Wetsanding Nightmare please help

2

2010maxima

New member
Hello,



I just got a 2010 Maxima. Well I went to wash my car today and noticed what looked like sap. So I got some Turtle bug and tar remover and used it several times on the spot with no luck. I had heard about wet sanding so I figured it would give it a try. What a mistake that was. Basically I had some very fine grit sand paper and some water. I sprayed the car and the paper to try and get the sap off and apparently I went too far. I now have a spot about the size of quarter on my hood that is down to the paint. It doesn't looked scratched, it just looks like the rest of the car just very dull and feels different to the touch. Do have to get whole hood repainted now? Please advise the best course of action here. Please help me!!! Have I ruined my new baby
 
Wet-sanding is not something that a novice should do at home...regardless of how detailing videos try to promote it.

That's what I tell my customers.



Seems like you've sanded thru the clearcoat, and will need to repaint.

On the hood, if you do a spot re-spray, it's unprofessional and you'll likely see the repaired spot in the future.

Proper method is to respray the entire hood.
 
What grit of paper did you use? If you did not break through the clear you can still probably have it polished to restore the shine. Find a professional detailer (look for someone on Autopia) and get their opinion.
 
what did you use to rub out the sanding marks? if you haven't polished them out then it will look significantly more dull then the rest of it.
 
CosminTX said:
i bet that very fine wetsand u use was ...1000 grit ?
Click to expand...



That was my thought too. I only say that because when I needed finer grits for wet-sanding headlights, I first looked at all of the local store and the finest I could find was 1500, but 1000 was pretty much as fine as I could find elsewhere. So "fine" to one person can be way too coarse for anyone else.
 
2010maxima- Welcome to Autopia!



Sorry to hear about your troubles...yeah, wetsanding really is something that people should approach DIYing kinda the same as, oh....minor surgery.



It's hard to say just how severe the issue is without pictures, and even then it can be tricky to tell over the internet.



If you got any pigment transfer (paint color) then yeah, you went all the way through the clear and you'll need professional work. Definitely the whole hood recleared but they can probably just "spot in" the basecoat if necessary.



And yeah, spotting in the whole repair isn't recommended (hey regulars, note that I posted that!)



If you did *NOT* really go through the clear, then maybe the spot can be compounded/polished and all will be well. But even then, you might have thinned the clear so much that it'll eventually fail. But you can worry about that down the road.



For now, if you can post pics it might be helpful. If you got basecoat color/pigment transfer when sanding/etc. then let us know; in that case you simply have to have the paintwork done, period.



And note what JPostal, CosminTX, and Leadfootluke are asking....about the grit of sandpaper. It's generally inadvisable for beginners to wetsand with anything coarser than 2000 grit (and I'd say 3000 or even 4000). But good 2000 or finer papers can be hard to find. And even 2000 grit sanding scratches can be incredibly difficult for the inexperienced to polish out. Unfortunate experiences like yours are why some of us are always :nono towards people who ask about wetsanding. It really is one of those "if you have to ask..." subjects, at least often enough that the whole topic makes some of us nervous.



Anyhow, I hope you get things sorted out and that you continue to visit Autopia. Lots of good info here to help you keep your Maxima looking great.
 
There is a chance that what you are seeing is where the sandpaper has dulled the clear coat. But it's just that... a *chance*. If that's the case, then a professional detailer might be able to polish that area and restore the clear coat's gloss, but only if there is sufficient clear coat remaining in that area. You would be *miles* ahead to get a pro detailer to look at it for you; don't do anything else yourself to try and fix it.



Wet sanding will leave an area that looks terrible (dull). It will also feel "strange". This is caused by the sanding marks (scratches) in the paint. The proper course after wet sanding is to use a polish and either a rotary buffer or DA to buff that area back to a high gloss.



If you haven't done both (wet sanding and buffing) a lot, it's best if you have it done by a detailer.
 
That's a bummer. We all have to learn some time how to do certain things but it's a shame that it had to be on your new ride. If you did indeed strike through the clear coat you will definitely need a repaint and most likely depending on where on the hood the damage is they may need to do some blending into either side fender or even both fenders as well as the bumper.



Go and get some estimates from some places but i'm going to guess that it will run nothing short of $500. Post a photo if you can in case it might so happen to be something that can be compounded out.
 
2010maxima said:
Hello,



I just got a 2010 Maxima. Well I went to wash my car today and noticed what looked like sap. So I got some Turtle bug and tar remover and used it several times on the spot with no luck. I had heard about wet sanding so I figured it would give it a try. What a mistake that was. Basically I had some very fine grit sand paper and some water. I sprayed the car and the paper to try and get the sap off and apparently I went too far. I now have a spot about the size of quarter on my hood that is down to the paint. It doesn't looked scratched, it just looks like the rest of the car just very dull and feels different to the touch. Do have to get whole hood repainted now? Please advise the best course of action here. Please help me!!! Have I ruined my new baby
Click to expand...



Have you attempted to buff this spot to come up with this conclusion? Sanded paint looks and feels different. As you sand the surface gets white and dull.



If you did sand through the clear, the most it should cost is $200-$250 for a professional body shop to repair this. If you post a pic it would greatly help us determine how bad this is.
 
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