Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

dellsboater

dellsboater

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Nov 19, 2010
Messages
193
We took the old stickers off today, were on white and red gel coat. Now can still see them due to color fade. I machine buffed it with some Wizard Finish cut, but no real difference. The gel coat is shiny, just deeper color red under where the stickers were. Same on the white area.
What can I do to blend it in?

Thanks
 
Yacht Dr.

Yacht Dr.

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5,581
Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Unfortunatly the color under the sickers is the origional color of the gel..

You would have to sand and buff ( restore ) the rest of the gelcoat back to its true color.

Thats the only way I know how to do it.

YD.
 
dellsboater

dellsboater

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Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Ok, is there a guide somewhere to tell me how to sand gelcoat? Is it difficult to do?
 
Yacht Dr.

Yacht Dr.

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Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Yes..and yes ( depending ).

There are guides to resto gel..and It could be hard or semi-hard..or very hard.. depending on what tools and experiance you have ..

DA the surface with 400..then 600..then wetsand with 1200..then buff buff buff..

Please update us on your procedure as I have noticed you kinda ditched out of some of the other threads you started..

YD.
 
Friscoboater

Friscoboater

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Jul 3, 2009
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Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

I did not go that aggressive.

I started with 800 wet and did it by hand.

Then went to 1500 wet by hand

Then buffed with a whit foam pad with cutter polish

Then buffed with a grey foam pad with a really fine polish.

My youtube page has a video somewhere.
 
Cadwelder

Cadwelder

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Aug 30, 2010
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1,780
Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Good advice here, done it several times and there is NO easy way to get the color back, if you even get it ALL back. Just sand as stated above and buff, buff, buff, buff. And then you'll need to buff some more. Did I mention that it's not an easy task? Don't give up you can achieve good results but it's tuff.
 
Bondo

Bondo

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Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Ayuh,.... Or just Paint the whole thing,.......
 
dellsboater

dellsboater

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
193
Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

Has anyone used a grit type compound? Saw Mcquires has a new M9132 for heavy removal of oxidation. Also read somewhere there are professional compounds with 1200 grit power, have professional buffer, thought it might be worth a shot first?

I will update all my threads, sorry...
 
ondarvr

ondarvr

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11,527
Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

All compounds have grit, some are just coarser or finer than others. each buff job will a little different, sometimes you can use compound and bring it back easily, other times you need to sand and get aggressive. Start in a small area, maybe 1'X1' and see what works before going any further.

You can also do a search here on buffing and see what others did it and what the results were.
 
dellsboater

dellsboater

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
193
Re: Took off stickers, now need help to blend color

I noticed while buffing that slower speeds on the buffer worked better then wide open, anyone else notice this?
 
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