Imron Paint Question
 

Silly question for someone that has experience painting Imron.
The question is can you water sand and buff it once it sets up and hardens. The imron is really hard once it kicks. I have a little orange peel and want to address it but not make it any worse!
Brian

Absolutely BIG Daddy start with 600 grit and up to 3000 grit and then fire up the buffer :drink:
good luck

Fixx
 

my donzi has imron on it,when i sanded it with a lower # grit then stepped up to a finer grit and believe me i wet sanded the piss out of it you can still see the lower grit # scratches..my recommendation would be is to start with 2500 then to 3000,i took my time and now it looks wet..

What surfaces are you painting with Imron? Is this a good choice for the cockpit & dash?

well if it is fully cured you have your work cut out for you, its usually best to sand and buff within the first few days after spraying. For fully cured paint you want to start with 3M's 1000 dry on a DA with an intermediate pad then step up to Mirka's Abralon 2000 wet also on a DA then on to 3M's Trizak 3000 also wet with a DA. From there you can start to buff or take it one step further with Mirka's Abralon 4000. Sanding and buffing fully cured finishes is an arduous task and takes time and patience. You need to be sure each grit has been finalized before stepping up to the next. I wouldn't recommend going below 1000 unless it is very rough and dont start with anything finer then 1200 or you loose the ability to level the surface. Believe it or not it is best to do this type of work with a DA its very very tough to keep from leaving deep scratches when wetsanding by hand.

How big is the area you need to buff?


http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...glK8BBF2T97Kbl

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mirka-Abralon-6-...efaultDomain_0

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3m-6i...tomotive_Tools

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mirka...motiveQ5fTools

I have painted the sides of the hull, and stripes on
the deck, nothing below the water line. Colors are black, red and grey. Looks good less some orange peel in certain areas. I was fighting the hot temperatures, and the stuff was kicking faster than I could get it on. But overall it did not come out bad.
Thank you guys for the opinions, I do very much appreciate it.
Brian

you may not need to do a full sand on it, you'd be surprised what just nibbing the tops and going from there would do.

Nibbing the tops? Just a light water sand with 1500 by hand and then buff with what compound?
I am in the middle of buffing out all the white on the deck, boat is an 89 so it is pretty chalky. I did notice that the compound almost dulls the Imron just slightly. It does look nice and wet so I'm moving cautiously on the orange peel in the imron. I may just live with it, I'm not sure at the moment.

I am using a product called Aqua Buff 1000-W Fast cutting compound on the area's of the boat I did not paint. Removes 400 grit scratches and finer pretty good stuff. Made by Hawkeye Industries.

Hey Glass Dave I did precisley what you suggested regarding dry sanding with 1000, then stepping up to 2000 wet, I did have a problem with the 3000 not sticking to the pad. So I skipped it and went with the 4000. Then I went to a fine compount Finsesse it II. I also experimented with some coarser compounds but the finesse it II did the job after two cuts with a white foam pad.
It made an okey job, with some orange peel look really professional and like glass.
I need to thank you for your knowledge and willingness to share it on this forum. I personally love to share information if I can help anyone that is interested in boating.
Thank you once again
Brian