I have a white GTA. A couple of weeks ago someone was nice enough to steal my car cover off of it and then key it real nice like for me. I need help with going about the best way to make the paint look better than it is right now. The paint itself isnt in that bad of shape just has some small chips here and there and it looks like it could use some tlc. I already wetsanded some of the keymarks and got some of them almost completely out. For the deeper scratches I was planning on just building up layers of touch up paint in the scratches and wetsanding it to blend it in and then clear coat it and then wetsand the whole car. If I wetsand the whole car should I then go over it with rubbing compound then, polish and wax? Or is this the wrong way I should be going about this? I dont know much about body work im just guessing as what I think needs to be done. If I did wetsand the car is there a certain method i should use? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

You are correct to buff the whole car you would want to wet sand all of it, but be careful and not cut in to the base. how old is the paint? is it factory if it is factory I would start with 1500 to 2000 grit... if it is new paint you have more clear to work with and you can start with 1200 then go to 2000 after the wetsanding is done you will need to use a rubbing compound then a machine glaze. I use 3M™ Perfect-It™ III rubbing compound and machine glaze. here is a link to show you more about it

3M™ Perfect-It™ III Paint Finishing System

on that web site they use a DA sander with 1200 to 2000 grit sandpaper which is faster but you can use just sheets and water to do the same thing

they also have a 3rd step that I do not do. I just wetsand then use rubbing compound then use machine glaze and last wax it and it will look good as new

 

 

All that sounds good. And since it's white, you have a lot of freedom to work with. But if it's the factory paint, you may be better off just buffing it and not wetsanding it. Because the factory clear can be really thin (especially 20 years later) and you could very easily sand right through it.

 

yeah i accidentaly sanded through a small area of it already, as far as the scratches would it be best to just build up layers of paint to fill them in? They arent down to the metal but they are through the first few coats of paint.