First attempt at wet sanding, did I go through the clearcoat?

[jason novak]

My first attempt at wet sanding, I may have gone through the clear coat and want some opinons/suggestions. A little background this on a replacement fender I painted myself and had orange peel. Planning to buff it as well with a 7424xp. This is going on a high milage winter car so I don`t need a show car finish, but I want it to look good.


`


Anyway, here are the pictures, not easy to capture:


`


http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_002.jpg (`http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_002.jpg`)


http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_004.jpg (`http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_004.jpg`)


http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_005.jpg (`http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_005.jpg`)


http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_006.jpg (`http://www.merlinsoftware.com/filestore/WP_20140515_006.jpg`)


`


If I did go through what are my options? Will I need to re-clear coat? Touch up the area or the whole panel? Any opinons on the rest of the panel? I think I was doing ok, was having problems getting some areas down, was hoping the buffer would take care of that.


`

[pmnewton]

Jason,


`


Welcome to Autopia. `It looks to me like it is a strikethrough. `If you polish it out and notice that those spots just seem to look "different" then that is most likely confirmation. `In the even of a strikethrough, the only option os to have the panel re clear-coated by a reputable bodyshop.


`


- Patrick

[jason novak]

I haven`t buffed it yet, not sure if it was worth proceeding. I painted the fender myself. So it`s not possible to just spray that area, or use a "repair" pen, and then buff?

[Accumulator]

jason novak- Eh, I`d just respray the clear.


`


Note that "damage" isn`t just a matter of striking through the clear; if you thin it too much it will be vulnerable to UV damage, so you don`t want to take off much clear at all.


`


And note that your current results have lots of orangepeel in some areas and zero in others...that`d look kinda bad as any orangepeel oughta be uniform (on that panel and with regard to the whole vehicle overall).` But, and this is just FWIW...I`d rather have lots of orangepeel with plenty of clear than zero orangepeel and thin clear.` Lots of clearcoat is required, while the good looks of an orangepeel-free finish`aren`t.

[jason novak]

Yeah, didn`t really think about that, probably best to respray it.


`


May have to review my technique, watched a lot of videos and read a lot of posts. I did maybe 2-3 passes with 1500grit, and then many passes with 2000. Used a fairly solid rubber sanding block and light pressure.` Backed off near the edges, could be more aggressive. Spot where it went through was hard to sand, my be easier without the block to better conform. I tihink I need fewer passes and to be more aggressive.


`


Can do the driver`s side while I wait for it to try. Will the buffer do anything to take it down or does it need to be fully "hazed", ie would it have helped some of the areas I didn`t do well?


`


Nice to have a car I don`t mind practicing on. I drive a camaro in the summer and hope to put the buffer to use there.

[Accumulator]

jason novak- I dunno...I would`ve thought along the lines of being *far less* aggressive, just barely knocking down the worst of the orangepeel.` I can`t help but wonder "gee, why is he sanding so much?".` I mean, you really don`t want to remove much clear unless you`ve put on a *LOT* of extra coats with that plan in mind.` Thick clear is good; thin clear is failure waiting to happen.


`


The buffer probably won`t diminish the orangepeel unless you use a pad made for that (forget which one that is, never tried it myself).` I know that plenty of people do wetsand with 1500, and yeah it does level severe orangepeel well, but IMO even just 2000 is plenty aggressive for most people.` I myself do my final passes with 3K or 4K and IMO most people underestimate how tough it is to truly/completely remove 2K scratches.