Wetsanding Paint

[The Critic]

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show...sand-shine.html

I must say wow, that car looks really good after the orange peel has been removed. I wish I could learn how to do this.

Has anyone tried wet sanding their finish?

 

[beast3300]

Looks great! And no, I'm not a body man (car).

 

[duaneb9729]

I have wet sanded, wow is that a lot of work but the end result is soooo worth it. I did small car with 1000 grit and 1400 grit wet dry sand paper. Lots and Lots of work and time.

 

[QuOk]

How much of the clear coat is lost to the sanding?

 

[LargeCarManX2]

The trick is to lay the paint down with minimal orange peel . I get a garden hose without the brass end and trickle the water and sand until the peel goes away. Then buff...nice job! Did alot of them in my younger days. Even tried in the rain one time

 

[bretfraz]

Done it many times. I do a lot of spot sanding on cars I detail. Many times it's the only way I can remove a scratch or scuff.

I've done plenty of complete car wetsanding. By hand it is a lot of work, really more than I like to take on. I've done it using a pneumatic DA sander and it's much easier and less time consuming.

Best tool to have is an electronic paint thickness gauge to determine film build *before* you start sanding. Many times I have found panels been repainted, or previously wet sanded. Really have to be careful but the results are fantastic.

 

[Vikas]

Do it on a car you don't care for.

 

[JetStar]

I grew up wet sanding cars. Back when 600 grit was the finest you could get. The ultra fine sandpapers out there now are great. To wet sand something you just painted and know how much film is there is one thing, to do it with factory paint, which is typically pretty thin is another. You break through the clear coat, into the base, and you will see it. proceed with caution. Use a squeege to check for when you have just eliminated the peel, then stop. Next step is a rotary buffer, and 3M ultrfine rubbing compound,at least that is what I use. Then a foam pad and polish for the remaining swirl marks. Followed by wax. Better part of a day to do.

 

[cchase]

Does anyone else ever notice that when people claim to have wet-sanded their cars you can always tell in a well-illuminated parking lot at night?

 

[Steve S]

It is done on show quality paint jobs. Then clear coat the paint and buff it out makes the paint job look like a million.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
It is done on show quality paint jobs. Then clear coat the paint and buff it out makes the paint job look like a million.


I didn't realize the people commenting in here were wet-sanding between clearcoats, thought they were just talking about wet sanding a car and calling it good. My mistake.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

Originally Posted By: QuOk
How much of the clear coat is lost to the sanding?


a LOT, it's risky even w/ a paint thickness gauge. i've used 2000 grit in emergencies, have broken thru w/ 1000 grit on old paint, not good

 

[mikiee]

The car looks great, but I wonder how durable the resulting finish is with a compromised clear coat. I could see if you were going to do all this sanding to get the finish smoothed out, and then apply a clear coat over it. But I don't think I'd want a car that had most of it's clear coat removed, protected just with wax.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

Mine has 5 coats of clear. 3 heavy coats then wet sanded then 2 lighter coats then wet sanded and buffed. So deep and wet looking it looks like it is dripping off the car and it looks like you can reach into the paint.


Now would I go and do it to a daily driver? Absolutely not! Its not worth thinning the already thing clear on today's cars.

 

[Steve S]

That is what I am talking about.

 

[HowarEB]

First post here.... Funny coming on to an oil forum to talk about detailing (HEHE).

Nice Car...

Wetsanding factory orange peel is viewed as a no-no, becuase usually the orange peel is in the base coat and the clear as mentioned earlier, is very thin. Many of these orange peel issue can be attributed to the factory robotic painting done during manufacturing. As productive as the technolgy is, painting is still not a forte' of a robot.

Reuslts can still be achieved with wetsanding a factory paint job, just the expectation need to be a curbed a little. That is where a paint thickness guage and some of the finer wetsanding papers come into play (2000, 2500, and 3000 grit). These papers and proper technique will take a factory paint to that next level.