White marks after wet sanding with 2000 grit (I think I burned my paint)

[Honda Enthusiast]

Dear all,

I am new to this wonderful forum, and also new to car detailing, I detailed a couple of cars with hard paint but first time to work on my wife's Honda Accord. I was sanding a bird drooping on the hood, with 2000 grid with plans to do one pass with 3000 then compound then polish.

I always use 3M sanding papers, however this time I used a product called from auto zone (Finish 1st mini block as seen in the picture, I used the 2000 grid verison), what I liked about it, the block was very small to tackle tiny areas instead of sanding larger areas. I sanded for only 2 minutes only, then found this white spot on the paint. THE SANDPAPER WAS COMPLETELY TORN (SEE THE PICTURE). I didn't use a paint thickness gauge. it was the factory original paint, and I wasn't going to go deeper. I believe I made a mistake by not using a paint thickness gauge and purchasing unknown sanding brand.

Any help or suggestions to repair this spot. I don't want to repaint the whole hood. Thank you in advance.

[Rsurfer]

Dear all,

I am new to this wonderful forum, and also new to car detailing, I detailed a couple of cars with hard paint but first time to work on my wife's Honda Accord. I was sanding a bird drooping on the hood, with 2000 grid with plans to do one pass with 3000 then compound then polish.

I always use 3M sanding papers, however this time I used a product called from auto zone (Finish 1st mini block as seen in the picture, I used the 2000 grid verison), what I liked about it, the block was very small to tackle tiny areas instead of sanding larger areas. I sanded for only 2 minutes only, then found this white spot on the paint. THE SANDPAPER WAS COMPLETELY TORN (SEE THE PICTURE). I didn't use a paint thickness gauge. it was the factory original paint, and I wasn't going to go deeper. I believe I made a mistake by not using a paint thickness gauge and purchasing unknown sanding brand.

Any help or suggestions to repair this spot. I don't want to repaint the whole hood. Thank you in advance.

Another burn through thread:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...t-sanding.html

[Honda Enthusiast]

thanks for the link, what should be the next step now? I used only 2000 grid for just 1 minute. I used plenty of water but I did around 1 pm, I think the coat temperature was too high. I have no idea what is the LSP mentioned in the other thread and how to apply it ?

Thanks again

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

What was your sanding process that resulted in your sandpaper being torn up like that? Yes, generally doing anything like that in direct sunlight especially on dark paint is the least desirable way of doing it. Japanese paints are generally on the thin side, and starting with 2000 grit is way overkill IMHO. 3000 or even 5000 would have been better. Or, trying some polish or compound first, just to see if it would get the bird dropping mark out.

When you have small spots like that to sand, you can just tear off a small piece of paper and use your finger as the backing plate. You get excellent control over the pressure and sanding area size.

[Honda Enthusiast]

I figured out what happened, the velcro system failed and the sandpaper was torn off from the velcro, and I didn't realize that until late. I guess was sanding directly with the velcro attachment of the handle, I can see white material in the velcro of the sanding block. finish 1st brand from auto zone (useless). I sanded other parts with 3m 1500 grit and a transitional 3m sanding block and nothing happened. I choose this system because of it is small size. stay away from the brand folks, I will through it away.

[Honda Enthusiast]

this system is for around 6 $ with 2000, 2500 and 3000 micro sanding sheets.

[Crispy]

Best bet is least aggressive method first.

Why would you sand first?

That is what likely caused the problem.

That little tool pictured puts a ton of force on the sandpaper.

The grit was 2000 sandpaper plus bird poo = 120 grit.

You ground the paint with 120 grit, that is what happened.

Can't fix burn except repaint.

Next time clean bird poo correctly and then if you have etching polish first.

If more agression needed compound.

If still more wet, sand with 300 grit Trizact paper, compound and polish out.

[Honda Enthusiast]

Best bet is least aggressive method first.

Why would you sand first?

That is what likely caused the problem.

That little tool pictured puts a ton of force on the sandpaper.

The grit was 2000 sandpaper plus bird poo = 120 grit.

You ground the paint with 120 grit, that is what happened.

Can't fix burn except repaint.

Next time clean bird poo correctly and then if you have etching polish first.

If more agression needed compound.

If still more wet, sand with 300 grit Trizact paper, compound and polish out.

Thanks sir, I tried to compound first using meguairs ultimate compound and an orange pad from CC. that didn't work, then I jumped to 2000 grit sand, you are right I think I should have gone with the 3000 grit first. in addition that little tool made a huge force on a small area of sanding plus the failure of velcro. thanks for your advice. I went to a body shop today, he told me he have to repaint the whole hood. is that right ?? or he can paint this part only, I saw videos on youtube people painting only a small portion of a panel and looks good, but as always picture is not like real life, any opinions? also it is my wife's car, she will kill me (lol)

[Crispy]

A good body shop can fix for ?

The spot painting is small but they have to clear the whole panel.

I get my whole hood painted for $500.00.

[2black1s]

One other point if you ever try something like this again... When sanding on a small area like that, one or two minutes of sanding is way too much. You should be sanding in increments of a few seconds and constantly be checking your progress before proceeding with continued sanding.