Little wet sanding project today

[dcjredline]

This weekend I have a 2004 Toyota Camry from my dealer friend to get sale ready.

The trunk was extra bad

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1546/02010.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/100963)

I asked him if he would like me to wet sand and polish it for him instead of just AIO like the rest of his cars and hopefully that would take enough of the scratches out then he wouldn't have to paint it.

He said "You can do that too"?

YEP

Sanded it down with some 1500, then 2500 going light since I do not have a PTG.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1546/020a.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/100964)

Next step was some Menzerna FG400 and just as mcate suggested it finished down GREAT!

50/50

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1546/021a.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/100966)

I would call it about 75% corrected. It looks 100 times better but there are still scratches visible. I can't wait to see his face Monday when he picks it up.



:buffing:




:buffing:





:buffing:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1546/020b.JPG (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/100965)

[Paul A.]

Wow, what a difference!

[asianisafish]

I have some scratches on my car from my sports bag hitting it :(. Maybe I'll be fierce enough to wetsand it. Can you please tell me which sandpaper you used and pads and compound? Thanks in advance

[dcjredline]

Thanks guys

I used the Nikken paper (Meguiar's Unigrit)
Meguiars Unigrit Sand Paper (http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-unigrit-sandpaper.html)

And wrapped it around this sanding pad
Meguiars Sanding Pad, wet-sanding pad, Meguiars sandpaper pad (http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-sanding-pad.html)

I have not used them but you could try this to eliminate the need for the 2 different pieces. I personally like the paper wrap that I use.
Meguiars Unigrit Sanding Blocks (http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-unigrit-sanding-block.html)

As stated above I used Menzerna FG400 but forgot to mention I used a Lake Country flat Yellow pad.

[Sicoupe]

You nailed it! Wish I had the confidence to do that:)

[asianisafish]

Thanks for the help! Do you think it would be safe to use some wet/dry sandpaper I have laying in the garage? It's not specific to cars or anything. Just generic sandpaper I guess, it's 2000 2500 and 3000, do you think it's okay to use them or should I just get the megs unigrits

[2black1s]

I've got a question for you guys... I've seen many threads here on this forum with these 50/50 shots like the one here where you buff right up to a tape edge. So here's the question. Have you ever seen ghost lines in the finished product at the edge of the tape line? That would be a major concern to me and I can't ever imagine polishing up to a tape edge like that.

[dcjredline]

asianisafish - You can use any wet sandpaper. Lotsa water and I always use some kind of soap. What I did was just pour my wash bucket into a smaller bucket and let the paper soak for about 5-10 min before sanding. Make sure the surface is WET while working.

2black1s - I can see where your concern is coming from. The only way you would/should have the ghost line is if you didnt polish the non-polished area as well as the polished area. I also overlap into the previously polished area about one pad width just to make sure.

[AGOatemywallet]

Who trained you to wet sand?

You should never wetsand without a paint thickness gauge

What was the discussion before you tore into the trunk? Hey, I might blast thru your clear coat and it will cost $400 to re-paint it...go for it?

I can see from your photos that the area was improperly sanded

If you sanded with 1500 & 2500 the original scratches should not be visible

After 1500 grit, the scratches you are removing should not be visible

You should only see sanding marks in the direction of the last grit of paper you used

The UniGrit sanding blocks are tiny and totally flat. Great tool, but not designed for this application

5 minutes is inadequate soak time for papers

Don't ever wet sand up to a tape line. You. Can get away with it on a compound/polish...of you try it on a wet sand or even CarPro Denim; you will regret it

[dcjredline]

You nailed it! Wish I had the confidence to do that:)

Thanks man!!

[dcjredline]

IMO you are stepping over your bounds doubting me so much and not knowing anything about the situation and being so accusatory. But you did ask some questions so I will try and answer them,


Who trained you to wet sand? Do you want his NAME? Like you would know them anyway.

You should never wetsand without a paint thickness gauge I just did and body shops alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llll over the world do every day.

What was the discussion before you tore into the trunk? Hey, I might blast thru your clear coat and it will cost $400 to re-paint it...go for it? The discussion was HIM "Im going to re-spray that trunk if the AIO you usually use doesnt do a good enough job" ME "It most likely will not, but I could try to wet sand and compound it" HIM "OK, if not I will repaint it anyway"

I can see from your photos that the area was improperly sanded And who are you? What makes you the expert?

If you sanded with 1500 & 2500 the original scratches should not be visible It was not sanded very hard or very much. As I said I dont have a PTG and didnt want to go though the CC. We also were not going for 100% we were going for BETTER

After 1500 grit, the scratches you are removing should not be visible See above

You should only see sanding marks in the direction of the last grit of paper you used Far as I can see the only marks that are on the trunk are in the cross from pass rear to drivers front which is the last direction I sanded.

The UniGrit sanding blocks are tiny and totally flat. Great tool, but not designed for this application you obviously have some problem with me for some unknown reason...I told him I HAVE NEVER USED THEM and maybe he could TRY them so that should qualify it didn't you read the doubt in my wording of that sentence? I didn't say buy those they are the best and will do everything you need for sure.

5 minutes is inadequate soak time for papers Semantics. I said 5 or 10. They don't need to be soaked for 30 minutes

Don't ever wet sand up to a tape line. You. Can get away with it on a compound/polish...of you try it on a wet sand or even CarPro Denim; you will regret it AGAIN this is proof that you just jumped on my post with some ill intent without reading. NO ONE SAID TO WET SAND UP TO A TAPE LINE, we were talking about the POLISHING step. If you saw the pic I posted the whole trunk was sanded THEN I polished it up to a tape line. He noticed alot of 50/50 shots on the forum where there was a tape line.




You obviously know some things but your delivery is something to work on. Thanks for the comments anyway

[kevincwelch]

Dude, calm down.

I think AGOatemywallet brings up a lot of very valid points there. I didn't see his delivery as being acerbic in any way.

There are probably many people who will see what you did and perhaps think, "hey, I can do that too!" and then tear through the clearcoat.

Maybe people "allllllllllllllllllllllllllll" over the world do it without a PTG, but that doesn't mean it is safe or recommended.

And although your photos look great and it does look better, you show no closeups of the paint, and maybe the clearcoat is only microns thin now.

Lighten up. Not everyone is going to agree with you, and despite a self proclamation of expertise, you might not be as expert as others.

[2black1s]

Everybody! There's more than one way to skin a cat. Just because another does something a little different than you would have done it doesn't make it necessarily wrong. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the OPs process given the circumstances. The only concern I would have is polishing up to a hard tape edge as I mentioned earlier. Can you get away with doing so? Probably yes in many cases, as evidenced by the multitudes of similar shots throughout this forum. Still, as a "best practice" for myself, it's not something I would do or recommend. But that's just me.

[Kamakaz1961]

Nice work! Big difference from before!

[Vue to a kill]

I'm just gonna say.....


Nice job, Don! 😃 A 75 % improvement was worth it IMO. Especially if he was going to have it repainted anyway. :dblthumb2: