polishing after wetsanding

what would you consider normal for bringing a finish back after wetsanding? obviously this is a general question with many things that can affect the outcome (hardness of the clear being the biggest one).



i'm asking because today i decided to practice a bit more with my hitachi rotary and was not able to remove many of the random scratches on my winter car's (92 accord) hood. i was using an orange LC w/ OC...then stepped up to OHC. 1700rpm and a few tries and the scratches remained. i could not catch my fingernail on them...



SO, i figured it's a good time to practice my wetsanding again too. i only used 2500 unigrit...looking back i should have hit it with 3000 as well.



to remove the wetsanding marks i had to do OHC w/ the orange LC many times, then a black LC and OP to finish it up. i'm curious to hear what is recommended since this took me a lot more time than i expected with the rotary...



thanks-
 
As you said there are too many variables and too many different systems and methodologies to say any one is “normal.�



It’s most common to use a heavy compound with a wool pad to remove sanding scratch.



Lake Country’s chart does suggest that the orange pad can remove #2000 scratch but the compound and paint obviously affect the outcome dramatically.





PC.
 
paradigm- The difference between 2500 and 3K really can be significant, so yeah, maybe you oughta get some Unigrit 3000 for next time. But 2500 never seems to leave *real* nasty scratches and I even use the 2K unigrit block now and then.



I'm a *little* surprised you had to do a lot more rotary work than you'd exected to remove the sanding scratches, but it doesn't sound all *that* weird to me. Sometimes things just take a lot longer than we expect them to with the rotary, makes me think I/we oughta have some wool pads for such serious correction, as the other PC mentioned.
 
To make it easier, wetsand with 3000 grit and then a polish with a wool pad will take them out.



If you want to stop at 2000 or 2500, use a wool pad and Prestra ultra cutting creme regular or Powergloss. You need the cutting wool action and will bring to an excellent gloss! I normally stop at 2000 grit and polish with one of these and the finish will be like glass.



Then use a foam polish pad on a rotory or PC with a fine polish and the rotory haze will dissapear into a deep swirl free surface. The results will be amazing!
 
If you only have OP and OC, then use them with a wool first and then proceed with a foam. Don't be afraid of the wool rotory swirls. They will come out very easy with a foam pad.
 
thanks all! i do have 3000 unigrit...just didn't use it this time. i'll definitely step up to that after the more aggressive unigrit steps.



i currently have the following aggressive polishes: OHC, SSR-3, Meg's 83. i haven't tried 83 with the rotary yet, but i'm guessing it's even more effective via rotary than with the PC.
 
rydawg said:
To make it easier, wetsand with 3000 grit and then a polish with a wool pad will take them out...



FWIW, even on the Audis I've never had any real problems removing the 3K scratches, even with foam pads and just the PC. Even did a few by hand (3M PI-III RC 05933) just to see if it'd work, and it did.
 
porta said:
I always finish with a 4k grit. Goes much faster to polish out these scratches.



Where do you find 4k grit? All the B&M stores by me do not seem to have that high of a grit composition...
 
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