Scared that I may have burnt through clear coat compounding by hand

That seems like it could easily be the better part of 1000 USD. Oh boy :(

This was probably the worst panel I could have damaged... Look at how massive it is:
YouTube

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Originally Posted by Dr Oldz

I see some comments here about burning thru while hand polishing being “hard to do”. I feel the complete opposite. When hand polishing, you can exert a lot of force on a very small area.

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Jim, I thought the same thing.

Just a little update for anyone who is interested:

I went to 4 or 5 body shops in the area. Quotes were somewhat comparable, from 600 to 1000.

One shop wanted to blend into the trunk, the rest thought it would be fine without blending (although it is a tri-coat blue).

The area is getting re-colored, the rest of the panel (rear quarter + rocker panel + sail panel) are getting sanded and recleared. Rear quarter glass, roof molding, and door window weather strip are all being removed. New clear coat will stop at the door jamb (hopefully they do a good job masking).

This ended up being a body shop affiliated with a Subaru dealership (although Subaru is not paying). Chose them because they were patient in terms of answering me in terms of what trims were to be removed. They did a good job matching the eternal blue mica on my friend's Mazda 3 (although I noticed a few dust nibs in my friend's paint job as well as one uneven spot in the paint on a brand new door panel that they completely finished). They know that I am very particular on the details so here is to hoping that they will do a good job!

Thanks for the update.

Good luck with the repaint!

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Originally Posted by dcjredline

Id be really surprised if UC by hand you could burn through your clear coat. I cant tell very well from the pics though.

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Give me a mf towel and UC wrapped around two fingers and I guarantee you that I can burn through your clear. Remember UC is a non diminishing abrasive.

a few nibs isn't really much to worry about,,brand new Vettes have dirt in the paint here and there.

as long as it doesn't look like it was painted at the beach on a windy day that is,,one of my pet peeves when I see body shop cars is dry spray in one area and runs in another on the same car,,I mean really???

the others is tons of dirt and hairs and other stuff in the clear,,, or worse the color.

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Originally Posted by PaulMys

Thanks for the update.

Good luck with the repaint!

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Originally Posted by Farmallluvr

a few nibs isn't really much to worry about,,brand new Vettes have dirt in the paint here and there.

as long as it doesn't look like it was painted at the beach on a windy day that is,,one of my pet peeves when I see body shop cars is dry spray in one area and runs in another on the same car,,I mean really???

the others is tons of dirt and hairs and other stuff in the clear,,, or worse the color.

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Thanks! It's fairly common for body shops to have to denib after the clear is applied and hardened somewhat, yes?

The other side of my friend's Mazda 3 was also not in that great of a condition (unrelated to the accident and hence not covered by insurance.) Hopefully seeing how new the rest of my car is and how many annoying questions I threw at them they would take the effort to denib as much as possible.

This is a fairly large outfit and they do have a proper paint booth as far I could tel..

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Originally Posted by TheRealBFKR

Thanks! It's fairly common for body shops to have to denib after the clear is applied and hardened somewhat, yes?
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yea,,that was my job for a couple of years,I had a little 3m nibbing tool that these little sticks with 1500,2000 or 2500 on the end and it worked great,I nib a car down a lot less time that with paper by hand ,,usually somewhere between 12 and 24 hours after it was baked in the booth.

I can't remember what clear he used but it sanded and buffed very nicely ,,not like what we use where I work now,,that stuff sands and buffs like granite,,I hate it but I only occasionally have to deal with it now

Thanks! Just wondering, for a $800 job. Is it reasonable for the orange peel to be somewhat matched to the factory amount of orange peel? I am not looking for 100% restoration, but it would be nice if the difference in texture at least doesn't jump out.

Factory peel is hard to match,way to much difference in the 2 systems but some painters can get it close.

A painter once told me he can vary his orange peel appearance on mixture of paint and speed and distance of application.
Not sure if he really blowing smoke but his paint jobs were always spot on,,and clean