Can i Buff and polish a poly paint?

[AleCiotti]

Hi guys, so my boat is made of 2 part poly paint and I need to get it to shine again.

I know that for gel coat, when it oxidises, the standard procedure is to buff - polish and wax.

But I'm worried that as the paint is thinner than the gel coat, if I try to use an abrasive paste (buff) it will rip it apart..

What do you think? have you had any experience cleaning poly paint?

Thanks

 

[lustyd]

You can, yes. My advice, as with GRP, is to do other things first.

1. give it a proper wash with dish soap and water with a sponge or brush to remove dirt
2. if it looks "oxidised" that's often just old wax that's UV damaged. Wipe the surface with alcohol to remove
3. oxalic acid for any stains
4. try waxing it and see how it looks. Probably fine
5. if all else fails then consider a polish, but don't use a polish by default as it does wear the surface and is almost always unnecessary

 

[AleCiotti]

You can, yes. My advice, as with GRP, is to do other things first.

1. give it a proper wash with dish soap and water with a sponge or brush to remove dirt
2. if it looks "oxidised" that's often just old wax that's UV damaged. Wipe the surface with alcohol to remove
3. oxalic acid for any stains
4. try waxing it and see how it looks. Probably fine
5. if all else fails then consider a polish, but don't use a polish by default as it does wear the surface and is almost always unnecessary

Awesome got it, i haven't tried just washing it already, the boat is in fairly bad conditions as it hasn't been cleaned in years.

By polish you mean a thin grit finishing compound like meguiars 45, or also something more coarse like meguiars 49?

Thanks

 

[lustyd]

Yes when I say polish I mean things with a compound in them. Meguiars do a plain wax that doesn't have this and it usually does the trick if you clean the surface properly first.
Some surfaces obviously are damaged, but most are just chalky with UV damaged wax from previous years

 

[AleCiotti]

So you'd say i firstly remove the old wax with alcohol, then wash with boat wash, and then maybe polish if not directly wax?

Thanks

 

[lustyd]

I'd usually wash with dish soap to clean first, then alcohol like meths if needed, mostly because a wash is quick and will get a lot of grime off before you start with other treatments. I usually use blue roll with the alcohol and if the surface is dirty this will need changing more often. Try a small patch first to see what works. Oxalic acid will remove a lot of staining like rust if you have it (starbrite rust remover is this).

 

[AleCiotti]

ok ok, so to resume: wash with dishsoap and use alcohol if needed, rinse, dry, polish with something like meguiars 45, and wax.

correct?

Thanks

 

[PCUK]

Yes you can compound and polish two pack. You can't cut and polish (i.e. sand). I use Farecla G3 and that works well. Use fine waffle pads.

 

[AleCiotti]

Yes you can compound and polish two pack. You can't cut and polish (i.e. sand). I use Farecla G3 and that works well. Use fine waffle pads.

That's great to know! but if I compound should I use a light one or can I also go with medium stuff? i just don't want to make it worse than it is already.

I was going to use foam pads of medium light cut.

Do you have Poly In your boat? if yes how many years have you been compounding? have you ever had to re-paint?
Thanks