wetsanding entire car

E

Envious Eric

New member
then compounding, polishing, glazing, waxing to a near perfect shine



how much...on a sedan like a toyota camry, or a BMW 3 series....



do you just based it on time as in $$ per hour, or base it on a flat day rate, and its going to take 3 days, or price at what you think, and hope you hit your hourly wage???



someone hit me up for it and I was thinking about 2500 the whole car, then carrying on with the rest, but I have never done a whole car before...mainly to knock down the orange peel on the lower half, as well as some scratches
 
I have had people ask me to do it and I won't give them a price. I just tell them its going to be $40/hour and X number of hours and I have no intrest in doing it at all. I will wet sand scratches but wet sanding a whole car sounds about as fun as sticking forks in my eyes. After trying to buff a car that someone did a piss poor job wet sanding I don't want to deal with that again.



I think it would be hard to get $2500 for most cars. Good for you if you can get it. At that price I would think about doing it.



What kind of car is it? Is it factory paint or a re paint?



James
 
I typically throw out an outrageous figure when approached to do this. I have zero desire to do such a thing. If you are up to it, I would charge at least 800+ for the work. Also, if you aren't insured, make a contract clearing you of any possible damage.



Greg
 
On a 3 series (assuming it is a late model), with a single stage wet sanding (2000 or 2500 grit), figure about 15 mins per vertical panel, and 25 mins per horizintal panel. If on the other hand we are talking a 2 stage wet sanding, figure to double those numbers since of course you will be sanding each panel twice; first with the more coarse and then less coarse sandpapers).



Compounding, if needed, will tack on another 2 hrs.



Final polishing will tack on another 2 hrs



If the final polish is up to snuff, then a glaze is not really needed, but if you decide to do it anyway, figure in another hour.



Wax is about 20 mins.



And just in case anyone is curious, yes I've done it before, but not on a Camry or 3 series. Total time from car wash to wax was approx. 12 hours.
 
Am I the only one that noticed 2500 was the sandpaper grit, not price? :wow:



I did a Toyota MR2 (Black), and it took me about 18 hours start to finish... And I undercharged at $400. Should have been $800.
 
Why stop with a 2500grit? I would finish at least with a 4000 grit or 3M trizact.



I would charge around $700-800?
 
StumpyDetailing said:
Am I the only one that noticed 2500 was the sandpaper grit, not price? :wow:
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I noticed.







I wouldnt do a whole car at 1 go. See if they will pay for it piece by piece over a course of a few weeks.
 
Wet sanding an entire vehicle...wow. I agree I would write up a contract to cover your self, when wet sanding you never know oh by the way a paint gauge is a must. You really need to know how the clear coat and paint thickness is.



I find that to remove orange peal all you really need is 3000 grit but 4000 grit would be ideal. It doesn’t take much to remove orange peal. I've done some orange peal removing but not an entire vehicle. Sounds like it would be fun if you ask me, lots of work but fun.



Well just my feed back.
 
I believe that the most important part of a $3-4000 paint job is the sanding, buffing and polishing to achieve a near flat finish.



Do not under value the skill and time involved. $900~1200.



Patience.



JB
 
Last time (that I can remember of) person posted how much they charged to wet sand whole vehicle it was $1200. It was Superior Shine Joe and car was exotic.
 
ZoranC said:
Last time (that I can remember of) person posted how much they charged to wet sand whole vehicle it was $1200. It was Superior Shine Joe and car was exotic.
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.......... that was for minor spot sanding only before a complete polish.



My colorsanding work is almost always more than $2000 for a complete. The price is determined by size of vehicle, type of paint, conditon of paint (amount of overspray, debris, etc..)



If a show quality finish is wanted we start out with 800 grit and work our way done to 1500 or 2000.



I may have a suburban to do soon. It has a custom paint job and I bidded $2800 to do it. It was done already but bvery micky mouse.



If I get the job I will post pics of the process.
 
When body shops request to do a color sand and buff *on freshly painted panels*, I usually allow 1 hr. per panel @ $40/hr and no one seems to complain. Most shops I see, use 2500 or 3000 grit on a DA after knocking down the large imperfections by hand with 1200. 10 panels / 10 hrs = $650 with taxes and materials. People that wet sand every day, day after day would jump at that money. People that don't, might think that sanding is rocket science. Not really a big deal after you learn the art of it. On a side note, on alot of really high end show quality paint jobs, you'll see a shop sand in between coats to flatten out the base before applying their clear. That will really make paint look deep and flat.
 
Just a note for the enthusiasts...



Wet sanding requires substantial expertise and 'expensive' equipment.



Don' try this at home. :)



JB
 
Jimmy Buffit said:
Just a note for the enthusiasts...



Wet sanding requires substantial expertise and 'expensive' equipment.



Don' try this at home. :)



JB
Click to expand...



Wet sanding requires special equipment? When I did it years ago I just needed some sheets of wet and dry sand paper, a bucket of water, a sponge and a hose. I definitely agree on the expertise part, but I was a noobe the first time I wet sanded a custom paint job on a van of mine. I made a few minor mistakes but it took a rather bland paint job and turned it into a show piece after the buffing was done. I was fortunate though as it had a lot of clear coat on it. I wouldn't dare try a factory paint job. That is where the expertise is really needed. :waxing:
 
:) I can't imagine wetsanding an entire vehicle by hand. We use a pneumatic dual action orbital sander.



Oh yeah, the $400 Electronic Thickness Guage comes in handy.



:)



JB
 
...........and I perfer to sand by hand!



I have been doing it for sooooooo many years by hand. I have fooled around with the Mirka system but I have yet to achieve satisfactory results.
 
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