It’s the final touch after painting your car and it’s something that can change people’s comments from “nice” to “wow.” Colour sanding doesn’t have to be magic though. With some patience and practice you can make your car stand out from the crowd.

With today’s Hi-tech materials, there aren’t many painters who can spray a perfect finish right out of the gun, so to get that mirror finish, color sanding is needed. I usually wait 2-3 days after a car is painted before beginning the polishing process. This gives the paint ample time harden all the way through the finish to its primer base. The body lines were rubbed out by hand and covered with masking tape for protection. It’s also very important to use an automotive buffer. DO NOT USE AN ANGLE GRINDER as you will burn the paint !!!

Here’s the materials/tool’s we used.




Here’s a newly painted panel. You can see that the reflection is diffused due to the slight orange peel. This surface will become smooth and highly reflective by the end of colour sanding






If you encounter any run’s or sag’s these can be removed with a small block with 800 grit Wet/Dry wrapped around it, Sand carefully until the run/sag is virtually removed then finish off with 1200 grit.

We need to start with a clean car and 1200-grit Wet/Dry paper, and a bucket filled with clean water or a hosepipe with a steady trickle. Using the water to keep the paper wet, we sand back and forth at 45 degrees, not round and round) only until we cut the orange peel down to a smooth surface.
Be sure and keep it wet so the paper doesn’t clog up. A small drop of liquid soap will stop the paper from clogging, we use light pressure and lets the sandpaper do the cutting. Always use a block, never sand with fingers and stay at least ½” away from any edges until your experienced. An easy way to see that you’ve removed all of the orange peel is to rinse and dry the panel. The shiny bits are where the block has missed.
Once you start sanding if you see coloured residue it means your car is painted with straight colour paint, If the residue is clear/white then you have Clear over base paint. You will see shiny spots if you haven’t sanded enough.






Once it’s smooth, we lightly wet sand it again with 1500-grit. Once this step is finished go over the whole panel again with 2000 grit to remove the scratches put in by the 1500 grit.
Fortunately, this paint was applied very flat to start with, so only a minimum amount of sanding was necessary.




Here we have the flatted surface.






I use Farecla G6 as a starting compound. I use a moderate amount of rubbing compound doing roughly a foot square at a time applied with a damp cloth. My Buffer is set to around 900 rpm and use light pressure, keeping the head moving constantly. Before starting with the buffer, always remember to run the buffer `OFF` edges, never onto or along them to avoid burning the paint.


If you stop in one spot, use too much pressure or go too slowly, you run the risk of heating up the paint and actually melting it. This step mostly removes the tiny scratches left behind by the 2000 Wet/dry.






Once I have the entire car cut with the foam pad and G6 I change my pad to one for G3 and go over the car again. I work the car over in a back-and-forth pattern, concentrating on small sections about a foot square at a time. The foam pad has a smooth surface and polishes the surface as you buff, further removing any signs of sanding.

After the G3 I change the pad again and continue with G10 or 3M Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze. The glaze is a finer-grade compound that polishes the surface to a mirror finish. Again, I only use light pressure, just sort of floating the pad across the surface and letting the pad and compound do the work.










With the sanding, buffing, and polishing steps completed, I rewash and dry the car, then hand-apply a coat of Meguiers Gold car wax, let it dry for a few minutes, then hand buff off with a clean, soft cotton towel.





How’s that for a glossy finish ???








Materials used

Clean Bucket & Sponge
1200, 1500, 2000 Grit Wet/Dry paper
Farecla G6/G3/G10 or 3M Perfect-It Foam Polishing Pad Glaze.
Meguiers Gold car wax
Rubber Sanding Block
Automotive Electric Buffer with Farecla White (hard) & Black (soft) Foam Pads
25mm wide 3M Masking Tape


.