Maniacal Wetsanding (S2000)

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imported_animes2k

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So, after being less than enthused with the OP on my driver's side (especially the door and rocker panel) from repaints I decided it was time to tackle the beast. There were also some scratches and touchups I hadn't gotten around to removing.



Let me find a good reference pic or two...



Driver's door/rear wheel well area:

BEFORE-door_edge.jpg




Driver's door/rocker panel:

BEFORE-door_rocker.jpg




Rear corner of rocker:

BEFORE-rocker_corner.jpg




After doing only the quarter panel area (no work on door yet):

AFTER-door_edge.jpg




AFTER-rocker_corner.jpg




After that set of wetsanding (from the rear edge of the door back to about 1/2 way over the wheel well, side of rear bumper):

AFTER-reflections.jpg




Significantly reduced the OP and increased the reflectivity. More in next post...
 
Satisfied, I decided to tackle the door a little more haphazardly...



This was a test area, rubbed out with OHC by hand (ouch! - top right quadrant of wetsanded area):

doortest.jpg




Tight working conditions :)

doorsetup.jpg




I had done from the trim line down on the front fender the day before.



Satisfied, I moved on...



Tackled the rest of the door. I'd have liked to have removed the mirror and door handle, but those would require removing the window glass, soo... I passed on that effort :)

doorsanded.jpg




doorpolish.jpg




The shiny spot was also rubbed out by hand to remove nearly every trace of sanding marks (it was too late to run a machine). My shoulder was sore the next day. I couldn't hit anything when I went to the range :(



So, polished out the next day... The door:

AFTER-door.jpg




The rocker (focused on paint surface, not lamp in reflection):

AFTER-rocker.jpg




I didn't touch the curved area at the bottom of the door - it catches a lot of road crap and I didn't want to have to polish that out :)
 
I actually flattened the door a little *too* much compared to the fender and quarter panel, but only I would ever notice it, so I'll live with it. A couple of parting shots:



reflections.jpg




closeup:

wetness.jpg




(yes, I'm still running my snow tires... :) )



before these last two were taken, I'd also polished out the trunklid area (removed spoiler - wow dirty underneath!), the trunk and rear bumper - all with PC, 4" SFX1 and OHC. Finished with 106FF/RMG mix (70/30) and 4" SFX2 pad. Sealed with AIO on 4" SFX3 and topped with Souveran.



For the wetsanded areas:

1500 grit w/zymol soap & QEW water, occasional spritz of Sonus Glyde

2000 grit w/same

OHC/1500rpm/yellow durastrand (many times)

106/RMG/1500rpm/blue DAS finishing pad

Klasse AIO/blue DAS finishing pad

Souveran by hand (and I mean by hand, wanted to test it out. no thanks!) :)



Actually, the rocker panel got the PC/4" SFX1 with the above-mentioned products due to the size/space issues.



Some observations:

PC/4" SFX1 pad was the best at removing sanding marks with OHC. It seems to break down too quickly with the rotary to effect the necessary cutting.



On that note, OHC seemed to finish down with ZERO hazing or micromarring. I was very impressed. Of course, it could be due in part to the color (tho I was looking from all angles with different light sources) or what appears to be a VERY hard clear. I've been meaning to call the shop and ask what paint system they use.



1500rpm with the 106/RMG mix & blue pad left zero holograms. Maybe I'm getting better with the rotary? :)



And yes, all of these panels have been repainted (as has most of the car at one time or another :( ), but even so I'm not that worried. She lives in the garage mostly anymore and if I run into CC failure in a few years... respray! new color! :D



I didn't burn or sand through the clear anywhere. I swear this layer of clear is THICK.



I plan on a rotary/OHC treatment for the rest of the car with some spot wetsanding, but this should be it in terms of large-scale sanding. I'll get some more pics with better settings and reflections in the future. Not too shabby for six years and 85k miles, eh? Thanks for taking a look! :)



:waxing:
 
Very nice work...



I always love pictures of a car freshly wetsanded. Something about sanding the finish perfect, then polishing to perfection makes for great pictures. Great job.
 
I love the results of wetsanding. You did a great job as I can see from the pictures.

I had a black BMW Z3 about 7 years ago that I sanded flat like a board with 2000g 3M papers. People thought is was a custom paint job.
 
Perfect!





I had the same itches with my (sold) Integra. One day I just went outside and wetsanded the entire hood.



Be careful, you may get the itch to complete the whole car :).
 
Thanks everyone. It's a labor of love :)



I've been thinking about hitting the hood, since it just doesn't have the gloss and shine that the rest of the car has - but that might be due to being an aluminum panel... Or just a crappy finish. Not really any orange peel, just less reflective and not as smooth a finish as adjacent panels. Up close, you can see a very fine texture to the paint.



We'll see what my schedule will allow me to do...
 
Looks good! I too have gotten a wild hair before and just started wetsanding away OP. It starts with one panel and next thing you know you have done half the car. :wavey
 
Excellent job on the wetsanding and polishing and very informative and illustrated write-up! I really liked hearing you can remove 2000 grit sanding marks with a PC, 4" pads and Hyper. I agree it finishes down very well for something that aggressive and what can I add about 106/RMG?



I may bogart your technique and maybe do major projects like that in the winter on customer's cars when the weather is bad. :)
 
I'm confused, I always thought OP was a product of excess paint underneath the clearcoat. How does thinning out the clearcoat result crisper paint? Looks really good btw. I might go crazy & wetsand my car now!
 
Thanks folks.



Scott: it's not "my" technique. Feel free to go at it! :)



Swerve: OP is usually an uneven application of clear, but may also reflect an underlying base coat issue. Do realize that doing this to a factory paint job is a dangerous proposition, as the clear on most factory paint jobs is thin enough to risk damaging the integrity of the clear with wetsanding. The results could be UV-caused color fade, premature clearcoat failure (cracking, peeling, etc) or maybe even going through the clear while sanding or buffing.



I wouldn't dream of wetsanding a factory base/clear without an accurate paint thickness gauge - with the exception of spot scratch removal or touchups.
 
Scottwax said:
Excellent job on the wetsanding and polishing and very informative and illustrated write-up! I really liked hearing you can remove 2000 grit sanding marks with a PC, 4" pads and Hyper. I agree it finishes down very well for something that aggressive and what can I add about 106/RMG?



I may bogart your technique and maybe do major projects like that in the winter on customer's cars when the weather is bad. :)
Click to expand...



But you can go with this process:

2000 -> 4000 -> PG -> IP -> FF vía PC and the results will be perfect.

Regards.
 
maesal said:
But you can go with this process:

2000 -> 4000 -> PG -> IP -> FF vía PC and the results will be perfect.

Regards.
Click to expand...



True, you could go higher than 2000, to 3000 or 4000 for easier to polish out sanding marks. If I had a wool pad or two, I'd easily go from 2000 to PC-ready with a wool-OHC-rotary step in between. The foam pad just doesn't have the cutting ability of wool. I also haven't found 3000+ papers, or else I would definitely try them.
 
Ah, so if you had enough coats of paint, wetsanding would be a feasible option. I agree, it's risky and I can imagine all the problems that might come up along the road. Looks good though!
 
Gorgeous work! I can't believe how reflective your finish is!



It looks like you didn't COMPLETELY flatten the OP - how did you know when to stop? Did you just sort of take off the tops of the peaks of the OP?



I'm wondering if this process (if done slowly, one panel at a time) can be done completely by hand, with OTC products? I know this is just asking for a sore arm and painful labor, but I'm interested nonetheless. I'm particularly curious if there is an OTC rubbing compound that will get 2000grit marks out. TIA!



Also - how much paper did you go through for a panel about the size of your door?
 
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