Wet Sanding Process

[TNWIII]

I have an `07 Corvette, with a great deal of the usual GM Orange Peel, and I am considering wet sanding, by hand, with 2000 grit paper. You may have seen this car in the Ultimat forum. Now that the finish has been enhanced, the orange peel is more dramatic.



I have the Ultima products and the UDM machine with the pads. My question is, with the equipment I have, what would the process be and the products I should use? Should I consider something different, etc?



Thanks in advance for any help.



Tad

[David Fermani]

If you`re sanding down OP, you`ll need compound and a rotary to remove yourscratches. I suggest doing a small area and see what happens. If you screw this finish up, you`ll be repainting it. Have you ever wet-sanded before?

[imported_JoshVette]

Corvette is not a car you want to practice wetsanding on, the clear is extremely hard and difficult to get sanding marks out of. I would not recommend 2000 girt unless you are an absolute expert and have experience wetsanding.



Most I would go is 2500 grit.



You will need a rotary and compound as stated above.

[davis98]

You must have big balls...

[Xtreme-Klean]

I suggest you hire a detailer who knows how to do the job. It takes much more that what you have on hand to do the job.

To get an example of the work involved, go look at Meguiars forum on wetsanding. There is a video on it.

If you really want to DIY I would practice on a junk panel.

[SuperBee364]

Another thing you might want to consider before you wetsand out the orange peel...



It`s usually necessary (from what I`ve read; I`ve never attempted to remove OP by wetsanding), to remove quite a bit of clear coat in order to get rid of the OP. By doing so, you severely limit your ability to do any future polishing, so you will have to absolutely baby the finish from then on. Getting any swirls or defects in the paint means they will probably have to stay there; you probably won`t have enough clear left for future polishing. Also, remember that today`s clear coats have alot of UV protection in them. Removing that much clear might very well subject your color layer to fading by reducing the clear`s UV protection.



My `bee has the same problem: huge OP that drives me nuts. As much as I`d looooove to wet sand the OP out, I`m not going to for the above reasons.



I don`t mean to start a carnauba/sealant war/argument by saying this, but I`ve noticed that the OP doesn`t look as bad when the car is wearing a carnauba LSP compared to a sealant. Zaino (and especially CS) *really* made the OP stand out on my car. Heavy glazes also seem to mute the OP a bit, too.

[99blackSE]

I would find some panels or something to practice on if you really want to do it, otherwise, like the people above, it is probably best just to let it be.

[imported_DJ Mayo]

like stated above, use 2500 grit and no more than 2000. Especially with you not knowing what to do, it is still fairly simple. Make sure the wet sand paper is completely soaked and then do an even patch to cover the marks/scratch. Once it appears gone, dry it off and give it a minute to make sure it doesn`t come back. Once gone, use a compound that is able to remove the wet sand marks. for example, if I was to use 2500 grit on a scratch, I could use 3M compound to remove the mark since the compound works for up to 1200 grit marks. After you remove the wet sanding marks, then apply a polish and workout until smooth with no hazing. Then you can apply a wax. Any other questions, PM me

[TNWIII]

Thanks to everyone for your advice.



Along with the general responses, I too am hesitant. I have seen what the finish looks like after a sanding and I am afraid of not being able to bring it back, so I will either hold off to keep the clear coat in tact, as recommended, or take it to a professional body shop.

[Boozman]

Thanks to everyone for your advice.



Along with the general responses, I too am hesitant. I have seen what the finish looks like after a sanding and I am afraid of not being able to bring it back, so I will either hold off to keep the clear coat in tact, as recommended, or take it to a professional body shop.







Smart move I`ve seen what happens if you don`t know what your doing and it can get expensive to boot.

[roccoc12001]

i color sand a few cars a week i would take it to a body shop we see so many people screw up there paint jobs pay the money and have it done right trust me for 300 to 600 dollars it will be done right and if a body shop screws it up there paying to fix it not you the new thing the tuner kids are doing is putting 3 more coats of clear on there cars and the paint looks so deep check into that it makes it like a show shine