Wetsanding Products

E

eurotrs

New member
I am going to wetsand my old Beetle this weekend. Its 5 year old enamel paint that has never been wetsanded or seen the road. I had the car repainted and really took my time putting it all back together LOL. It has some orange peel.



I was going to start with Unigrit 1000, then 1500, then 2500 then 3000.



Is that too much or can i skip the 2500 or maybe the 1500?



I plan on removing the scratches with PFW pad and Megs 105, following it with megs 83 or 82 and then a glaze and LSP.



Do I really need a wool pad? If so which one? I am about to place an order on autogeek so a wool pad that they carry would be great.
 
eurots- I gather it's single stage, if not, ignore everything related to that in the following.



I'd be **VERY** careful sanding ss enamel. Many ss enamels simply can't be wetsanded and then "brought back"; compromising their top-most build-film simply messes them up. I dunno if GuitarMan's old post about this is still archived here, but searchig it out and reading it would be less hassle than repainting your VW.



ASSUMING (and man-oh-man I wouldn't be one to do that in this case) it's safe to do, I wouldn't go more aggressive than 1500 unless you've done this before.



Whether it's ss or b/c:



Plan to use 4" pads. With those I don't think you'll *need* PFW to remove 2-3K sanding marks with M105. I'd expect an orange pad to do the job. The PFW wouldn't be terrible overkill though and they're handy to have around. BUT they don't last long and you might need a few of 'em (esp. if working ss).



I'd follow the M105 with M205, or #80. #83 doesn't (IME) finish out well enough and #82 would probably be too mild for following M105 as it has virtually no cut via PC.



If you're working by rotary then you sould do fine with foam pads and the M105, but I'd still follow up with something like M205.
 
The car is single stage



I will be using a rotary, I have a PC as well but that hasn't been used much since I picked up the rotary.



The paint used was a Keystone brand.



Thanks Accumulator
 
I contacted the paint MFR about polishing/fine sanding w/1500 my enamel paint that was done a few weeks ago.



It has very mild orange peel - not enough to justify repainting but I feel it could've been better.



They said absolutely do not polish or wetsand it. They said if I did it would have to be repainted.



I also asked them about covering with a clear coat.



They said if I wanted to cover with clear coat that would be ok but it would of course have to be enamel and be done within the painting window and no sanding of the color coat before applying the clear or you will see it in the finished product.



I am sure that applies to all enamel regardless of brand.
 
eurotrs- Sorry, never worked with Keystone :nixweiss I don't think I'd wetsand it if it were mine; I'd just live with the OP but that's just me.



GTFlyer said:
..I am sure that [advice not to abrade it] applies to all enamel regardless of brand.
Click to expand...



That's a *safe* assumption but it's not 100% accurate. I *have* abraded ss enamel with good results but those (rare?) exceptions aren't something you'd want to base a gamble on IMO. If everybody just assumed you can't do it there

wouldn't be any oops! incindents, huh?
 
well I contacted keystone and they told me I'm OK with wet sanding.



I'm going to start with a small spot on my rear apron under the bumper and see how it works, I'll make the decision from there
 
eurotrs said:
well I contacted keystone and they told me I'm OK with wet sanding.



I'm going to start with a small spot on my rear apron under the bumper and see how it works, I'll make the decision from there
Click to expand...



That was the smart way to decide :xyxthumbs



I'd err on the side of caution and do a lot less aggressive work than you think you need to do ;)
 
I just got done doing this last weekend.



Sanded starting with 1k>1.5>3k



M105 is awesome, I used the KB method with a PFW pad, then OP with a white pad this finished off LSP ready after 2 passes, but I followed with #82 and a black pad, all done via rotary finished it off with s100 by hand



The car looks great, there are a few panels that I feel I could have taken a little bit more off as they are not 100% swirl free but I was a *****. I will get some pics up by the weekend hopefully



This was my first time wetsanding, I am very pleased with the results
 
I thought the only good thing about SS paints is the wetsanding ability on it? In other words, it's really easy to buff out scratches on SS, thus, easy to remove wetsanding marks as well. I personally can't think of any other reason to have SS paint.
 
RZJZA80 said:
I thought the only good thing about SS paints is the wetsanding ability on it? In other words, it's really easy to buff out scratches on SS, thus, easy to remove wetsanding marks as well. I personally can't think of any other reason to have SS paint.
Click to expand...



Eh..ss white is often as hard as a rock, harder than most b/c. But yeah, generally ss is a lot easier to correct.



I might be in a minority here, and it doesn't much matter I guess as they aren't making much good ss any more...but I *REALLY* like the look of high-quality ss in certain colors on certain vehicles. Some old-school cars simply look *wrong* to me in b/c.



E.g., there's a AAR 'Cuda for sale in my area that was redone in a b/c version of Plumb Crazy (I *think* that's what the color is...gee, I'm getting old and forgetful :o ). The paint has something like Zaino on it and the whole look is just not right IMO...*way* too glossy with not enough depth and/or richness. I remember what that paint looked like in the showroom and this sure isn't it (might be "better" in many ways, but I really dislike it).
 
Ha....that post made me smile, Accumulator...something about the way things are *supposed* to be or should be...I wonder if the reason that they don't look "right" is simply because we remember them differently, or when the stylists and stuff were working on the car, they made it look "right" with the paints of the day, in regards to trim color/gloss/texture etc.
 
Setec Astronomy- Heh heh, yeah...and it's not just us crotchety old [individuals] with our personal preferences either. As I've mentioned, my pal's '60 Jag was reshot in b/c and we have to prep it just right for concours competitions or it gets docked for not looking right. Hmmm...wonder how they'll define "right" after enough time (and people) have passed...guess as long as there's one original left that'll still be the standard.



Getting the b/c-repainted areas on my XJS to match the oe ss metallic was the acid-test challenge that makes my "good" painter such a gift from above.



I tell ya, that 'Cuda simply looks weird...as you said, the stylists weren't thinking of super-glossy paint when they penned those lines and in that particular case it really does make a big diff. It's sorta the whole-car equivalent of "too glossy tire dressing" and just like that [stuff] some folks are gonna think it looks better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top