I'm going to be buffing my 2003 Acura TL today or tomorrow for the first time. Are Acuras single stage paint? My friend that is helping me said we should know that before starting. Also I'm using a harbor freight special da polisher and foam pads. Also will be using meguiars 105 and 205... As I'm a beginner at this I don't want to damage the paint, with the tool and chemicals I'm using should I be fine? Many tips would be great. Thank you

 

What color is your TL

 

Did you wash and clay your car first?

 

Wash and clay first. With a DA polisher you're not going to be hurting anything.

 

I know for sure WDP is single stage paint... Dunno about the other colors.

 

There are very few Honda's and Acuras with dual stage paint. No 3G TL that I know of is dual stage. Colors like Imola Orange, or the new NSX blue (amongst a couple others) are some of the only H/A paints that's are dual stage. It's expensive. It takes longer to paint a car. Etc... there's a reason why H/A generally avoid such paint.

 

When you all say single stage what are you referring to?

I think OP is referring to how older cars typically lacked a clearcoat layer and therefore had to be treated differently in regards to buffing and such (on a single stage car the paint generally oxidizes and when you buff it its really easy to get it to look great but the color of the paint will get all up in your pads and you'd have to regularly wax the car to keep the shine; on a two stage car the clearcoat protects the basecoat from fade and also gives it the shine, when buffing you have to be a little more careful so you don't burn through the clear)

My car is White Diamond Pearl, which I'm pretty sure is a three stage paint job (a base coat, then what's known as a midcoat that gives it the pearl effect, and finally the clearcoat) and is therefore a pain to fix scratches and any paintwork costs a whole lot more.

Anyways I suck at buffing, but definitely wash and clay the car before doing anything and use clean pads else you run the risk of getting tons of scratches and swirling in the paint.

 

Stages is how many coats does it need to get a specific color paint.. White Diamond Pearl is a 1 Stage paint because its a white base that comes pre-mixed with the Pearl and Sparkles.. A White Diamond Pearl car only needs a single Stage of Paint, I did my whole car in OEM Color and it comes Pre-mixed from the very Color Code Paint.

The whole procedure of Base Coat > Paint Job > Clear is not what OP is referring to, Is the Stages of the paint itself.
Clear coat levels are a different story altogether.

 

Interesting the 2 interpretations of OPs question and both are correct. If what your saying is the case then his question on buffing is moot since he wont be touching those layers in detailing the car just the clear.

Simple answer to his question is you have primer, base coat and clear on most modern cars today. As long as you prep surface noted in previous threads and use a DA youll be fine. Just make sure you finish with a good wax and your good to go.