GodSpeed

Hey Guys
I had some really bad orange peel on my driverside quarter panel. So I wet sanded the whole thing starting at 800grit and finishing at 1500 grit. Idid this about a year ago and I just assumed that with regular waxing that eventually the paint would shine up nice. Well it didnt.
I want shiny paint and Im willing to the work but Im not shure what to do. I thing some sort of buffing compound is in order.

Can anyone kinda walk me through what to buy and how to buff my paint.
If possible I would like to do this by hand and not have to buy a sander.

TIA
Dan

Mighty Shilling

you'll need a buffer. what you want to do is get some wetsand paper starting at 2000 grit and ending at 2500 grit. soak the paper in water for 15-20 minutes. get a spray bottle with water and a couple drops of soap in it, and get a soft sanding block. spray the quarter panel, get the paper out of the water and go with as little pressure as possible... do that for a bit rinsing the paper in the bucket, and spraying the panel often, then bump to the 2500 grit. do the same.

Now, once that's dry, you'll need a cutting compound, 3M makes a good one, but I tend to use Griot's machine polish 2, then 3. use a non-abrasive pad, and put on the 2, buff, and wipe off with a microfiber. then do the same with the 3 polish. from there, it should look nice and shiney, and you'll want to wedsand the whole car.

for the future... NEVER sand the paint with anything less than 1500 grit... EVER. do you see primer showing through?

Anthony Orosco

Your first and perhaps most costly mistake here was using 800 grit paper.

Is that panel a repaint or is it factory?

I rarely ever go under 2000 grit for OEM paint, even repaints.

POst up picture if possible.

Anthony

GodSpeed

The PO actually rattlecaned the panel due to the factory paint was peeling up. I sanded down the whole panel by hand with some 400 grit to the primer and bare metal in some spots. I then sprayed the whole thing with some spraycan automive primer. Ater the primer I used a few cans of black and about 3 coats of clear, all were spraycans. thats when I did what I did in post #1.

I will go take some pics now.

GTSilver944

You should be able to get the 800 scratches out with a buffer just like porschephile said, but be sure that you have a sufficient amount of clear. If not, it wouldn't be too hard to spray another layer of clear about a week before buffing if it's just spray paint.

OT-ish Porschephile - You wrote a great detailing article in DIY, thanks!

GodSpeed

Ok heres some pics:

shine vs dull:


Another shine vs dull:


Overall panel:


The Paint Used:


It did rain a bit last night so please ignore the water spots.

Thanks,
Dan

Anthony Orosco

Sorry Dan, but you won't get any shine out of that because it was via spray can. I believe, if I'm correctly relaying the info once told to me, the area is too large for spray paint to atomize properly...or something along those lines. In other words the finish you have now is basically what you'll always have.

Take it to a paint shop and have them redo the door. Should be no more than $200.00

Anthony

Mighty Shilling

Anthony, I disagree. Rattle can if done properly will look just fine. most likely not a concours job, but it'll look good.

Dan, go find an automotive paint supplier, and see if they'll mix up a rattle can for you. Places in Colorado do that, and you can re-do it with some high-quality PPG paint. they'll mix in the proper amount of hardner and reducer, you just prep and spray. their cans will come with a nozzle that'll put out a great spray pattern. I'd recommend doing that if the buffing I suggested doesn't work, but I think it will. the Duplicolor rattle can isn't the best, but it sure as hell isn't crap.

again, try my method posted above, and I think it'll work. it'll definately smooth out the finish, and get rid of the haze.

Looking at those pics again, it's definately sanding marks that's dulling the shine. once they're gone and it's all smooth, it'll look amazing.

Mighty Shilling

No prob! I really need to detail that car again. the 924 has been... neglected... and I feel sad...

Boeing 717

Hi Dan i recently wetsanded my whole hood after touching up stone chips it was scary as crap as i have never done anything like that. But the other guys are right.... in my experience i used 1500 then 2000, then used a highspeed buffer with foam pad and 3 types of Mcguires, heavy compound then light, then glaze. Had i to do it over again and i might, i would go as far as 3000 grit if you can find it. Although my results came out really really well if you look really hard you can still see some grit marks from the 2000 grit paper... maybe some more buffing is in order but i think 3000 grit would have really done the trick.

JERRY