Back with an A2 Project – A2Steve

Hi Steve, nice job. Wet sanding is indeed a bit scary. I did this on our black AUA and it come out better than I imagened. It is so counter-intuitive to sand and buff. Especially with a colour as ours, akoya. Very hard to get the whole surface equally smooth and shiny. ???
Most definately. What looked to be perfect under the garage lights last night isn't today. I can see that the ultimate compound hasn't quite removed the 2000 grit marks. I've just ordered 2500-7000 grit paper and will work the marks out to a point where the UC will cut them. Why do we do these things ?
 
The refurb/polishing kits I’ve seen that move from sandpaper to polishing compound seem to go down to a 3000 grit as the last step before the polishing stage. Hopefully that’ll do it for you.

I’ll just park mine round the back in the queue, okay?


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The refurb/polishing kits I’ve seen that move from sandpaper to polishing compound seem to go down to a 3000 grit as the last step before the polishing stage. Hopefully that’ll do it for you.

I’ll just park mine round the back in the queue, okay?


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Well that is indeed what I did. Sand down with grit 2000, 2500 en 3000 and subsequently polish with heavy cut (Scholl S2cut) and Monello finale fine cut.
 
Not cheap but check out abralon sanding discs that attach via velcro to your DA or rotary. Small discs but you soak and wet sand at low to medium speed - I've used them for years and they are able to bring the gloss back over the various grades with relative ease.
 
I’ll get in line behind you @Pinkythelabrat

Form an orderly queue!

Having polished out the paint on a SMART FORTWO with a 4” drill attachment I can only applaud the effort you are making Steve.

The Smart looked great afterwards (my elbows and wrists didn’t) so it was well worth it to recapture the gloss and shine in the paint.

I think I’ll see how much a respray is instead...


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The polishing continues. 2000/3000/5000/7000 then ultimate compound. It’s taking bloody hours but will hopefully be worth it in the end.

With the paintwork starting to come up well, I’ve made a good start on repainting all of the black trim in gloss black.

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I must agree the gloss black trim looks superb, it does work well with the shiny akoya Steve. Nice work sir.
 
Hi Steve, as you know my ATL is an akoya as well and I love what you did with the grills. May I ask how tackled this bit of paint work? What paint did you use? I would like to do this as well, looks absolutely stunning.
????
 
Hi Steve, as you know my ATL is an akoya as well and I love what you did with the grills. May I ask how tackled this bit of paint work? What paint did you use? I would like to do this as well, looks absolutely stunning.
????

Believe it or not, the plastic was wet sanded using 2000 grit and thn Upol laquer. I picked up the tip from the bodyshop who painted one of my old projects. He said “why paint something black that’s already black, just laquer it!”
 
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What brand of 2k have you used Steve? Seems a lot of different ones out there, not sure what the difference compared to 1k which is usually what comes up in a search.
 
What brand of 2k have you used Steve? Seems a lot of different ones out there, not sure what the difference compared to 1k which is usually what comes up in a search.

I’ve used Upol power cans. I have no idea what the difference is, but I had some there ?
 
I’ve used Upol power cans. I have no idea what the difference is, but I had some there ?
Happy days, that is the make I've decided to use on my wheels refurb, I will look at their 2k lacquer as well. Cheers for that Steve.
 
Learn something new every day. The Upol 1k is great in that case.
Im glad you said that as ive ordered u pol primer, paint and lacquer for the wheel refurb. It will be interesting to see how they turn out, fingers crossed.
 
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