Wet sanding Lets talk!

[ayabrego]

Well I have been happy with my paint but I feel like it can look alot better! I really want to take on the job of wet sanding my car but didn't find anything when searching this forum. Has anyone attempted to do this with the car if so how satisfied were you? Any tutorials I really need to read up on this.

Thanks in advance!


The car is black by the way.

 

[Seer]

It'll be difficult with your car, since it has a softer clear. The '11's got a rock hard one. So Unless you have access to a paint micronometer, I recommend you don't even try this as Ford likes to slap the clear coat on really thin on the Pre 2011's. Personally, I'd recommend you go buy a junkyard 2005-2009 Mustang panel and try on that first. I put 60+ hours into my entire's car process, and it came out beautifully. I think my thread is still on the front page in the Keeping it Clean section.

So proceed with caution. I wet sanded my 11 GT and it came out beautifully, but without a quality repaint the orange peel will always be there. All you can do is minimize it.

As far as the process goes. Use:

1500 Grit for the initial cut
2000 grit to remove the marring
2500 grit to finish
3000 grit as well, just in case

As far as sanding technique is concerned, sand in the direction the car was sprayed. So on panels facing the sky it is typically always a nose to tail motion. On panels facing the side (doors/fenders/quarters) It is the same process, never up and down.

Get some good sanding blocks too, itll help. Nikken brand paper is my preference.

Then go over with a DA to finish, I'd try a polishing pad first, then go to a jeweling pad.

But you may need to go for a compounding pad depending how harsh the marring you incuded from wet sanding. Then you can try and go right to a light polishing/jeweling pad with a strong finishing polish, like Menzerna Power Finish (I prefer this greatly over Megs #205 as it works a lot better IMO).

 

[DKS]

I'd suggest going over it with M105 then M205 and calling it a day. Like Seer said, the clear on these cars is pretty shitty. I'd be scared to do it on one myself. I hit some of the panels that were painted on mine, but not the entire car for just that reason.

If you go through the clear, you're screwed.

 

[Seer]

I'd suggest going over it with M105 then M205 and calling it a day. Like Seer said, the clear on these cars is pretty shitty. I'd be scared to do it on one myself. I hit some of the panels that were painted on mine, but not the entire car for just that reason.

If you go through the clear, you're screwed.

Menzerna SIP PO83 and Power Finish Only combo you'll ever need!

 

[chutoyy]

I've wet-sanded a 2010.... it's pretty easy; problem is I don't have a paint micrometer... oh well.

I used a rotary and Meg's Ultimate Compound, but I'll second the Menzerna recommendation. :]

A few pics.

 

[Seer]

what splitter is that, looks CF almost.

 

[Lee's05GT]

I had mine wet sanded after I took my strips off my car bc I was to the point to having the whole car repainted because you could see where the paint was faded, so the guy i went to get it repainted asked if i tired to wet sand and he ended up doing the whole car for $125 and you couldnt tell there were stripes on it.

 

[Seer]

Just because you can wet sand a car with a soft clear or a low micron count, doesn't mean you should. 85% of a CC's UV protection is in it's upper percent range/layers.

Recent years, Ford has had been known to have the best factory paint for American cars, they are still many years behind some foreign makes.

 

[ayabrego]

I was worried abou that...

Now im scared to do it. Man but i can only imagine how much nicer the car could look!

-Aaron

 

[19COBRA93]

I personally would prefer to keep the thick clear (I use that term lightly), and slight orange peel so that as the paint ages over the years and gets surface scratches and blemeshes, it gives me the ability to cut and buff it later on (although as history has proven, I don't keep cars long enough for this to work out).

Although I wouldn't mind going over mine with a 2500/3000 just to take a little of the edge off.

 

[bigwilly43729]

Couple of questions:

When you wet sand the car, do you end up re-spraying the clear, or are you just cutting through a little bit of it and re-polishing the car?

Obviously, it has good results, but why exactly would one want to do this? And how would you know if you should do it?

 

[19COBRA93]

Couple of questions:

When you wet sand the car, do you end up re-spraying the clear, or are you just cutting through a little bit of it and re-polishing the car?

Obviously, it has good results, but why exactly would one want to do this? And how would you know if you should do it?

You're just cutting some of the clear and repolishing it. No respraying.

You'd want to do this if you have imperfections in the clear, or there is too much orange peel. Aside from that, you'd probably not want to do it.

 

[bigwilly43729]

You're just cutting some of the clear and repolishing it. No respraying.

You'd want to do this if you have imperfections in the clear, or there is too much orange peel. Aside from that, you'd probably not want to do it.

Cool, thanks.

 

[mpf]

I've wet-sanded a 2010.... it's pretty easy; problem is I don't have a paint micrometer... oh well.

Damn, that came out great.

 

[chutoyy]

Well... It should be fine if you keep up w/ maintenance... weekly washes/waxes and applying sealants every so often or if your car isn't daily driven.

Seer, were you referring to my sig?

 

[Seer]

Well... It should be fine if you keep up w/ maintenance... weekly washes/waxes and applying sealants every so often or if your car isn't daily driven.

Seer, were you referring to my sig?

yes

 

[chutoyy]

It's a TruCarbon two-tone red/black CF splitter from SEMA 2010

 

[Seer]

It's a TruCarbon two-tone red/black CF splitter from SEMA 2010

I want it

 

[ayabrego]

Well... It should be fine if you keep up w/ maintenance... weekly washes/waxes and applying sealants every so often or if your car isn't daily driven.

Seer, were you referring to my sig?

I am in love with your car!!

Are you saying you think I could do it but with just a higher grit. I am not looking for a perfect paint correction just a fixed one.I just want my car to look newer. I do wash my car very often just the owner before did really take care of her

 

[muztangman93]

Definetely do it the factory orange peel is ridiculous. I paint you should have plent of clear on there just dont sand any edges where it will be thin but if your not experience pay someone to do it.