Wet sanding marks from body shop

[Fire0nic3]

I just had my 09 Infiniti FX in black repainted a few weeks ago. It has a ceramic clear coat from PPG per manufactures recommended refinishing products.

Anyways the paint job came out flawless. But even though the body shop paints good they don't wetsand very good. There is no orange peel in the clear but there is a lot of wet sanding marks that weren't removed.

They left a whole bunch of rotary buffer swirls and hazing in the paint. So I took out my PC 7424xp equipped with a yellow LC pad and Meguiars M105 on speed 5 and it removed ALL the rotary buffer swirls and hazing. But now im seeing these RIDS in the finish everywhere now that the finish is clear. They are in straight lines like swipe marks and from what I see these are wet sanding marks that weren't removed too well.

What should I do?? Do you think the bodyshop wet sanded the paint and just went straight to polishing without stepping up to a finer grit wetsand paper? I only have a PC buffer so I can't use a more powerful rotary to fix this. I was thinking about wet sanding those areas with like 3000-3500 grit wetsand paper then stepping up to a stronger pad like a surbuf pad or should I just continue using the LC yellow pad?

Thanks everyone!

[RoadRageDetail]

I was going to suggest taking it back to the bodyshop to fix it, but since you've already done work to the paint, they probably wouldn't help.

Sounds like they weren't washing their material often enough, clear that was being sanded built up the paper causing the random marks you're describing. I would try a stronger pad with 105 first before breaking out the sand paper but you're on the right track.

[A.P.A.D.]

do you have access to a rotary polisher and a wool pad?

[Flash Gordon]

You're going to need to resand the area that is jacked up using the crosshatch method

[master detailer]

lol take it back to the body shop .if its not to late if they see you have been working on it your fu--.

[Trey T]

If it's surface then they or you can fix it. However, if somebody decided (newbie mistake and rare) to sand the basecoat and then lay the clear, you need to bring it back and let them correct it.

[ShaunD]

If you don't have experience wet sanding/buffing, and you don't know exactly how much paint the body shop left after sanding/buffing, then I would take it back to them and talk it out.
Also, if your trying to remove defects like rotary swirls and sanding marks with the PC then you need to start on the 6 setting with just enough down force to not flex the panel. That said you probably would still have some RIDS with out knowing what they finished sanding with. Play it safe and easy and talk to the body shop that did the work, or lack of work for that matter.

[VP Mark]

3D makes a 5 inch wool pad that I use sometimes, it take longer on a DA obviously but might give you the cut you need to work down those sanding marks.

[RaskyR1]

Those are likely "tracers" from hand sanding. As Flash mentioned you can go back over them with finer grad of paper in a perpendicular direction, but if you have no experience in wet sanding, I would advise against it.

You're going to need to resand the area that is jacked up using the crosshatch method

[Mike Phillips]

I just had my 09 Infiniti FX in black repainted a few weeks ago. It has a ceramic clear coat from PPG per manufactures recommended refinishing products.

Read this...

Ceramiclear Paints - Be Careful





[quote=Fire0nic3;746062]


Anyways the paint job came out flawless. But even though the body shop paints good they don't wetsand very good. There is no orange peel in the clear but there is a lot of wet sanding marks that weren't removed.

They left a whole bunch of rotary buffer swirls and hazing in the paint.

Sounds like the paint job didn't come out flawless.

Doesn't matter if you have the greatest painter in the world paint your car, the end results come down to the person that does the wetsanding, cutting and buffing.

And how good a job they do comes down to,

• The quality of their finishing papers
• The compounds and polishes they use
• The pads they use
• Their skill, technique, experience and passion for the craft
• Time given to do the work

So I took out my PC 7424xp equipped with a yellow LC pad and Meguiars M105 on speed 5 and it removed ALL the rotary buffer swirls and hazing. But now im seeing these RIDS in the finish everywhere now that the finish is clear. They are in straight lines like swipe marks and from what I see these are wet sanding marks that weren't removed too well.

Like other's said, these are not RIDS but Tracers...

Pictures and definitions here,

Tracers Tracers - RIDS - Pigtails - Cobweb Swirls - Rotary Buffer Swirls - Holograms - Water Spots - Bird Drooping Etchings - Micro-Marring

What should I do?? Do you think the bodyshop wet sanded the paint and just went straight to polishing without stepping up to a finer grit wetsand paper?

Wetsanding and leaving a flawless finish is a craft and an art form when done with passion. At a body shop, you're not going to get show car work unless you're paying extra for it. Keep in mind, most people would never see the swirls and tracers you're seeing, they would assume the swirls were normal.


See this article,

The difference between a swirl and squirrel

I only have a PC buffer so I can't use a more powerful rotary to fix this. I was thinking about wet sanding those areas with like 3000-3500 grit wetsand paper then stepping up to a stronger pad like a surbuf pad or should I just continue using the LC yellow pad?

Thanks everyone!

If the body shop refinished using a Ceramiclear paint then read my article I posted above.

Like others have said, be wary about doing this yourself if you've never sanded and buffed out sanding marks.

Here's what I always say about this topic...


Sanding is the easy part, that's putting scratches into the paint, the tricky part is getting them out...

The problem with taking it back to the body shop is that if they couldn't do the job right the first time chances are very likely they cannot do it right the second time...

See what I wrote in post #17 of this thread...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...orrendous.html