NSX, wet sanding *PICS*NO 56K

EBPcivicsi

EBPcivicsi

GOT PREP?
Today I had the privelige to work on a truely beautiful 1992 Acura NSX. The paint was in decent shape, but had its share of marring and swirls.

The front bumper, front and rear bumpers, as well as the side skirts are all very rare imported pieces. The painter did not do a very good job on the front bumper when wet sanding and the orange peel was horrible.

It was my job to wet sand the finsh down to a desirable "less orange peely" level. :) There were also quite a few spots where after wet sanding they just "forgot" to buff the marks off. :(

Not knowing the paint system and without knowing how much paint was actually on the bumper I was a bit leery(sp). Worse than that was the fact the painer really hacked up the waet sanding job. He must have used some really poor quality paper and he sanded in every direction. This poor technique/material choice left the paint with deeper isolated scratches that really needed to be leveled in order to correct.

I also wet sanded the front head light covers because they had several really deep scratches from being stored upside down. Since this was factory clear, I used a bit more caution.


I sanded with Meguiars papers in back and forth motions using light pressure. I soaked the papers in a solution of meguiars #00 and water for about 30 minutes prior to starting. After three strokes I rinsed the paper and moved along.

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Before:
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This is after a few passes with #84 meguiars compound cleaner on the rotary with a meguiars cutting pad. I then switched to the PC and applied #83 DACP, then #82 swirl free polish. No "wax" in this pic.

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And for the rest of the car, here is what I was dealing with.

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So I applied compound power cleaner with a meguiars cutting pad to the trunk and rear spolier area. I follwed it with the PC and SSR2.5, then SSR1.

On the hood, I applied DACP with the PC, then #80 speed glaze. The rest of the car got #80 via PC with a polishing pad. I sealed with NXT.

I used many different products during this detail becasue as the sun moved I had to use PB's. Also different areas of the car had defects of different levels. I wanted to preserve as much as possble on the car.

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Great job.
You should be very proud of what you accomplished.
Some time when you want to use a glaze ... Meg's #3 machine glaze is a favorite of mine. I wipes off pretty easy.
Car Looks Awesome!
 
:bigups Sweet looking car . Excellent job fixxing that mess. I like that last pic, nice angle.

Not the last but third from last. The low angle with the stones in it.
 
kimwallace said:
Great job.
You should be very proud of what you accomplished.
Some time when you want to use a glaze ... Meg's #3 machine glaze is a favorite of mine. I wipes off pretty easy.
Car Looks Awesome!
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I have used many gallons of #3 through the years. It use to be one of my "go to glazes" on my personal cars. Maybe I should revisit it!!! You are right, wipes off very easily and leaves a great wet look finish.

Thanks everyone, this was a real challenge!!!
 
Damn thats sweet! Are you scared when you use that high level of abrasiveness? Its for sure your going to removal quite alot of the paint.
 
The Woob said:
Damn thats sweet! Are you scared when you use that high level of abrasiveness? Its for sure your going to removal quite alot of the paint.
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If it was factory paint I would NOT have wet sanded at all. IMO, it is just not worth the risk of future clear coat failure. Since this was a repaint I was fairly sure that there was a generous amount of clear on the bumper.

Though the headlight covers were factory painted, he only uses them at certain times throughout the year. He changes them out between these and another one piece carbonfiber unit. I warned him about the dangers of wet sanding factory clear and he insisted that we do it. I had no problem doing it for him.
 
Stellar work and nice write-up :bigups

Did I miss it? Which LSP did you use?

That thing looks dead perfect. I am very impressed.


Funny thing...I wetsanded my Red Acura today too :D
 
Looks great, you did an amazing job its almost impossible to go in with a rotary on all those small panels gotta have great control. What did you use in the wheel wells. ?
 
GSRstilez said:
Stellar work and nice write-up :bigups

Did I miss it? Which LSP did you use?

That thing looks dead perfect. I am very impressed.


Funny thing...I wetsanded my Red Acura today too :D
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Thanks man!! I think I put that I used NXT in there somewhere. I will check to make sure.

Posting pics of the integra? :wait
 
Nice, I need to get my self a wheel well dressing thats water based. Right now im usign a solvent based dressing I got from a friend that works at a dealer. Its good and smells nice but it gunks up to much. I need a gallon to was thinking W-dressing but its to hard to find anywhere and 303 is way expensive.
 
Fr0zen said:
Nice, I need to get my self a wheel well dressing thats water based. Right now im usign a solvent based dressing I got from a friend that works at a dealer. Its good and smells nice but it gunks up to much. I need a gallon to was thinking W-dressing but its to hard to find anywhere and 303 is way expensive.
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Sorry Frozen, I definitley did not mean that I used NXT in the wheel wells.

I did not dress the wheel wells of this car because he has to drive it from Memphis to Atlanta next week for NOPI. I felt that even a water based product would collect some "gunk" on the way.

FWIW, #40 is available to me locally at about $21 a gallon. Cut 50/50 with water it never fails me on engines or wheel wells.
 
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