Rubbing compound done by hand after wetsanding?

[TechSol]

Well, I practiced on a spare trunk lid and felt I was ready to wetsand my car... I did the fender and part of the bumper. Wetsanding went great and I could tell all the orange peel and roughness was gone. Afterwards, when I applied 3m rubbing compound with my new rotary, i burned through the paint in one spot :(. I had to finish the rest to get rid of the wetsanding marks, so I did it by hand. What I found was the part I did by hand looked PERFECT and was exactlywhat I wanted all along. I was just wondering... whenever anyone talks about wetsanding it seems they list a PC/rotary as essential. Is it really needed? Here`s what I did and it looks great now... but I`m wondering if it will have any effects down the line?



-wetsanding 1500 grit (was going to go to 2000 afterward but it didn`t seem necessary)

-once or twice over with 3M rubbing compound

-Meguiars #9

- some other products probalby once whole car is completed, not sure what yet



It seems way too easy to just do that by hand... what`s the catch? Will I see problems in the next few months? From the reflection of headlights it seems like I was able to get all the marks out and it looks very nice.



Thanks!

[Accumulator]

Glad to hear things went so well! Heh heh, and you even used much more aggressive paper than I recommended :cool:



Some paints are much harder/softer than others. If you were able to get a great finish by hand, yours is pretty soft. Others are so hard that only a rotary will do the job. I guess we generally assume worst-case scenarios lest someone say "I tried to do this and it wouldn`t work...".



Now that you have it nice, be careful how you wash/dry it, lest the soft paint get marred.



As to problems donw the road, only time will tell. Keep it well protected (sealant/wax) and I`d be optimistic. Keep an eye on the cut-through spot. It might be OK if you keep it well protected.



With the paint you have, it sounds like you might not need the rotary at all, at least for that car.

[TechSol]

Alright, cool, thanks for the reply! I couldn`t find any 3000 grit anywhere... so I just went with 2000. My major concern was that scratches would resurface somehow over time... I know that is nearly impossible, but just kinda wanted confirmation before I went crazy and did the whole car lol. I think I`m going to do the rest Monday/Tuesday and I`ll post some before/after pics.