Wetsanding advice

[PhilS]

Hi,

My mother-in-law is going on holiday for a week and I've told her I'll detail her car while she is away. The bonnet (hood) of her car had some rust spots which she has treated and then painted over with touch-up paint - well lathered would be a more accurate description.

I'm intending to have a go wetsanding the offending areas smooth and down to the level of the surrounding paint. I'm not too worried if I make a complete hash of it since I can always pay for a respray of the bonnet (hood) - it seems like a great opportunity to learn a new skill however.

The car itself is a 1994 Toyota Corolla with a metallic silver clear coat finish. The "repaired" areas of paintwork have only had the metallic touch-up paint applied - no clear laquer. The largest area of touch-up paint covers about a 6"x4" section of bodywork and is so thick it sits quite proud of the factory paintwork.

I'm intending to use 2000 grit paper (possibly down to 3000 grit if I can find such stuff locally here in the UK). I will mask off the bonnet (hood) leaving only the rough touch-up paint exposed so to minimise damage to the factory paintwork. I'll use a rubbing compound after finishing the wetsanding and then get to work with a PC and the Megs polishes that I have (#83 & #80).

Can anyone offer any advice or gotcha's I may encounter on the way?

Cheers,
Phil

[RedondoV6]

Fill a sprayer with water, use that in one hand to keep the paper wet and keep a MF handy to wipe off often to check on your progress. Be very aware of any curves or edges and work the 2000 grit paper in a way that avoids going straight through the repair.

Good luck.

[Eliot Ness]

Originally posted by PhilS
....... then painted over with touch-up paint - well lathered would be a more accurate description.......

........ The largest area of touch-up paint covers about a 6"x4" section of bodywork and is so thick it sits quite proud of the factory paintwork........

6" x 4" is a pretty large area. If it has been applied really thick like you implied, you may need to initially hit it with some coarser wet-dry to bring it down to a manageable thickness, and then move to the 2000 or 3000 grit. I’d also suggest using a sanding block if possible.

Masking off the area is a good idea as are the tips RedondoV6 suggested. Good luck!

[the other pc]

Meguiar's has a good "clinic" on wet sanding on their website. They obviously push using their own products (which are excellent) but you can certainly use the same techniques with anybody's products.


http://www.meguiars.com/clinics/clinics_template.cfm

[paco]

The Meguiars website has a good vehicle that shows the basics of wet sanding on in their Clinics section. Check that out before you do anything!

3000 is really fine. Even 2000 is. If you are tackling a 6x4 area, using 1500 first might be best and going up to 2000 and then 2500/3000.

Work slow.
When sanding, only back and forth motions.
Stop every 10 strokes and inspect the area.
Be very careful.
Use a lot of soapy water.

Paco

[paco]

You beat me to it, freaking work. That message took me 2.5 hours to write

[ebpcivicsi]

I would research a lot. Measure twice, cut once. Do you have a rotary? IMO, you will need one for the repairs.

Here is a link with pics to some wetsanding that I did earlier this year. Hope this helps.

http://autopia.org/forums/showthread...&highlight=nsx

[PhilS]

Many thanks to everyone for all the advice. I've just looked through the Megs slideshow on wetsanding, now I'm off to watch the video.

I can see that unigrit style paper and a backing pad is an absolute must - I'll be dumping the cheap wet&dry stuff I'd bought at the weekend.

ebpcivicsi - awesome work on an awesome car! Yes, I'm worried a rotary might be needed - not something I own or have even used. I'm hoping 2000/3000 grit will mean a rubbing compound or maybe even #83 + Megs Cutting pad on a PC will be enough.

Thanks again,
Phil

[thedarksyde]

Can i pick up 2000 or 1500 at HD or Lowes? They did not have it at the auto parts store. The car paint store is FAR away, I would rather not have to go there...