be too big? I wouldn't think the powerball would be agressive enough to do any "cutting", but its worth a shot.

campbellshotrods

iTrader: (1)

That's just it, I don't know if the powerball will cut some. I guess it's better than the little bit of shine I have now. And I do have a buffer with 3" pads, but that still won't get into the foglights.

crimSSonTide

you should (should have) been able to adjust the fan on the spray gun to get inside those tight spots when you were painting it originally (i had to do this a lot when i used to paint cars) there's almost an art to it, lol. you just need a steady hand and some mad skillz, lol, j/k. i dont wanna sound arrogant, but it does take a little bit of extra time to shoot some clear in just the right spot to keep that orange peel from showin up. but if its really bad orange peel i'd just use some 1500 grit at first (if the clear is thick) and break it down, then 2000 grit it and use the mothers ball with some good compound and wax and hopefully be good to go. dark colors are really hard to hide fuckups on though, but being inside the foglight hole shouldnt be too noticable if you do have a flaw or two.

campbellshotrods

iTrader: (1)

It wasn't that bad, it was low enough to where a little bit of 2000 was all I needed. It's just that little bit of orange peel didn't look good when the rest of the bumper was smooth as glass! It's a fine line between orange peel, and runs, so I would rather be a little rough than have to worry about runs in the pockets.

crimSSonTide

oh yeah, runs are a bitch. good to see you look at every detail though, a lot of people let these cars go to **** and could care less.

campbellshotrods

iTrader: (1)

I've alway been very picky with my cars. I've got a few things I'm going to have to fix on this car to get it back up to great condition again. Things just start falling apart and don't get fixed. I've got to restore a few things back to stock that the kid two owners ago did, some ricky racer stuff. But overall, the car isn't bad for the money I paid. It helps that I do the paintwork myself! I'm pretty good at paintwork though. I've done a few cars, but they're mainly been cars of the 60's and 70's, so there isn't much complexity to deal with as far as curves, and pockets to work around!

6']['9

iTrader: (2)

you can try the mothers power ball and if you use the appropriate polish/compound you may be able to get it to work. Even thought he powerball has not cut to it, if you get the scratches down a bit or so you can probably finish it off by hand. It just takes time.

campbellshotrods

iTrader: (1)

That's probably what I'll do. I'll try the 3M synthetic cutting cream I always use on the powerball. Gotta do more than what I can do on hand! Then I might buy another, or wash the first ball and try my finishing compounds.