Help with wet sanding

[detailjohn]

You can also dry sand it with a D.A. I usually use 1000-1500-2000. Wetsanding is definitely an art. Just make sure that you can polish every area that you sand. It's not worth polishing a tiny little area if you can't polish it out properly. Best of luck.


John

[RaskyR1]

Hey Dave, let me know and I can come by and show you or help you with wet sanding.

Very cool of you Dana!

I'd takes his Si out and do some burnouts in exchange though!


J/K Twisted!



I've been happy with the 3M Trizact sanding disks but I will also be trying out the Mirka Abralon system on a car next week....4000 grit should buff out like a breeze!

[Mike Phillips]

You can also dry sand it with a D.A. I usually use 1000-1500-2000. Wetsanding is definitely an art. Just make sure that you can polish every area that you sand. It's not worth polishing a tiny little area if you can't polish it out properly. Best of luck.


John

The Rule of Thumb

First, here's a tip when it comes to sanding paint by hand or machine...

Don't sand where you cannot safely machine compound.


The reason for this is because if you sand right up to an edge or up to a raised body line, it's difficult to run a buffing pad up to the end of your sanding marks and not buff on top of the body line or edge and risk burning through the topcoat.

Even if you're extremely careful it's all to easy to accidentally run the pad onto the edge and it only takes a few seconds to generate enough heat and abrasive sanding or cutting action to eat through the paint on a high point and expose the color coat, primer or even sheet metal underneath.

Remember paint will tend to be thinner on high points as wet paint, (when being sprayed), will flow off a little more than paint sprayed onto a flat panel.

So a good practice is to only sand where you can safely machine compound or another way of saying this is to not sand where you cannot safely machine compound.


The Rule of Thumb
The rule of thumb I use is with my thumb, mostly because I always have it with me.

I use the distance from the tip of my thumb to the end of my thumbnail, which I just measured and it's about 3/4 of an inch and that's about how far away I stay from edges and raised body lines when I sand by hand or machine.

Actually a 1/2" is a pretty good rule of thumb the bigger idea is to not sand paint where you cannot safely buff with a wool pad, a cutting compound with a rotary buffer.

This is a technique I teach in our wet-sanding classes to give students a simple method or a simple guideline they can use to know just how far to sand when sanding near a hard body line or the edge of a panel. This is a simple technique that works for me but feel free to come up with your own method.


How to sand right up to an edge and remove your sanding marks by hand
There is a fix for this now with M105 Ultimate Compound because it's aggressive enough you can easily remove sanding marks by hand if you're willing to put a little passion behind the pad.


From this thread... post #15

***Offline Today and Tomorrow***

Note: The blue line you see in the pictures below is vinyl tape applied over the top of a body line to make it easy to see and protect it.

Also took some pictures to show you can remove sanding marks by hand if you don't mind putting a little passion behind the pad...







This can come in real hand if you want to be extra careful around a raised body line, especially if it's not your car...

The Rule of Thumb

[DARK HORSE]

Hey Dave, let me know and I can come by and show you or help you with wet sanding.

When are you going to come by and help me out with some of my vehicles? (working on three currently).

[twistedframe]

Very cool of you Dana!

I'd takes his Si out and do some burnouts in exchange though!


J/K Twisted!



I've been happy with the 3M Trizact sanding disks but I will also be trying out the Mirka Abralon system on a car next week....4000 grit should buff out like a breeze!

LOL you guys can come abuse my Si anytime you want. It'll make it easier for me to convince myself to buy a new car!

I was looking that those 3m disks too Rasky, and will probably invest in some to get in some practice.