how to wet sand

[4pbears]

i need to learn how to wet sand because i will be wetsanding a car as soon as the weather breaks here (near buffalo ny) can anyone recommend a good website to learn the "basics". the basics for me would include, what grit(s) sandpaper to use, do i start with a fine grade or start with a more course grade like say 1500 grit? also how much to charge say for just a few spots or a whole panel? and lastly, what brand of sandpaper to use. i am not worried about making a mistake because the car is old and the owner doesn`t really care if a go through the paint.





Thanks.





Dave.

[BigJimZ28]

did you try a search?



how do you know it`s need to be wet sanded?

(would like to see some pictures)



what kind of polisher do you have?

[Street5927]

There is more to wet sanding than just picking a grit and going to town. A good question as BigJim asked was how do you know it has to be wet sanded? Maybe you can get away with an abrasive compound. Also, if you are going to be doing a whole panel or a whole car, you are going to be tired and not get very good results by hand. If you are just doing spot sanding, you can get away with it by hand. Also, don`t forget a sanding block, so you are not sanding "grooves", but instead leveling it evenly. Do you have the proper compounds and polisher to remove the sanding marks? If this is your first time doing it, aside from the owner not caring, I would stop off at a junk yard, find a decent body panel and just practice until you get comfortable doing it. Also, if you are going to be wet sanding, it would be a good idea to have a paint thickness guage. Mine measures in microns (which is more accurate) as opposed to mils. Anyway, just use caution if you are going to attempt this on a clients car, especially if it is your first time doing it. Sanding through the clear and base are irreversible.

[Accumulator]

4pbears- Also, I`d sure have an ETG handy; it`s not a matter of going *through* the clear, you don`t want to take much off period lest you precipitate premature failure.



I don`t think I`d start with 1500 if you`re inexperienced at this, it`s easy enough to have an "oops" with 2K. And I`d *absolutely* use good quality paper, it can make all the difference. And by "good quality" I mean Meguiar`s/Nikken or Mirka. I wouldn`t use 3M unless you`re certain it`s their latest stuff (which IIRC is used via their machine-sanding system), older 3M paper is simply awful IME.



If I were in your shoes, I`d probably spend a good six/eight hours just researching this stuff before I even *thought* about buying anything, and I`m a really fast study ;)