Proper way to wet sand

[PJmak]

I got 1500, 2000, and 3000 pads in 6 inch and a buffer with a foam pad to use for backing for edges.

The pads also have very thin padding in the back.

Whats the right procedure for this?

Do I hit it with certain grit dry before I wet sand it or do you always use water?

I get the technique on how to do it and I've done a panel using water(paint is really forgiving since its pretty hard and car had been repainted) but some areas I just cant seem to take out imperfections that easily even with 1500 grit.

Should I hit it dry?

 

[alabbasi]

Funny, i was just wet sanding the fender of my 1998 SL500 which got sun baked and caused the clear to peel. I went with 500 grit wet on the parts where the clear has failed to knock it down and 1000 grit for the rest of the fender. I Plan on painting then clearing the whole thing.

As a pure amateur, i think 1200+ grit is more suited for for knocking down orange peel before polishing. I would suggest hand sanding with a sanding block to become accustomed to what you're working with before using a machine. If you're not able to take down the imperfections, it's probably because the primer underneath the paint has shrunk which would also look like orange peel but cannot be flattened by sanding clear.

Try 1200 grit wet first. Dry sanding will just clog up the sand paper.

 

[PJmak]

I am not so much worried about orange peel but it just seems the paint it too hard. Maybe I am not doing it efficiently because I was under the impression that I shouldn't take sand paper to paint without water unless I'm sanding it down for a respray.

I'm just taking out clear coat dullness and some mild scratches that I couldn't get out just by rubbing and polishing compound.

This car set outdoors for about five years. Ill be doing a full respray on it but for now its where it can look good if I wet sand it and polish it.

 

[LWB250]

Why not compound it first with a polisher? That's pretty aggressive, but not as much as sanding. I realize you're working with clear coat rather than a single stage paint, but you could still try it.

For example:

S500 Paint Recovery Album

Dan

 

[PJmak]

Why not compound it first with a polisher? That's pretty aggressive, but not as much as sanding. I realize you're working with clear coat rather than a single stage paint, but you could still try it.

For example:

S500 Paint Recovery Album

Dan

Thanks for sharing that Ill examine it closely.

I wasn't able to get it to where I wanted it just by compound. The paint was pretty dull.

Look at the section on the driver door where the dirt and water ran down from the review mirror. After washing it off, I just could not get it to have a reflection there until I wet sanded it and then hit it with compound.

 

[LWB250]

My first question would be "what kind of compound and bonnet were you using?"

If it's consumer grade Meguire's stuff you got at FLAPS, you're wasting your time. You gotta go professional with this sort of thing.

Sanding a clear coat is a really, really dangerous thing to do unless you know the thickness. It's so, so easy to go through, and there's no fixing it once you do.

Dan

 

[PJmak]

My first question would be "what kind of compound and bonnet were you using?"

If it's consumer grade Meguire's stuff you got at FLAPS, you're wasting your time. You gotta go professional with this sort of thing.

Sanding a clear coat is a really, really dangerous thing to do unless you know the thickness. It's so, so easy to go through, and there's no fixing it once you do.

Dan

You are right.

What do you recommend I use? I used tutrle wax rubbing and polishing compound with two different pads. Each designed for specific purpose.

I used this because it worked wonders on my black car. I actually did burn through a small spot on my black car but that was literally my first time doing it. I tried wet sanding a bird poop spot on my trunk

My red car the paint it just hard and I could tell the car had been repainted so its not old original paint. It just feels like I couldn't burn through it even if I wanted to

 

[Glen]

I have quite a bit of experience with wet sending and polishing (and painting) but still consider myself an amateur so take this with a grain of salt.
The first thing you need to do before compounding or sanding is wash the car to get rid of any surface dirt. If you plan to paint, then degrease the surface before sanding.

Re: wet sanding vs dry sanding, basically the water helps to keep the paper from clogging and produces a slightly smoother finish than dry. Other than that, it doesn't matter too much but in general, with grits above 320 or so, I prefer wet sanding to keep the dust down and the paper clear. With lower grits I don't see as much clogging but there is still the dust issue.

In your case, I would try a claybar or nanoskin on the stains before sanding. If that doesn't work, then as Dan mentioned a good compound with a dual action orbital or rotary buffer (be careful with a rotary). If you're still not satisfied, then wet sand by hand starting with 800 then 1000 then 1500 and then compound and polish. You can go all the way to 2000/3000 grit before buffing/polishing if you want but a good compound and rotary will get you faster results.

 

[Glen]

For compound, I recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-M10032-Mirror-Glaze-Compound/dp/B00AIYU148/ref=asc_df_B00AIYU148/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312190122371&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14568794123224092746&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031300&hvtargid=pla-569122844291&psc=1

 

[sheward]

Keep in mind that the more aggressive you go with compounds or sandpaper the more time and effort will be required to bring the luster back to the clearcoat. This may require follow up with diminishing sandpapers/compounds to effectively remove the scratches introduced by the first round. This takes much time and effort and experience is key. This is why I generally leave this to the experts. The best advise I can give is to be as gentle as possible to start and only work small areas aggressively.


drew

 

[PJmak]

I have quite a bit of experience with wet sending and polishing (and painting) but still consider myself an amateur so take this with a grain of salt.
The first thing you need to do before compounding or sanding is wash the car to get rid of any surface dirt. If you plan to paint, then degrease the surface before sanding.

Re: wet sanding vs dry sanding, basically the water helps to keep the paper from clogging and produces a slightly smoother finish than dry. Other than that, it doesn't matter too much but in general, with grits above 320 or so, I prefer wet sanding to keep the dust down and the paper clear. With lower grits I don't see as much clogging but there is still the dust issue.

In your case, I would try a claybar or nanoskin on the stains before sanding. If that doesn't work, then as Dan mentioned a good compound with a dual action orbital or rotary buffer (be careful with a rotary). If you're still not satisfied, then wet sand by hand starting with 800 then 1000 then 1500 and then compound and polish. You can go all the way to 2000/3000 grit before buffing/polishing if you want but a good compound and rotary will get you faster results.

This is the answer I was looking for....thank you.

It also sounds like I might not be attacking it with low enough grit. Ill try 1200 or 1000 on some of the areas I cant rly get through.


Im not too worried about burning through since the plan is to have this whole car repainted. For now Im just trying to get it to look as clean as possible before I sort out a painter and take care of some other issues.

 

[PJmak]

This was all done with the combination of 1500 and 3000 then rear door polished with compound

 

[PJmak]

Ill let the picture speak for it self. From sitting in a backyard for five years to this.

 

[Glen]

Ill let the picture speak for it self. From sitting in a backyard for five years to this.

Looks great! What process/protocol worked for you?

 

[PJmak]

Thank you.

I used 1500 and 3000 grit then rubbing compound with Meguiars microfiber cutting pad then polish it with a foam polishing pad.

 

[gsxr]

So, do you make house calls...? I have a few cars that require your magics!

 

[PJmak]

So, do you make house calls...? I have a few cars that require your magics!

Man I should do that to make some money back that I have invested into this car

 

[sheward]

And now you can make a few more bucks arm wrestling down at the local pub. Nice work!

drew

 

[PJmak]

And now you can make a few more bucks arm wrestling down at the local pub. Nice work!

drew

you would think right

The right tools make the job easier. With a good orbital polisher and this microfiber cutting pad. Its really a piece of cake.

 

[PJmak]

Few more pics.

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

I was going to chime in since I took an auto body class but sounds like you got a good answer lol, good results . Only thing I can say is that if you’re stepping straight from 1500 to 3000 and then polish you’ll likely still have 1500 scratches in the paint since 3000 isn’t very aggressive but it might not show up noticeably on red idk I’ve never done a red car but I just painted and polished my dad’s truck in black and man that thing was a beast to get the lower grit scratches out of.

 

[PJmak]

You are right. Its hard to get 1500grit out but if you are gentle with it, the microfiber pad does wonders. I just did the other side of the car and I had to take out a few spots by hand(wet sanding). Polished right out with a pad.

Wish i took before and after.

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

Looks great, looks like you’ve got a good method figured out

 

[PJmak]

Looks great, looks like you’ve got a good method figured out

Thanks but im figuring out that hand sanding is easier and more effective plus easier to avoid more qork.

Any tips on how to wet sand larger areas by hand? For example the whole roof.

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

Thanks but im figuring out that hand sanding is easier and more effective plus easier to avoid more qork.

Any tips on how to wet sand larger areas by hand? For example the whole roof.

Sanding wise when I did that truck my dad and I found out that sanding by hand with a block really was the best way, using an air powered sander didn’t seem to cut as fast and left more scratches. It’s monotonous but it seemed to work the best for us.

 

[PJmak]

Sanding wise when I did that truck my dad and I found out that sanding by hand with a block really was the best way, using an air powered sander didn’t seem to cut as fast and left more scratches. It’s monotonous but it seemed to work the best for us.

Any tips on how to avoid creases in the paper which can leave deeper scratches?

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

Any tips on how to avoid creases in the paper which can leave deeper scratches?

Not really, only just to get a block that will hold the paper so it can’t move and wrinkle, like this one, or just lay it flat on the block and hold tightly lol.

 

[PJmak]

Not really, only get a block that will hold the paper so it can’t move and wrinkle, like this one, or just lay it flat on the block and hold tightly lol.

Ah ok I was using diy blocks haha

 

[Glen]

Any tips on how to avoid creases in the paper which can leave deeper scratches?

Get self adhesive paper and use foam blocks.

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

Get self adhesive paper and use foam blocks.

As far as I know they don’t make adhesive backed wet sandpaper

 

[Glen]

As far as I know they don’t make adhesive backed wet sandpaper

Search Amazon for Dura Gold. They have grits from 150 to 2000. Works great with water.

 

[Sam SL]

Thank you.

I used 1500 and 3000 grit then rubbing compound with Meguiars microfiber cutting pad then polish it with a foam polishing pad.

Can you show me a picture of this microfibre cutting pad? What colour of foam polishing pad do you use?

 

[silver_diesel_benz]

Oh ok you’re talking about not using wet sand specific paper gotcha

 

[sheward]

I have attached sandpaper to my own wood blocks using spray adhesive. That way you can customize the shape.

drew

 

[Glen]

Oh ok you’re talking about not using wet sand specific paper gotcha

The Dura Gold Premium papers can be used wet or dry in my experience.

 

[Glen]

I have attached sandpaper to my own wood blocks using spray adhesive. That way you can customize the shape.

drew

This works too.

 

[PJmak]

Can you show me a picture of this microfibre cutting pad? What colour of foam polishing pad do you use?

Heres a link to the pad, it comes in a two pack here and you can also get it on amazon. Keep in mind this disk works really good which means it cuts down on clear coat somewhat easy. Keeping that in mind, if you have thin clear coat, id take a less aggressive approach. At the end of the day its a cloth pad so you wont burn through your clear coat but if you have an expensive car with original paint thats hanging by a thread, this might not be the best way to start.

I use a white foam pad for polishing. I have a Chemical Guys one from amazon.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/products/meguiars-microfiber-cutting-pad?variant=14798877556771