I was practicing wet sanding with 2000 grit on the back side of one of my door panels and this brought up a couple questions:

1. Is the clear coat suppose to look dull after wet sanding?

2. What buffing compound am I suppose to use & where do I get it?

 

Hi Carlene,
I've only sanded my fenders so far and used 1500-2000 grit wet paper. It did leave the fenders very dull and I polished them out with a 6-7" heavy duty polisher with wool bonnet that I picked up at my local auto parts house, also used a liquid polishing compound that was recommended to me by the folks at my local NAPA paint supplier. I used the buffer at a very slow speed and took my time. The easiest places to burn through the paint is at the edges and ridges so keep plenty of compound on the pad and stay off the trouble spots. Some have even suggested taping the ridges and edges to be visible reminders to stay away from them.

I've have plenty more work to do on my sanding and buffing, just never seem to have enough time.
Good luck with your truck.

 

Thanks Tom.

I have a polishing compound that I tried last night. I guess I just didn't take my time with it, plus I was trying to polish by hand. Steve was standing right there supervising and I basically just gave up.

I'm not even close to doing the outer part of our truck. I just need to wet sand and buff out the dash & visor so I can tape it off to work on the interior. I don't want to wet sand the inside after I have my headliner & kick panels covered.

 

Carlene,

Tom gave you some good information, especially about being careful on edges. A product such as Norton's Liquid Ice does a great job, and it is good for beginners, as it is one polish that is used with different pads to generate the high-gloss shine you are after.

In the Paintucation series of videos, there is a video specifically on Colorsanding and Buffing that you might want to check out.

 

Another good practice is to not sand the edges at all. leave about 1/8 - 1/4 inch around the edges unsanded. That way you dont have to buff over them and you will never know they were not wetsanded once you are done.

 

Tou might try the 3M product line..a lot of pro-shops use it.

In addition the buffer speed seems to be very critical. I think you want
somewhere around 1400 RPM. Because you need low speed control you
need a pretty good (spendy) buffer.

Also, there is a developed "touch" with the buffer which you wouldn't think
untill you've seen a good buff man in action.

Hope this helps!

 

yes it will look dull when wetsanded. Hand buffing will be tough to get scratches out on a big area. You really need a buffer. With 2000 grit scratches they will work out probably with a polish or a lighter duty rubbing compound. They often say on the bottle what grit scratches they remove, or what they are used for. Everyone has there favorite brands, I use 3m perfect it products. I don't use wool pads anymore, pretty much only foam pads. They seem a little more forgiving if you hit an edge and more likely to burn through and make a bunch of swirls. Some clears get really tough and hard to buff after enough time. Some people use a smaller 3" polishing buffing kit for small hard to get areas. Also if you work out those 2000 grit scratches be going over with an even finer grit, buffing time will be even faster. I stop at 1500-2000, but much finer before buffing. They do make really fine grit papers. Make sure you keep you paper wet and clean when sanding so you don't get a piece of dirt under your paper and create any deep scratches. Work a small section at a time and the panel should actually feel pretty warm when buffing, and as mentioned try to stay away from edges and bodylines as much as possible. When you make some boo boos painting like I do sometimes, you get to be a pretty decent buffer.

 

Thanks everyone.

Troy, it only took "3" years, but I finally figured out your username - duh.

I wish I could use a buffer on the dash. Unfortunately, the space on the 1941 dash doesn't allow for it. Between the limited space and the extra holes Steve cut in for gauges, it can only be done by hand. Good thing is that I have tons of patience.

I wasn't even going to wet sand this area, but there were 2 little drags in the clear that were very noticeable.

 

Hey Carlene, there are smaller polishing wheels that you can get your hands on to do the tougher small spots. All of the advice people have given so far is very good, me personally I use all 3m products in my buffing and polishing and a couple different types of waxes for the finished product.

After wetsanding I always start with a 1500 grit compound on a wool pad, keep the speed low and let the machine do the work, it's going to take a while so don't let it get the best of you, take your time and you'll get a nice mirror finish. After I get the scratches worked out, I go over what I've just done with a swirl remover and a foam polishing pad, this will take out any remaining minor scratches and remove any swirl marks the wool pad will make. ( note on the wool pad, make sure you have a spur and clean it frequently, the compound will clog the wool and need to be cleaned ) After using the swirl remover, the last step is a good wax. This is one of the most important steps and always try and use something decent, there are a ton out there and any good detail shop or paint shop can steer you in the right direction. The wax can be taken off one two ways, either with an orbital buffer or by hand with a wipe down towel.. Good luck and I think myself as well as others wanna see pics when you're done.

 

Yep, that be my first name. Most who don't know nascar think my name is ken, or matt if I use my email address.
The basics of buffing is you are putting in smaller scratches to remove larger ones. You do this by stepping down on grit you sand with to remove the larger scratches or step down on compounds and type of pad you use. I meant to say above that I stop at 1500 but many do sand to a much finer grit. I typed it out wrong. They do make some very fine papers, and if you go fine enough, you may even see some of the gloss come back just after sanding. But I haven't really done many detail areas that I couldn't get a buffer too other then maybe a model car or something. If you have areas that a smaller buffer can't get in and must do by hand, then think sanding finer will make things at least a little easier. I will take some elbow grease and you won't be able to get the speed and heat a buffer generates. I wonder if you could find anything you could use on a diegrinder, like the dremel tools. I know a die grinder has bits to get you in some pretty tight spots, but sure they would make stuff for polishing insted. You would think you could get into some dang tight spots with that.
Here is one site I found in a quick search.
http://www.toolbarn.com/category/polishpads/

 

Carlene;

Totally give up the "wet" sanding and go directly to dry paper, it's a lot less messy and easier to use. Use 3M 1200 grit, (Hook-it works best), sand using a 6" orbital sander. Once you have your area sanded, use a foam pad on a buffer. A speed control dial is a very good option. Our shop swears by Farecle' G3 & G6 Compound, followed by G10 Swirl Remover.

Keep you buffing pad damp but not soaked. A good polisher can polish to a "Show-Quality" "Smooth as Glass" finish in a tuxedo. Meaning that if your compound and water are flying everywhere, you are wasting product, money and effort.

Trust me we polish 95% of our paint jobs. The only time you may need to use 1500 or 200 grit would be on a black paint job.

The product you are polishing makes a huge difference as well. How old is the paint or clearcoat on your vehicle?

You've probably completed your buffing job by now?

Voodooair...

 

I've talked to a few guys who have used Farecle and say it's an awesome product. I'd love to try some just to see but can't find it here in Indiana. I've also done the dry method on pads before, but for someone who has possibly never done any type of finish sanding before it can be a bit touchy.