removing wetsanding scratches by hand

M

midnightrider

New member
Okay, I need some serious help. I tried wetsanding out some deep scratches on my trunk and it worked. Only now I have wetsanding scratches all over the trunk. I used 3000 grit paper soaked overnight in soapy water and used a ton of water on the car as I did the wetsanding. I did not press the paper into the car I let the paper do the work. It got out the deep scratches but I have a thin film left the sanding. What procedure and product should I use for my next step? And remember I am only doing this by hand. Or did I just mess it up. This is on a black car. I did s search and could not find anything when doing it by hand.
 
craigdt said:
Try some UC and ScratchX 2.0
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Great thanks. I did forget to mention I started using Meguiars Ultimate Compound and it helped a little. But I need something stronger. Is Scratchx 2.0 stronger than the Meguiars Ultimate Compound?
 
midnightrider said:
Great thanks. I did forget to mention I started using Meguiars Ultimate Compound and it helped a little. But I need something stronger. Is Scratchx 2.0 stronger than the Meguiars Ultimate Compound?
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nope. Its less abrasive. Try megs 105
 
If you haven't tried terry cloth to apply the UC with, maybe give this a try. The little cotton loops, (the nap), act as a form of gentle abrasive that will give the UC more bite.



Afterwards, if the terry cloth leaves any fiber marks then simply re-polish using foam instead of terry cloth. Be careful, there was a post here yesterday about a gentleman who rubbed through the clearcoat and exposed the primer underneath.



Also, technique is all important. This video is a few years old and shows using an early version of ScratchX that used DAT instead of SMAT but the technique outlined is the same way you would apply UC or M105 by hand to remove a below surface defects.





How to correctly apply ScratchX to remove swirls and scratches







:)
 
Mike Phillips said:
Also, technique is all important. This video is a few years old and shows using an early version of ScratchX that used DAT instead of SMAT but the technique outlined is the same way you would apply UC or M105 by hand to remove a below surface defects.:)
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Great, thanks for the video. Also, I did try terry cloth along with a foam applicators but the scratches are still there. They are getting better with each application but I feel I need something stronger than the UC. Hopefully the M105 will help.
 
Good luck removing them by hand - I'm sure it's possible if you put in enough time, but I don't think it's going ot b eanywhere near easy or fun. M105 can do it, as said above, but you better not mind being there a really long time. (atleast from when I've tried to correct stuff by hand with it)
 
efnfast said:
Good luck removing them by hand - I'm sure it's possible if you put in enough time, but I don't think it's going ot b eanywhere near easy or fun. M105 can do it, as said above, but you better not mind being there a really long time. (atleast from when I've tried to correct stuff by hand with it)
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A friend of mine has a 7" Random Orbit Waxer/Polisher. Do you think it will Help / Hurt / or make no difference to this project?
 
midnightrider said:
A friend of mine has a 7" Random Orbit Waxer/Polisher. Do you think it will Help / Hurt / or make no difference to this project?
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Might be worth trying if only because it won't get tired/frustrated the way a person might. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to leave an OK finish though, so plan on still doing some by-hand work.

laurencea said:
You may have to go over the trunk 5 or 6 times . Its a lot of work...
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Might take a lot more than that, and I mean a *LOT*.



I recently took out some sanding scratches on the M3 using PC/3.5" PFW/M105/pressure. I did a *LOT* of passes with that combo before I was satisfied.



If working by hand, even with terry M105 can take a long, long time to get the job done. Compare your hand motions to a machine doing a few thousand motions per minute...
 
Be very careful using 105 by hand. It's a heavy compound and applying by hand with too much pressure could get you in trouble. No telling how much cc you already removed by wetsanding and using UC by hand.
 
Legacy99 said:
No telling how much cc you already removed by wetsanding and using UC by hand.
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Yeperdoo... that's my thoughts too.



Both procedures remove paint. You don't want to do this, :soscared: or this, :bawling:





:)
 
Legacy99 said:
Be very careful using 105 by hand. It's a heavy compound and applying by hand with too much pressure could get you in trouble. No telling how much cc you already removed by wetsanding and using UC by hand.
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Thanks for the tip. So use almost no pressure at all?

The wetsanding was very minimal. I had a few scratches and used no pressure as I just let the paper do the work. I'll do the same with the M105. I think I will try it like maybe 10 light applications and if it does not look right I’ll have to take it to a professional. I certainly don’t want to make it worse but I would like to give it a try.
 
I'm slightly confused though - you've got the balls/knowledge to know how to wetsand a car, but you don't have a buffer? Unless of course you just grabbed some sandpaper and went to town..............
 
Mike Phillips said:
Yeperdoo... that's my thoughts too.



Both procedures remove paint. You don't want to do this, :soscared: or this, :bawling:





:)
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Mike, what in the world is that in your avatar?
 
efnfast said:
I'm slightly confused though - you've got the balls/knowledge to know how to wetsand a car, but you don't have a buffer? Unless of course you just grabbed some sandpaper and went to town..............
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Don’t be confused son. I do have the balls to try something new. And I followed the proper procedure. And some people just detail by hand. So don’t hate the non-buffers. Don’t be a anti-byhandtite. I was trying to get to bunch of small scratched out of the trunk and very lightly wetsanded it. It worked very well but I can see a little haze from the wetsanding it’s self. So I needed to know what products people recommended. I’m going to try this by hand and if it does not look right I will bring it to a local detailer to use his buffer and experience to fix it 100%.



Thanks to everyone else for their recommendations and help with the proper procedures.
 
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