Bodyshop sanding technique when using clay mitts to decontaminate paint during the washing step

Bodyshop sanding technique when using clay mitts to decontaminate paint during the washing step


Here's an old body shop technique I used while washing this old 2-door Dodge that I thought I would share...


Part of the reason I had to wash the car was the vinyl top was filthy with years of built-up dirt embedded into the grain of the vinyl. Also the tires had a real junky tire dressing on them that was just a gooey mess. Besides that, the paint felt rough when I did the Baggie Test so I needed to clay the paint before machine buffing.

Normally I don't wash classic car or muscle cars as a professional courtesy to the owner. In this case, the owner says he drives this car in the rain. It rains a lot in Florida, and I guess this would be his "Rain Car" as compared to the rest of his muscle car collection, which he doesn't drive in the rain. So I figure if he drives this car in the rain then I'm not going to cause any harm by washing it. So I washed it to tackle 4 things at one time.

1: Clean the wheels and tires.

2: Clean the vinyl top.

3: Clean the car.

4: Chemically and mechanically decontaminate the paint.


That brings me to this old school body shop technique. Normally I use a foam gun when I want to use a clay mitt or clay towel to mechanically decontaminate paint. This time though, because I already had a bucket mixed up with the new coating wash I wasn't using a foam gun.

So AFTER washing and rinsing off the car I dipped my wash mitt into the sudsy soap and then squeezed it onto body panels and then used the soap water run-off as my lubricant for the clay mitt.

Like this,


http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../BSTech_01.JPG

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../BSTech_02.JPG

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../BSTech_03.JPG


At a body shop, technicians do something similar when sanding guide coats or even wetsanding orange peel after the car is painted. They usually stick a rag into a bucket of soapy water and squeeze it over a vertical panel as they sand and the water running down the panel acts to lubricate the surface and flush away paint that has been sanded off.



Normally I use a foam gun but this technique works too....



:)

I thought this was going to involve the x pattern block sanding technique for better contamination removal.

Handy tip for reduced clay marring though.

I once wet sanded an entire 38 Chevy using a a similar technique,,for some reason the clear wouldn't lay smooth on it.,,,this of course was after I spent 3 or 4 days sanding the primer coats by hand,,I had a tad bit of a rubber arm for couple days later :D

Nice. I do the same thing essentially as soapy water is my choice of lubricant when using a nano mitt or sponge. The only time I use w.g. uber as my lube is during the winter.

Working smarter ... Not harder.

great tip Mike