# Guide to use Mira Abralon on light/medium scratches



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

Ok, I decided to make this guide for those people who are not familiar with the Mirka Abralon product range.

Most of the Professional or semi-Professional users here know the product, but i don't see this as a bad idea to share with you people.

Let's start by talking about the Abralon; what is it, and how to use it.

The Abralon is a sanding disk made by Mirka from Finland.

The Abralon is soft, foam based product that works like a wet sanding paper.
It can be used by hand and orbital sander with plenty of water.

The Abralon was made for the car refinish industry to help and make sanding faster. Specially on curved surfaces and edges, where is a high risk of penetrating the clear coat or 1k paint.

I have personally used Abralon in the car refinishing industry from the beginning of it's marketing. It is unbeatable, and i can honestly say that it eats every other wet sanding paper alive on almost any job.

The only bad point is that it is soft, so if you have deeper scratches, then you may find it easier to get them off using ordinary wsp, and then finish it with Abralon.

The Abralon is avalaible in a range of grits that are 180, 360, 500, 600, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000.

Some countries may have even more, but these are all you will ever need.

Actually, you should NOT go below 1000, because it below that, you are in deep...you know what. The 1000 grit is very coarse, and i have only used that on very bad scratches etc.

I would suggest to start by using 1500 carefully, then go up to 4000 grit to help the buffing/compounding stage.

The car i'm doing below is our 2001 Subaru Legacy GTB (Jap import). It has very soft paint and the bumper(among other parts) has suffered from a bigger service where i had to remove stuff from the engine compartment.

I used around 20 minutes from start to finish on this one, including compounding and finishing the whole bumper. Only the top was sanded with the Abralon discs as the damage was only at that area.

I strongly recommend to test this product next time you see a bonnet that needs wet sanding or going in with the harshest compounds, like the Meguiar's #95 or #105.

Just take your DA, fit the Abralon (start from 1500 or 2000 to be safe) and add ALOT of water all the time. The Abralon will NOT clog at all like your ordinary paper, or leave those ugly small bits making swirls while you sand.

I use a pressure bottle to spray water to the surface and the Abralon very often to keep it sliding.

Then just use Wettex or similar so wipe off the smudge and wipe with degreaser if you have it. This gives you the perfect way to start compounding.

Ok, here we go, the photos are large by reason, you can see what happens. I apologize the quality of some photos. I took them with my E7 Nokia, and didn't realize that they all shaked. I will make a new set with a different part later.

This is the starting point. The bumper had lots of these small marks made by dropping tools, clothes etc.



















I first degresed it with a proper paint degreaser to remove all wax and debits.
and then took the 2000 grit Abralon and started to sand the surface in back and forth motion. Do not use the circular motion if possible, it is not that effective like that.




























Remember that you can use moderate to medium high pressure without risking the edges. Make some test runs and you will learn the right technique.

This is after using the 2000 grit. It took me less than 5 minutes to get it done.



















These scrathes, made by the bonnet, were too deep to get rid of without painting.










Still after the 2000 grit










After cleaning the surface with Wettex and paper, i carefully checked the surface and continued with my 3000 grit Abralon. Remember that it is the coarsest grit that removes the defects, in this case it was the 2000 grit, the 3000 and 4000 grits are used to further smooth out the paint to make your buffing/compounding easier.














































The photos don't do justice to the difference between the grits, but there is a significant difference between every one of these when you are there to see them i life.

Here is finally after the very fine 4000 Grit.




























The compound I decided to test on this job was the Etalon Absolute Compound.

I'm very new to this product and have actually only used it once before this.

The Absolute compound is a double action compound that is designed to be used with two different pads; a medium hard, and fine to very fine.

I strongly suggest to use a hologram remover on dark colours, this sort of compound is sure to leave some swirls even after the fine pad. It may differ from different manufacturers paints, but on our Subaru, i will deffo use 3M Ultrafina 50383 with the blue 3M pad.



















I started with a prepped 3M 50487 Perfect-it III, green pad and added medium pressure.

Leave the surface wet, or semi wet. You will use the existing compound to finish the job! You can add more to the fine pad, but i guarantee that you will use the hologram remover after that.




























Then take your prepped 3M 50488 Perfect-it III Yellow pad and finish the surface. You will leave some traces of the compound to the paint, but it buffs of easily.



















Here we go with the finished Bumper. I later took the 3M 50383 Perfect-it III Hologram remover with the 3M 50388 Perfect-it III Blue pad to further polish the Subarus ÜBER soft paint.














































Please ask any questions you may have, I'm glad to help and talk.

The Abralon is something that is essential to all of us that want to do things properly, and FAST.

Plus, the Abralon doesn't get bad in water, leave it to the bucket for 2 weeks, and nothing happens. It won't get bad, it doesn't soak to the water what so ever. Lift it up, wash it with water and you are ready to rock.


----------



## georgeandpeppa (May 25, 2009)

Thanks for the great guide:thumb: one question, do you think a rotary would be to much to use apose to a da as i dont have a da anymore? that is when using the sanding discs


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

georgeandpeppa said:


> Thanks for the great guide:thumb: one question, do you think a rotary would be to much to use apose to a da as i dont have a da anymore? that is when using the sanding discs


I used Makita rotary!

Revs at around 1500-1700 for the green pad and around the same for the yellow.

If you use the Abralon with the rotary, then i would be super careful. It eats very fast!

Lets say a bonnet, that has scratches, like our Subaru, i took the 2000 grit and matted the whole bonnet with my Megs DA at speed 4-5 and then wen't up to 4000 before buffing.

Took around 30 mins to do it all!

I would think that a DA could have worked on the bumper, but rotary is so much faster that i use it.


----------



## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

I didn't know the Mirca disk's were foam backed, so learnt something new today lol, and ^^ from what i've read a DA is best for machine wet sanding.


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

ant_s said:


> I didn't know the Mirca disk's were foam backed, so learnt something new today lol, and ^^ from what i've read a DA is best for machine wet sanding.


The Abranet is traditional style, but made of net. The Abralon is a product of it's own and only available in foam form


----------



## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

Ahh, so the Abralon would stick to a velcro DA pad then?


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

ant_s said:


> Ahh, so the Abralon would stick to a velcro DA pad then?


Yeah. and is sticks pretty darn hard too :thumb:


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

Could some of the Moderators edit the title a little. Should say MIRKA, not MIRA.

Here's few more photos


----------



## georgeandpeppa (May 25, 2009)

Rotary said:


> If you use the Abralon with the rotary, then i would be super careful. It eats very fast!
> 
> .


thats what i was trying to ask in my roundabout way lol, thanks mate, rather then buy a da just for wetsanding maybe stick to hand wet sanding:thumb:


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

georgeandpeppa said:


> thats what i was trying to ask in my roundabout way lol, thanks mate, rather then buy a da just for wetsanding maybe stick to hand wet sanding:thumb:


Yes it works very well by hands, but DA or water resistant pneumatic random orbital sander is more than useful for better defect removal.

Ok, i'm a painter so i have used Abralon a billion times, so i didn't even notice the subarus bonnets edges when i was sanding it down. the 2000 grit with Megs DA is so safe combination that you must sit on the edges to go through the clear coat.

It will go through, in time, or too high pressure, so test and see.


----------



## georgeandpeppa (May 25, 2009)

Tbh for the amount of wet sanding im going to be doing will just use some elbow grease unless i come across a cheap da


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

:buffer:


----------



## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

Very good write-up, thanks a lot !

Is the foam on the mirka thick enough to wetsand the curves of a car (since DA plates are hard...) ? That's been a question i asked myself for like a month


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

Here is the bonnet after using Meguiar's DA and 2000 grit Abralon at speed 4-5.

This was then buffed with Presta Ultra Cut Compound and wool pad. Followed with 3M green pad and Presta Chroma Polish. Finishing was done with Presta Swirl Remover and 3M blue pad.

Photos are after the Chroma Polish.

Shiny? :thumb:


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

AcN said:


> Very good write-up, thanks a lot !
> 
> Is the foam on the mirka thick enough to wetsand the curves of a car (since DA plates are hard...) ? That's been a question i asked myself for like a month


It is soft enough. You just have to find the correct pressure by testing


----------



## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Nice write up, but I would suggest that anyone doing this takes lots of paint readings to ensure they are not taking off too much clear coat....

Wouldn't want someone to jump in then get a strike through.....

:thumb:


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

The Cueball said:


> Nice write up, but I would suggest that anyone doing this takes lots of paint readings to ensure they are not taking off too much clear coat....
> 
> Wouldn't want someone to jump in then get a strike through.....
> 
> :thumb:


You have a point there. I have never used a gauge my self, and never went too far.

But be careful. The Abralon is not that strong as a paper is, but you easily get wild and then we call the painter.

I would suggest doing some testing on some scrap panels every time you test a product like this to learn the tricks.


----------



## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Great stuff been thinking of some of these for a while...:thumb:


----------



## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

Rotary said:


> It is soft enough. You just have to find the correct pressure by testing


Thanks a lot mate ! Will order some soon  hopefully we have a french distributor


----------



## orbita4000 (Apr 24, 2009)

Couldn't see any info if Abralon can be used via rotary or not ???

Hand use and DA use is seen on the net but no info about rotary....Want to now if there a special thing that prevents this product to be used va rotary....


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

orbita4000 said:


> Couldn't see any info if Abralon can be used via rotary or not ???
> 
> Hand use and DA use is seen on the net but no info about rotary....Want to now if there a special thing that prevents this product to be used va rotary....


Well, my opinion is that you should not use a rotary. The Abralon is designed to be used with random orbital sander and air pressure like this one










Rotary would be waaaay too powerful to be used with Abralon, and i can guarantee that it will eat your paint very fast.


----------



## orbita4000 (Apr 24, 2009)

Thanks for the answer...

My main issue was the longitidunal 1500 grit sanding scratches caused by the bodyshop at the refinement stage which held after respraying on my fenders....

I can see these horizontal scratches with bare eye...My opinion is,these were caused by the non unigrit abrasives used in the bodyshop...

So my aim was removing these defects by using the abralon 3000 grit via the rotary....

If rotary is not suitable for this type of application what other products or disciplines can be applied ??? I cannot manage to arrange a DA sander or DA polisher


----------



## Rotary (May 15, 2011)

orbita4000 said:


> Thanks for the answer...
> 
> My main issue was the longitidunal 1500 grit sanding scratches caused by the bodyshop at the refinement stage which held after respraying on my fenders....
> 
> ...


Hmm. It seems like you need to use a proper wet sanding methods.

If you can, take a photo or two of the defects and post up.

The truth is that if you have very deep scratches, you have to make the choice of trying to remove them completely, or just fade them in.

Most scratches fade in pretty well to be honest.

If you go the hard route, you have to accept the truth that you will go through the paint or clear.

I can help you more if i see what's going on


----------

