Full wet sand n` buff on `05 NBP Acura RL, by Rasky`s Auto Detailing

[RaskyR1]

***Let me first start by saying that this car underwent a full repaint and that this is NOT something I recommend you do on a factory painted car to remove orange peel.***



This is actually my fiancée and the car, which got hammered with over $9k in hail damage! My father works at the body shop where the work was done and I offered to do the wet sanding and buffing in exchange for having the bumpers and side moldings painted….that and I didn’t really want them doing it anyway.



Originally I had planned on doing the work the same week I picked it up knowing just how hard these newer high solids clear coats can get. Unfortunately things kept coming up and the job kept getting pushed out. It was about 4-5 weeks time between when it was painted to when I started the work…not good.



As my past experience has shown, the clear was indeed rock hard! Probably the hardest I have ever worked on and my normal process for wet sanding had to be tweaked in order to work with this paint type.



Wet sanding process:



-3M P800 via DA with soft interface pad for initial leveling (I taped off the edges 1/16-1/8 away for this step since I wanted to avoid thinning an edge too much)

-3M P1500 grit via DA with soft interface pad.

-3M P3000 grit via DA with soft interface pad.



Buffing process:



- 3M Perfect-it 3000 extra cut rubbing compound via rotary and Meguiars Solo heavy cutting pad (cut faster than M95 and Power Gloss but left deep marring)

-Meguiars M95 via rotary and Meguiars Solo light cutting pad (removed heavy marring from the extra cut and picked up any pig tails I may have missed)

-Menzerna SIP via rotary and orange LC Classic pad (finished nicely)

-Meguiars M205 via PC7424XP and White LC Classic pad (removed any remaining buffer trails left behind from SIP)

-Menzerna PO85RD via rotary and black LC Classic pad (Icing on the cake!)



My choice of LSP was Blackfire Wet-Diamond.





Pre hail damage the paint on this car was actually like glass right from the factory. As you will see, after the car was painted it had some pretty serious orange peel, and to be honest, I wasn’t really happy with the way it came out. While my father did all the body work on the car, they do have dedicated painters at his shop so I couldn’t blame him in any way. They shop normally turn out top notch work. regardless, I didn’t feel it was so bad that it needed to be redone, but it definitely meant taking off more clear than I really wanted too in order to get it to the level it was at prior to the damage.



Before sanding I spoke with the manager about the paint thickness readings I found on all the new panels and wanted to ensure full paint warranty if I were to level the paint myself….which he assured me they would honor.



On with the pics!!!



Bad orange peel



























Sanding in process

[RaskyR1]

After pics!



























































Brinkmann







Halogen







Flash (I like how this made the blue pearl POP)





I drove the car about 30 miles before these pics so there may be some light dust on the car…























































I didn’t keep track of my time on this job since I wasn’t getting paid to do it, but I`d guess I have around 40 hours invested….either way, I’d say the fiancée definitely owes me some serious luvin’!!! :dance







Thanks For looking!





Rasky

[audicoupej]

Awesome Work! How much clear did you have to level to get it looking good?



What kind of DA did you use for the wetsanding?

[Xilleration]

Superb finish.



What DA do you use? It looks like your effort really paid off... not financially though (pity) but you did a great job so pat yourself on the back!! :xyxthumbs



Did you need to do a process on the lights as well?





KaPow..



Edit.. beaten to the DA question by 10 seconds!! Replying at the same time! LOL!

[RaskyR1]

Awesome Work! How much clear did you have to level to get it looking good?



What kind of DA did you use for the wetsanding?

Thanks!



Well I tested the hood first and went a little further on that panel to make sure I had enough paint to work with. I took off between 15-20 micron on the hood. I brought the car to the body shop the next day and showed the painter and manager the readings. I was acually a little upset they didn`t put on more material on but the painter said anything more than 2 good coats and you risked solvent pop with the clear they used....not sure I buy that but what ever. I went lighter on the rest of the car though and my average PTG readings on the new panels are in the 95 Micron range.



I just used a cheap DA I bought a few years ago from Northern Tool...nothing special.

[RaskyR1]

Superb finish.



What DA do you use? It looks like your effort really paid off... not financially though (pity) but you did a great job so pat yourself on the back!! :xyxthumbs



Did you need to do a process on the lights as well?





KaPow..



Edit.. beaten to the DA question by 10 seconds!! Replying at the same time! LOL!

Thanks! I did get the bumper covers and trim painted out of the deal, and I also didn`t have some hack at the body shop wet sanding and buffing my car either, so I feel I came out well. :xyxthumbs





I only gave the lights a light polish with M205. I may sand the head light at a later date to remove the pitting but probably not until we got to sell it.

[gmblack3]

Great work Chad! The gloss level is off the chart!



I take it these where non-trizact sanding discs?

[RaskyR1]

Great work Chad! The gloss level is off the chart!



I take it these where non-trizact sanding discs?

Thanks Bryan!



The P3000 was the newer foam Trizact disks.





I fianlly started shooting my pics in manual mode too....seems to have made a noticable difference in picture quality.

[dsms]

Serious work! Beautiful job

[Barry Theal]

Rasky,

well you know I love the look of freshly sanded paint. I must say you tackled this job to perfection! Outstanding results. A pain doing them full sanding jobs, but when finished its off the charts. Lots of gloss and very flat. I love it!!!!

[Darkstar752]

Wow, that looks absolutely amazing. 5 Steps AFTER the sanding though? Wow haha, that`s a lot of work! :xyxthumbs

[RaskyR1]

Serious work! Beautiful job

Thanks Dave!

Rasky,

well you know I love the look of freshly sanded paint. I must say you tackled this job to perfection! Outstanding results. A pain doing them full sanding jobs, but when finished its off the charts. Lots of gloss and very flat. I love it!!!!

Thanks Barry! It was definitely a lot of work but I feel it definitely paid off. Nothing like smooth black paint!

Wow, that looks absolutely amazing. 5 Steps AFTER the sanding though? Wow haha, that`s a lot of work! :xyxthumbs

Thanks!



I probably didn`t have to do the final step but I think it definitely added a little extra pop!

[DaGonz]

Very nice work.. it looks better than new!

[imported_d00t]

Great job!

[RaskyR1]

Very nice work.. it looks better than new!

Thanks!

Great job!

Thanks Aaron!