Spraying a car in a small single garage is not the easiest things to do. I had removed most of the large panels ( doors, bonnet and boot lid ) and these were actually sprayed outside on a couple of those rare warm, windless days. Remainder of the body was a struggle because of the lack of space in the garage, but with some perseverance I eventually managed it.
After a couple of weeks to let the cellulose harden, I decided to 'colour sand' the already decent finish. This is done by wet flatting the paint again with fine 1500 grit and then using two grades of Farecla fine finishing compound ( Farecla G3 and Farecla G10)together with a 1200 watt heavy duty polisher. Polishing part is known as 'mopping'
I used a Silverline polisher which takes M14 fit 150mm polishing sponges..........blue sponge for the first polishes and soft red for the fine finishing polishes. Silverline polisher is about £50 which is cheap compared to others, but I am not going to use it everyday like a commercial car body finishing company so I thought it was good value...and so far it has done the job. It starts slowly when first applied to the paint to avoid 'burn' and can be used a different speeds. Method I used is to spray water onto the sponge, add a small amount of compound to the centre of the sponge and then spread it around the area with the sponge without the polisher turning. Start polisher at a lower speed and then work to higher speeds with more Farecla compound applications. It is hard work to do a whole car, but well worth the effort. You will get some 'spray' from the water mixed paint/compound, so I cover any glass or rubber strip because it is a pain to clean off afterwards.
One of the excellent uses for this polishing method is the ability to remove small paints runs from the sprayed cellulose. In my small garage I found that it was easy to knock my elbow on the wall behind when making a 'pass' with the spray gun.......this then slows the gun and a small run can develop. After the paint has hardened I flatted the 'run' with 1200/1500 grit paper and then polished using the Farecla compound. If you ever do this be very careful during the flatting and visually check continually against the light to ensure you are not going through the paint surface onto the primer. If you have big time runs through bad spray gun set-up and technique, it is often better to flat and paint the panel again.
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| Panels sprayed with cellulose 'Yellow Gold' and the paint ready for 'mopping' with Farecla finishing compounds. Glass front and rear and side were not re-fitted until after the paint polishing/compounding. Vauxhall Viva |
After a couple of weeks to let the cellulose harden, I decided to 'colour sand' the already decent finish. This is done by wet flatting the paint again with fine 1500 grit and then using two grades of Farecla fine finishing compound ( Farecla G3 and Farecla G10)together with a 1200 watt heavy duty polisher. Polishing part is known as 'mopping'
I used a Silverline polisher which takes M14 fit 150mm polishing sponges..........blue sponge for the first polishes and soft red for the fine finishing polishes. Silverline polisher is about £50 which is cheap compared to others, but I am not going to use it everyday like a commercial car body finishing company so I thought it was good value...and so far it has done the job. It starts slowly when first applied to the paint to avoid 'burn' and can be used a different speeds. Method I used is to spray water onto the sponge, add a small amount of compound to the centre of the sponge and then spread it around the area with the sponge without the polisher turning. Start polisher at a lower speed and then work to higher speeds with more Farecla compound applications. It is hard work to do a whole car, but well worth the effort. You will get some 'spray' from the water mixed paint/compound, so I cover any glass or rubber strip because it is a pain to clean off afterwards.
One of the excellent uses for this polishing method is the ability to remove small paints runs from the sprayed cellulose. In my small garage I found that it was easy to knock my elbow on the wall behind when making a 'pass' with the spray gun.......this then slows the gun and a small run can develop. After the paint has hardened I flatted the 'run' with 1200/1500 grit paper and then polished using the Farecla compound. If you ever do this be very careful during the flatting and visually check continually against the light to ensure you are not going through the paint surface onto the primer. If you have big time runs through bad spray gun set-up and technique, it is often better to flat and paint the panel again.
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