Lightest compound to follow up wetsanding?

[NorcalZ71]

There are a few spots on my truck (IE rocker panels) that I think are gonna need some wetsanding this summer to revive, and if all goes well I might do some more of the truck as well to kill all the orange peel. Anyway, I am planning on picking up the Harbor Freight rotary, what else will I need to effectively remove the sanding marks? I figured go 1500 wet, 2000 wet, maybe 3000 wet and then follow up w/ a compound w/ the rotary, then PC as I would normally? Are the Menzerna polishes enough, or do I need something heavier and if so what?

Thanks

[EBPcivicsi]

I wouldn`t wet sand with Meguiars #84 compound power cleaner and #83 dual action cleaner polish. I hope that the paint is not factory...

[MS22]

Powregloss says that it can remove 1000-1500 grit sanding marks so if you finish up with the 2000 you should be fine. Personally I would use the 3000 grit too but that is just me. I did clean up sanding marks with PG on a Megs burgundy pad at 1600RPM but this was on a carbon fiber hood and I finished up with 4000 grit paper.

[NorcalZ71]

yea its factory paint. my trucks tires stick out beyond the flares just a tad, so the lower rocker panels are pretty beat. If wetsanding cant revive them then I will repaint them, just gonna give it a whirl first I am pretty comfortable about it in this area.

[imported_dpeezy415]

I finished wetsanding and compounding my car a few weeks ago. I used Meguiar`s 2000 unigrit then #84/#83/#9 by rotary and finished with #80 by PC. I LOVED the results.



I picked up this process by calling the Megs hotline. They said that 2500 and 3000 grit is for factory paint. I would suggest going with one of these.



If you use the unigrit, you won`t need other grit sandpapers because the particles are uniform. With a cheaper sandpaper you will get particles that are too big and those wetsanding marks will be harder to remove unless you`re using #85 and a wool pad.



You`ll be fine going with either the 2500 or 3000 then the #84/#83/#80 combo.



Good luck and prepare for at least a weekend of work if you`re doing the whole car. But I KNOW you`ll love the results.

[NorcalZ71]

dpeezy, thats awesome man thanks. I will definitely look into the paper then, a good friend happens to know Mr. Meguire himself :cool:. About how long did it take for your car, and did you just do exterior surfaces, no door jambs or anything? I have an ext cab, short bed truck so I imagine it could be a bit more surface area hehe.

[Accumulator]

I`ve removed 2.5-3K grit scratches with PI-III RC (05933), even using it by hand, so I dunno if you`ll need something as aggressive as #84.



But I`m somehow leery of this whole idea...if the factory paint is "beat", sanding some of it off will only leave you with smoother but "more beat" (by the sanding) paint, which will fail even faster...

[jetskie]

I would not start with 1500 wet. I would usually just do 2000 wet and use 3M PI II FCRC to clean it up. Eithier way the 3M should just be enough to remove the sanding marks. I find IP a bit mild, but maybe with a rotary it might work for you as I have never used it with a rotary.