wet sanding help?

**RLucky82** · 01-13-2013, 07:25 AM

reading through all of these wonderful articles is making my head spin and I am having difficulty addressing my specific problem.

Im having trouble removing these scratches , i resulted to wet sanding but created different scratches of lesser value using, 1500, 2000 then 3000 grit followed by severe swirl remover + green pad , swirl and haze remover + orange, white Adams polish. Is M105 more aggressive then Adam's green severe swirl and haze remover?
or do I just need to find better technique?

the scratches in the pictures are after I did 3 applications with severe swirl remover before moving on. So I decided since there are plenty of rock chips and more scratches that if I mess up with wet sanding it wont be the end of the world. After I used 1500, 2000, 3000 grit wet paper I still have similar roughness as what is seen in the top picture. I am using the Porter Cable to buff.

Thanks

**mwoolfso** · 01-13-2013, 07:43 AM

Heavy swirl remover with a green pad seems like an unbalanced pair to use. Heavy swirl remover with a cutting pad is what you need in your process.

Looks to me like you sanded by hand based on striations in the first pic. If that is indeed the case you would need to sand down some more, preferably with a DA rather than by hand. If you have to do it by hand then you need to apply more pressure and perform each pass in alternating directions.

Until those scratch marks are reduced more or eliminated, there is little reason to go to a compound or polish.

I assume you know the tradeoffs to sanding down the paint so much so I won't go into it.

**cgreen1120** · 01-13-2013, 07:43 AM

Do you have M105 and a yellow pad? If so then I would step up to that then step down to swirl remover with a orange pad and finally a glaze with a white pad.

**davidc** · 01-13-2013, 09:06 AM

When ever I wet sand I start with a rotary and a wool pad and usually 3M's heavy cutting compound (ie:rocks in a bottle). That combination gets me 95% of the way in a minimum amount of time. Then if needed you can go to a DA. If your going to use a DA for the whole process it will take a lot longer with assorted pads and compounds.

Dave

**BobbyG** · 01-13-2013, 09:23 AM

Due to film thickness these days it's sometimes impossible to completely remove a defect without breaking through the clear. When this situation presents itself the goal is to "improve" the defect and make it much less noticeable...

Be careful.....

**davidc** · 01-13-2013, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by BobbyG

Due to film thickness these days it's sometimes impossible to completely remove a defect without breaking through the clear. When this situation presents itself the goal is to "improve" the defect and make it much less noticeable...

Be careful.....

What Bobby said is very true. Once you break though there is no going back. Unfortunately no one can tell you the thickness of your coatings. You can buy some meters that give you overall readings but you would have to find a spot that does not have clear on it to guesstimate the different readings and it would still be a guess. Under the hood or in the trunk may be like this but then you have to assume the primer and color is all the same thickness. If you take the readings before you start and during the process at least you would know how much your removing. Whether that helps or not I do not know.

Dave

**Pureshine** · 01-13-2013, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by davidc

What Bobby said is very true. Once you break though there is no going back. Unfortunately no one can tell you the thickness of your coatings. You can buy some meters that give you overall readings but you would have to find a spot that does not have clear on it to guesstimate the different readings and it would still be a guess. Under the hood or in the trunk may be like this but then you have to assume the primer and color is all the same thickness. If you take the readings before you start and during the process at least you would know how much your removing. Whether that helps or not I do not know.

Dave

+2

**Pinpoint_Precision** · 01-13-2013, 01:50 PM

+3. Just be very careful when you do it.

**FUNX650** · 01-13-2013, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by mwoolfso

Heavy swirl remover with a green pad seems like an unbalanced pair to use. Heavy swirl remover with a cutting pad is what you need in your process.

Looks to me like you sanded by hand based on striations in the first pic. If that is indeed the case you would need to sand down some more, preferably with a DA rather than by hand. If you have to do it by hand then you need to apply more pressure and perform each pass in alternating directions.

Until those scratch marks are reduced more or eliminated, there is little reason to go to a compound or polish.

I assume you know the tradeoffs to sanding down the paint so much so I won't go into it.

....^^^

^^^....

Bob

**RLucky82** · 01-13-2013, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by mwoolfso

Looks to me like you sanded by hand based on striations in the first pic. If that is indeed the case you would need to sand down some more, preferably with a DA rather than by hand. If you have to do it by hand then you need to apply more pressure and perform each pass in alternating directions. OK this is the information I was looking for, Thanks.

Until those scratch marks are reduced more or eliminated, there is little reason to go to a compound or polish. at first I was going to live with them but ocd took over. The first pic is how the paint was when I got the car. I tried hand sanding another part of the hood but made similar scratches.

I assume you know the tradeoffs to sanding down the paint so much so I won't go into it.

Yes I am aware, there are many rock chips that need repaired so a repaint is not a big deal. If I get the scratches out I will live with the chips. Or Until I build a garage with a paint booth ... :-)
Adams heavy swirl remover with Adams green pad is correct combination. sorry for the confusion.