My question is this, I don't really have money to get a brand new paint job anytime soon, but I am going to be getting a little bit of time on my hands. I have heard good things about wet sanding the paint of the car to bring back the original shine. Well my car is white, so I desperately want to do this to bring back the luster. I tried it with 1000 grit, and it made an immediate difference. However, from a certain angle, you can see where the sanding too place...kinda scruffy looking, but the color is soooo much better. I was thinking, could I do this with say 1500 or 2000 grit and not worry about the scruffy look but still bring back the luster? Or should I just get a buffer and try at that? I honestly know nothing about body work or paints so any info would be greatly appreciated. thanks guys

 

After wet sanding you need to do some buffing with buffing compound. That is what takes away the scratches from sanding & help bring out the color again. Then after compounding is the wax & polish. I'm pretty sure this is the procedure.

 

Yup you got it. I believe your actually supposed to just use 2000 grit... and then buff with polishing compounds. Watch the areas you do it on tho cause buffing can wipe your paint away clean. do a search on this and you should come up with some good posts....

 

Alright, thanks a lot guys. What type of buffing compound should I get? It's applied in two stages right? I've seen a little bit on buffing before but just want to make sure I get the right compounds and do it correctly.

 

I would recommend that if you have already wet sanded with 1000 grit paper that you would want to be very careful about sanding much more as your paint probably will very thin now, (less than 2mils) so go to the compound step with 3M's mild liquid compound. Buff with a foam compound pad using much care to buff with light to medium pressure as you can buff the paint off your car as stated in preceding post, then wax and polish. Just go slow and carefully and be very careful on the ridges. Sorry for the long post. Dave

 

Can't go wrong with "Perfect It 3" by 3M....that stuff is great! I wetsanded my car down with 2000 grit....and it worked great!

 

if its to just bring the luster out on old paint, i wouldnt even wet sand.

just use some good polishing compound.

 

Well I only sanded a few areas that were kinda dirty looking. I haven't done the whole car yet. That's why I was asking so I didn't screw anyting up by using 1000 grit instead of 2000. Would just polishing clean it up like the sanding does or would it just make it shine? I have quite a bit of caked on dirt/grime, grease and everything else so I want to make it look clean and shine. again, thanks for all the help!

 

not sure if polishing would do what you want it do to....a compund would....because it has a little "bite" in it (if you get the right stuff)...and will get alot of that off. Polish is very smooth...and makes things shine...so..I'm not sure if it will do what you want it to do.

 

rubbing compound is more agressive...

i learned this from messing with old cars... when bringing back paint, try polishing compound.. if that doesnt bring it back, then goto rubbing compound.


you shouldnt have to try to wetsand a old paint job.. theres just too big of a risk of going thru.



as for making the paint clean before you compound or sand the dirt into it.. get a clay bar.... its really easy to use.. you get a bucket, put a drop or two of dawn soap in it, and wash the car... then keeping the area wet with the MILDLY soapy water, rub the clay over it.... the embedded dirt and stuff lifts off and sticks in the clay.

 

Cool, I never thought about using a claybar to get all the stuff off. I honestly don't know how old the paint is on the car, but you can definitely tell in some places it's not the original paint so I dunno the probability of sanding through. I guess I'll try the claybar and if that doesn't work.....I'll just wet sand it. I just don't want to spend a whole lot of time polishing and waxing something that still looks kinda dirty to me...and the cool thing with the wet sanding I have found is that the different colors of white (since the paint isn't original and some body panels look to have been painted seperately) actually come together to make it appear as one color. Oh well...I'll give it a try either way.

 

the rubbing compound (and to a lesser extent, the polishing compound) also seem to "blend" them together..

i donno why though.

 

I was planning on doing this soon too. My paint is pretty nice but theres a few not so awsome areas... should I do rubbing compound on the bad and then polishing compound on the whole car? Its original paint so would it maybee be due for rubbing compound on the whole car?

 

noo.. you need to use the same compound across the entire car. or it will be spotty. i would just use the polishing compound because its less agressive.... i say LESS but it is still a compound, and it does eat the paint... jsut be careful. you dont want to burn thru, and you dont want to take off more paint then you absolutly need.

 

why dont u try using the clay bar...

 

just compund the car, no need to thin out old clear coat any more. trust me.

 

if you can find it, get some 3M tri-zact (sp?).......that stuff is the finest grit ive ever seen

 

3M tri-zact....where exactly can you find it? or where were you able to find it? Would it be feasable to sand the car down really well....not so much so that it goes through the paint, but enough to get rid of all the dirt, then prep it and shoot on another clear coat just to bring out the shine again? Then wax, polish and all that stuff? Just wondering...trying to get some ideas on how to waste my spring break time