What are your thoughts on wet sanding factory paint?

[AutowerxDetailing]

OEMs typically recommend to never remove more than .3 mils (>8 microns) of clear coat or else you will remove too much of the UV inhibitors that migrate to the top surface of the paint when it is cured. If you can wet sand a vehicle and only remove 8 microns of paint... good job. I'm not sure that would typically level all the orange peel on a panel, but it will probably at least smooth out most of the peaks to give the surface much crisper reflections.

The problem is that once you do this you can pretty much NEVER wet sand your vehicle again, or even resort to heavy compounding, without going past the OEM recommendations for CC removal. Even garage queens and show cars will need to be polished every few years to remove "love marks" from wiping down at shows, etc. Although, if the vehicle is typically stored inside the lack of UV inhibitors present in the CC is less of a problem. For daily drivers I would never recommend it. Just not worth it IMO.

[Mike Phillips]

I sometimes use rental cars for wet sandning classes...


For anyone not super up to speed on what wet sanding is all about and when and where to do it, check out this article as it should clear up most confusion...


Wetsanding - Fresh Paint vs Factory Paint


For the most part, if you plan on keeping a car with a factory finish then learn to live with the orange peel. Especially if you park the car outside a lot or all the time and live in an area of lots of sun.

If you do decide to do any type of wet sanding to knock down the peel and get that show car look in the reflections, (increase D.O.I.), then stick with sanding discs like 3M Trizact #5000 discs which you can use by hand or machine.

Here's a few articles on these discs...


Video: Wow! 3M #5000 Grit Polishing I mean Sanding Discs!

3™ Trizact™ Foam Discs 5000 FAQs

New Toy - #5000 Grit Trizact Foam Finishing Discs

[Mike lambert]

I have had new Honda vehicles in here with 2 mils of paint total! The gauges that tell you each layer have been known to have problems. So with the car makers putting less paint on cars total, it would make sense there is less clear. I don't want to own a new paint job down the road!

[Mike Honcho]

I sometimes use rental cars for wet sandning classes...

Okay... That's funny right there!!!