How to wetsand to remove orange peel

[Rsurfer]

Thanks Mike. Is it worth the extra bucks rather than using 3M paper?

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks Mike. Is it worth the extra bucks rather than using 3M paper?

In my opinion and experience the answer is "yes".

Paint is thin, you don't have much to work with. The Unigrit technology used to make the Nikken "finishing" papers, (not sanding papers), removes paint more evenly and leaves a scratch pattern that is more equal in depth. This means you will remove the sanding mark pattern faster, with less heat generated and leave more paint on the car.

I wouldn't hand sand a car again unless I had to since now days we have sanding discs for machine sanding.

If I HAD to hand sand for some reason my first choice would be Nikken Finishing Papers. I hand sanded before sanding discs were invented.... been there, done that.



The below is an excerpt from this thread, note the year is 1999. This is where I first met Chip Foose and worked on his car 0032 and also met Christopher Titus and then hung out all weekend with these guys. That was a blast.


Scrape, Terry Cook, Chip Foose, Christoper Titus and the Titanic


A few months later Terry Cook brought me to Southern California to buff out and prepare Scrape for the Monterey Auction where Scrape sold at the Monterey Auction in 1999 for a record.$275,000


While I was down there, I also did the wetsand, cut and buffed on one of Terry's other creations, The Titanic.

Hand Sanding the Liberace Lavender Paint on the Titanic




When I arrived in Monterey, they had the Titanic set-up in the 3rd floor of a 4 floor parking garage and all I had for lighting were the overhead florescent tubes. Not what you would call an optimum setting for wetsanding a car that's 20 feet long with case-hardened clear coat paint.









See the circle on the front fender? This is called a TEST SPOT in 1999.





Back then we didn't have all the cool tools we have now for machine sanding nor the abrasive technology now available in aggressive cutting compounds. It's sure a lot easier to sand down paint and buff it out then it was back then.




Test Spot - The story behind the story...

[MitchLiving]

Mike, please tell me that thing was able to drive on water too???? And I will also assume you got paid about what the car was worth to do that job... that is a HUGE car... WOW!!!

[MitchLiving]

[/QUOTE]

Thanks Mike. Is it worth the extra bucks rather than using 3M paper?

I don't have much experience with all the types of sand paper but I am now using Meg's sand paper with great results. I am positive that other sand papers have this Pro's and Con's but if your not carful it don't matter what sand paper you use... you can damage your paint.

My recent work, I will end up doing the whole car which I will post.

[JustJesus]

As much as you can. I'd aim for $50.00 to $60.00 an hour minimum and up to $80.00 per hour would be fair as long as you're working hard and fast as you can and also work safely.

This is good to know. I know I've been charging way cheap for my work, and having a Pro Level Master Dude like yourself post this helps me out. I can point to this and show that my own rates are not crazy.

I timed myself to wetsand, cut and buff a car and actually made a time-lapse video of the process. It took me approximately 12 from start to finish and I would NEVER recommend anyone trying to do this job this fast. I had to as I didn't have any more time to use for this project.
Here's the link to that video and I also share my process that you could follow for this car.

How to wet sand a car - Time Lapse Video

Not sure how I ran into that video late last week(?) but thought it was such a neat video. And I was amazed at how you did all that work in that amount of time!

I don't know if anything I wrote above is actually going to help.

It very much helps!!! I am working on a 76 Porsche that was recently disassembled, sandblasted, and painted with PPG (the hard stuff). I've been giving the task of making it pretty and removing the defects left behind by the painter, and there was some pretty nasty stuff! Another guy heard about this Porsche I'm working on, and is considering me for his own restoration (2nd gen CRX that was also disassembled and resprayed) and is looking at wet sanding on his (I'm not wet sanding the Porsche)

Your other thread, on single stage oxidation, also helped me on a job I just turned over yesterday. A 1967 VW Beetle that was pretty dry and oxidized. I used M07 to bring back some love. I'll post a thread on that soon enough.

THANKS MIKE!!!

[Hoytman]

Mike,

From this photo...



...am I safe in assuming that when you start sanding on the sides like this that start from the bottom and work your way to the top of the fenders/doors?

I've never taken on anything like this, but bottom to top seems logical to me so that you don't have sanding residue running onto areas still needing sanding.

[MitchLiving]

Hello everyone, Just wanted to check in with what I have started.

Started sanding with 1500 Grit then 2000 grit to smooth it out.
I used Meg's Microfiber and D300 to polish out the paint and a GGC polisher.

A lot of if came out mirror fresh, some spots I will have to go back over since I ran short on time I only did one pass on the panels with the polisher.

Here are the results so far.
Orange peel no sanding


Sanded with 1500 grit, you can still see all the highs and lows.

Sanded until the panel was uniform and followed up with 2000 grit...

Polished panel with GGC 5" M/F pad and D300 pink cutting compound.


Thanks for all following, and question or suggesting please feel free to leave them here. Always look for feed back.