Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Are you using a block to sand?
What would I do? I would do it myself, but that's me.
What would I do? I would do it myself, but that's me.
Ceramic coating high spots?
- Thread starter ReaperHWK06
- Start date
ReaperHWK06
Member
I’m using a small block to sand the flat areas with distilled water and a few drops of dawn in a spray bottle.
For any curves I just use my finger on the paper and lightly follow them. I also don’t sand the panel edges nearly as much since I read they are thin.
Any other tips? So far I haven’t F’d anything up gladly.
I am literally taking the car to the shop now and getting more details on how they will wet sand this.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
It sounds like you are doing a good job. You always have to be very careful sanding factory clear.
ReaperHWK06
Member
Went to my favorite body shop just now. They took a look and said bring it by Monday and they will test out an area free of charge before they do anything.
They said they will do a quick pass with 2000 grit on a DA, smooth with 3000 grit, and possibly do 5000 grit.
They also looked at what I did by hand and milled it; was told the etching seems on the surface and they are very confident. They also said I barely took off any clear with my hand sanding of 3000 grit and I got 90% of it off already.
Will update but the goal is to have the shop sand out the etching if the test looks good on Monday.
They said they will do a quick pass with 2000 grit on a DA, smooth with 3000 grit, and possibly do 5000 grit.
They also looked at what I did by hand and milled it; was told the etching seems on the surface and they are very confident. They also said I barely took off any clear with my hand sanding of 3000 grit and I got 90% of it off already.
Will update but the goal is to have the shop sand out the etching if the test looks good on Monday.
Stokdgs
dansautodetailing.com
A real shop would be using a Rotary machines.....
And are you able to Calibrate your PTG??? Who makes it???
How many Microns did you measure On the line, and all around the area, in Microns???
If any shop does not have the most expensive PTG and re-calibrates it every day, before using it, and understands what Microns means, then they are not really that good...
Ok, so they said they would repaint it if they jacked it??? Why would they ever need to say that????
How really good would their "repaint" be??? Did you look at their work????
Stokdgs
ReaperHWK06
Member
I didn’t ask when they did it. I’ll get more info tomorrow when I’m there.
I can’t see any difference in the mills from the line and no line; it’s way too small to isolate.
I’ll post up after they do the test tomorrow and see how many mills needed to
Come
Off to completely remove it.
ReaperHWK06
Member
Yeah I told them I don’t care about the money I just want the best job. I said charge me $1000 I don’t care lol.
He laughed and said it shouldn’t be anywhere near that though.
Unless you are a very rich person you don't ever want to tell someone this.
Hopefully you didn't tell them to Take Their Time...
ReaperHWK06
Member
They had to take off 0.2 mils to get rid of it 95%. I took the car back so I can look at their test area for a few days and determine if it’s good for me, I can’t see the line in the sun now but maybe in shadows not sure yet. They said they will do the entire panel because where they sanded all the orange peel is gone and it looks like I have orange peel stripes lol.
The area went from 5.2 to 5 mils. They are telling me they don’t want to go more than that and if I tell them to if they burn through I’d have to pay for a respray. They are comfortable doing only 0.2mils. Also there guage and mine shows the paint thickness to be very un-uniform across the panel. On one panel the paint can vary from a high 4.x to a low 6.x. They said that is also strange and ads to them not wanting to cut more.
Does that sound reasonable?
Other option is I can just get a custom wrap stripes made that are 1mm wider in each side than factory and carry on.
The area went from 5.2 to 5 mils. They are telling me they don’t want to go more than that and if I tell them to if they burn through I’d have to pay for a respray. They are comfortable doing only 0.2mils. Also there guage and mine shows the paint thickness to be very un-uniform across the panel. On one panel the paint can vary from a high 4.x to a low 6.x. They said that is also strange and ads to them not wanting to cut more.
Does that sound reasonable?
Other option is I can just get a custom wrap stripes made that are 1mm wider in each side than factory and carry on.
Last edited:
ReaperHWK06
Member
Not sure if this is allowed but I post on the hellcat forum about it and it has pictures. The last picture in that thread has how the test area looks now. To me it looks excellent just worried about “thickness”. They did 2000, 3000, 5000, and than polish.
www.hellcat.org
Problems with vinyl stripe removal.
2022 challenger with OEM stripes ceramic coated since the first day I owned it. The car is only driven in the summer but I use it daily and it’s parked outside at work all summer so it gets baked. That’s the facts going into this. so fast forward to the last few weeks I am doing a stripe...
www.hellcat.org
Last edited:
Accumulator
Well-known member
I'm a broken-record on this, but keep in mind that it's *NOT* about "burning through" the clearcoat. Just thinning the clear too much will result in extreme sensitivity to UV and can result in rapid paint failure. I see so many cars with trashed paint that is obviously the result of over-correcting! You can clearly see how the "Detailers" did the work that caused the damage...damage that didn't show up until long after the work was done, after the cars were in the sun for a while.
I'm glad to see that the shop is taking this concern into consideration when they say that 0.20mils is as far as they want to go. The areas that are only ~4.0mils would already give me pause since the rest of the paint is so much thicker. Hard to say what the explanation might be, but caution is warranted.
I'm glad to see that the shop is taking this concern into consideration when they say that 0.20mils is as far as they want to go. The areas that are only ~4.0mils would already give me pause since the rest of the paint is so much thicker. Hard to say what the explanation might be, but caution is warranted.
ReaperHWK06
Member
I might cover the entire car in PPF as that blocks UV. Kicking that around if they polish out the entire panels
Unless the area will not accommodate I always sand with a 6 inch disk. I imagine they'll sand that whole panel
Now that I've done my best to help you maybe you can help me.
How is it that this panel appears to be the most troubling thing going on in your life when I'm over here waiting on nukes to drop?
I'm very envious of ppl like you
Stokdgs
dansautodetailing.com
Did they tell you it was 0.2 mils???? Why not just tell you how many microns were removed? Was their PTG able to measure individual layers of material, (paint, primer) ?
Glad it looks better to you... As you carefully move your clean, bare, hand over the area, do you feel Anything at all? Is it just real smooth and flat???
ReaperHWK06
Member
They started with 0.1 mil removal and brought the car out. Looked better but I still saw the line still and said I wanted more off. They took it back and took another mil off. They told me they used their meter to determine that they removed 2 mils total. I then asked if they would remove more and they pretty much said no.
The paint is smooth as glass where the sanded. If you click the hellcat forum link you’d see the pictures.
They told me if I like the results they will just polish the whole panels down 0.2 mils.
I will ask if they can tell me how thick just the clear is, we were talking total paint thickness when I was there. There bottom line is anything more than 0.2 mils they strongly advise against. So maybe they knew the CC thickness and that is where the 0.2 came from? That was their number.
Last edited:
Brenan Jiran
New member
To repair that, you need to take a good polish and a soft pad and carefully level the coating, so you don’t damage the paint. Take your time, checking the surface after each time for an even level. Once level and smooth, apply a new thinner coat, being very cautious around the vinyl not to damage it.
ReaperHWK06
Member
I decided for them just to do the trunk lid so I can see how one whole panel comes out and I can install my spoiler. Dropping it off Monday morning for that, said probably 2 hours of work. They said 2000 grit, 3000, than 5000 followed by a polish. They will hand sand the edges and curves.
Hopefully the whole panel comes out nice and then I’ll schedule the rest. If it doesn’t I’ll probably just stripe the car again and hide it. I’m not willing for them to cut more than 0.2 per discussion with them and others.
Hopefully the whole panel comes out nice and then I’ll schedule the rest. If it doesn’t I’ll probably just stripe the car again and hide it. I’m not willing for them to cut more than 0.2 per discussion with them and others.
Better to tape the edges. You'll never notice a difference and guaranteed not to burn through
Other than that it sounds like you've found a good source
The big lesson here is to not get sucked into window tint shops that disguise themselves as detail shops just because they have expensive cars on the lot
I am heavily invested now and am looking forward to hearing how this all turns out
