guessing this wont work on a clearcoated car huh

 

If you already need a paint job, you can't make it need paint any worse can you? I say go for it, worst case, the car needs painted, best case you can wait a little longer for the paint...

 

Sure will, clear coat is clear paint, although they are usualy specialty mixes to be UV reactive/resistant, tougher, etc, clear came about to stop people from having the color come off every time they waxed... technology is great, now clear comes off and you never notice...

 

so wetsanding is safe on clear?

 

Yes it is safe..I actually prefer it.

However, you should be fully aware of the paint thickness (clearcoat) before doing anything and if you have never done it before take even more caution.

Is your paint peeling at all??

 

I encourage everyone to try everything, if it makes you uncomfortable, find someone with experience to watch/assist, but DON'T let them do it for you, you would be amazed what you can learn to do by trying...

If you want to try wet sanding, find any metal part that is painted (think cheap old bike at a garage sale, fender out of a junk yard, especialy one that is already damaged, sand to your hearts content, isn't like you can damage it any more... right... make sure when sanding to use plenty of water (with a drop or two of dish soap) if the sand paper doesn't want to move you need more water, a spray bottle from home depot works great for this... keep it nice and wet, sand, keep going until the scratches are uniform across the part, then buff buff buff, wax and be amazed at what you just learnt yourself to do...

I taught myself A LOT of new things on my first car, an 81 Toyota Celica (2.2L front engine rear drive 2 door coupe), sound familiar, they have always been there in my life, I just had to wait to get THE front engine rear drive 4 banger coupe...

 

Really nice results, thanks for sharing. You mentioned you rattle canned the header panel - mind sharing your source for the paint? Did you just sand a bit before applying new paint? I am looking to do the same to my car.

 

+1, totally safe, START with 2000 grit or higher if you can get it, the higher the number, the less paint it will take off, the lower the number the more paint comes off, lower numbers make the job faster, but can also make the destruction faster... the more comfortable you get go down to 1500 or even 1000, DONT go below 1000 on painted surfaces, unless you are trying to STRIP the paint off... 800 can go through final automotive paint in a few passes, it takes almost forever with 3500 though... 2K is a good point to start learning with, or 2500+ if you don't feel comfortable to start and remember, the wetter the better... water is your friend when sanding paint to improve the finish...

 

Advance Auto for the paint, I picked red off the shelf... turned out I picked REAL close to OEM...

AND yes I sanded with 1500 wet prior to rattling.. 2000 after, with a light polish, buffed the HELL out of it this weekend, I guess the paint is finally cured (read as dried) as it barely made a dent in the sprayed sections... I did spray the ENTIRE panel..

 

If it is an aerosol it will never cure, it will eventually fully dry though. I know I'm splitting hairs for most of you guys, sorry if I offend. One thing to be aware of is that buffing actually removes more material than fine grit sanding. Think of it this way: buffing doesn't remove the scratches, it removes the material between the scratches.

 

YEAH, YEAH, with a car like yours I don't think you could offend, any time an EXPERT such as yourself chimes into a thread about a guy sanding the **** out of his car curbside in front of his house it should be appreciated, thanks...

I envy your skilz, well..I'm off to paint some rims (rattle can of course...Wurth this time)

 

clearcoat looks solid but faded on the roof and hood

 

I like to use a very slow moving small amount of running water and have to be careful how you hold the paper as this is where most of the deeper scratches come from.

There was a time when I did ~15 Black show cars in a row and believe me when they are "under the lights" every little scratch has to be dealt with..


My technique used to be to spray many heavy coats of clear or color single stage. Then flatten it out with 1000 then bring it back up with 1200,1500,2000. Then buff

It took about 4 days of time

I don't have the patience for it anymore, but still get request regularly (even though I haven't done it in 5 years).


Youth is a beautiful thing

 

I have wetsanded on several occasions on weekend details. Soak the paper, 2000, in water for an hour or so before using it. Having a digital paint guage would be nice. Just take your time, don't be in a hurry, and don't take 100 strokes in an area before stopping to see where you are at with it.

This:



to this....



This:




To this:



To this:



This:



To this:



These were all polished out using a Cyclo polisher with orange pads and Gloss-It Extreme Cut compound.

 

Nice job

you can literally say "that'll buff"

It really is amazing what will buff out given the appropriate thickness

On my 69 Camaro I was sanding the roll cage that was newly installed and my then 4 y/o picks up a 100 grit piece and proceeds to sand the whole other side of the car (finished 5 y/o paint). Yep it buffed right out