Hey guys, I have decided that I want to wetsand the stang to get rid of all the spider lines (swirls) along with some of the scratches. I bought some Turtle Wax rubbing compound *Heavy Duty* and tried it out on my fender and it worked great but the swirls were still there, removed ALOT of the oxidation and crap that was on there but the swirls were still present.

I was watching a Truck show on SPIKE and they wet sanded a trucks hood and buffed it out and it was beautiful, a perfect mirror finish. I tried to find that ep online but couldnt. The buffer they used was meguires rotory buffer that guarantee's not to burn a hole in your paint if you stay in one spot too long.

So basicly I just need to know what grain sandpaper I need to get and about how man sheets of 12x12" i need to get to cover the whole car? I have a sanding block and I know to be careful on body lines but from there I need help. And of course about how long I should spend in one spot and how much water I should apply... It is just water I use right or is it a special liquid I need?

I need all the tips and pointers I can get on this, I want my car to shimmer and glissin like it has new paint and I want that annoying Orange peel GONE! I do have experiance with the meguires rotory buffer, I borrowed my friends and used it on my El camino with some reg class Rubbing compound from Turtle Wax and it made a world of difference and even fixed the cracked paint on the sides so that the primer wasnt exposed anymore (looked like a dry lakebed) And I finished the car up by changing pads and going with Meguires Gold Class liquid wax, though I have found by personal experiance that paste is way WAY better.

So please a list of supplies and tools I need would be very much needed and appriciated along with all the tips and hints that you guys can give me. Step by Step directions are most desired

Thanks everyone!

-Neo-

PS time doesnt matter to me, I know its going to take ages. I spent 3 days on my El Camino working about 4 hours a day on it.

 

Well Ive never wet sanded and buffed my paint for the swirls...... Its kinda dangerous to me especially if youve never done it.. its really easy to burn through that clear coat.... Im not sure on what the finest sand paper there is.. go to a local paint store or auto body and ask what grit you should use.....and in wet sanding its just water you use no special solvents..... and you want to keep it very wet.... And with orange peel, that can be the paint itself, not just clear... so if you keep sanding trying to get it out your going to have missing clear all over your car..... be careful.... Its not something I recommend though....

 

Orange peal is almost def the basecoat. I saw that episode too, the reason the buffer he had was better is cause it's a random orbit one so it doesn't stay in one place and also it was a polisher not a buffer, just remembered that. Much lower power then a buffer. Call some detailing shops around and see if having them do it is within your price range, otherwise I'd just keep looking for info on it or try and order that episode if you want to see it again.

 

I saw that show too... he was using 2000 grit. Just keep it wet and if it's the swirl that's left I would just use a polisher(like Vert said) over a buffer with 3M rubbing compound and then a couple coats of wax.

 

My BF owns a body shop and they wet sand and buff cars all the time.
He just recently did his Corvette and it looks amazing.
The guy that I sold my 94 gt to works for him and they just did it to it and I could not believe it. It was so shiny and looks wet all the time.

He's going to do my new stang next week --it's black also so I will let you know how it turns out.

When he gets home I will ask him what you can use to do it yourself-----

 

Hi,

This is Amy's b/f. Amy asked if I could offer any suggestions or help for you wanting to wetsand and buff your car. After being in the bodyshop business for 20 years, hopefully I can offer some assistance. My suggestion is if you have never done this, practicing on the car you love is not the way to learn but since you asked, here goes.

First, unless the car is a dark colored car and has many scratches (I'm talking fairly deep), there is no need to actually wetsand the car with anything more coarse than 2000 grit wet paper. It also depends on what kind of finish you are looking for. Once a car is painted at our shop, you may have a couple pieces of trash and some minor orange peel in the paint. If we're trying to slick out the car (meaning that if you look at the reflection of almost anything in the paint, it'll look like a mirror as opposed to the distorted image you get when you check out reflections in factory paint) we start off with 1000 grit, then 1500, 2000 and finally 2500.

If you're car has the factory paint and it's just got the swirls and minor scratches from car washes, chamois and towels, then you don't actually need to wetsand it, you need a good buffing.

Let's assume that you still want to wetsand it. I'll try to explain it to someone that has not done this before as best as I can.

Wash the car completely and thoroughly. Any dust or dirt will get in between the paper and paint and you'll cause more damage than help.

Keep the car wet, use a bucket with clean water and keep dipping the paper in the water (AGAIN, I cannot stress the importance of keeping fresh water to keep trash out of the sandpaper. You may not be able to see it, but you'll feel it) Buy a 3M sponge or rubber block (it's about 1/8" thick) and place it in the sheet. If you're using most wetsand sheets, they come in half sheets. Fold the half sheet into thirds and place the rubber block or sponge in it first. If you don't, you'll tend to push down with your fingers and not sand evenly which in turn will leave "traintracks" of smooth strips in the paint.

Seeing how you have never done this before, stay away from edges, corners or any spot that you can't get a high speed buffer into. As you get better, you can go right to the edges but if most people wetsand to the edge and never buff it out far enough always leaving dull spots in the corners or edges.

Once done sanding, start over again using 2500. You can immediately go to a buffer (we commonly have to buff out 1000 or 1500 grit scratches) but remember, the finer paper you use, the easier it is to remove by buffing.

Once you are done sanding, get a high speed electric buffer (NOT AN ORBITAL POLISHER) and a yellow polishing pad. (or a white waffle buffing pad... it looks like a waffle pad made of foam) Using some 3M (or equivalent) middle buffing/polishing compound (nothing too coarse) apply a couple of thin strips in an area approx. 2 foot by 2 foot. Smear the compound in the area that you want to buff (remember, 4 square feet MAX) and once the compound is smeared, start buffing.

Buff in that confined area until the compound is gone and the scratches are almost gone. You WILL have to do this 2-3 times depending on how much pressure, how coarse a compound you're using and what type of pad you have. Now move to another area.

Continue doing this on the whole car. Once you are done with the entire car, switch to a gray foam waffle pad and use a swirl eliminator and do the entire car again.

Wash the car down again, (pressure wash if possible to remove all the compound that has slung into cracks, etc) Hand glaze it and then wax it.

My suggestion is you practice on something like a decklid first. Remember that since the buffer pad spins clockwise, allow the pad to "roll off" an edge. Don't allow the buffer to spin in the direction that will bite AGAINST the edge. Does that make sense? This is when it comes to edges of fenders, hoods, etc... that'll be the quickest way to burn your paint.

Wetsanding and buffing a car takes us a minimum of a day, sometimes two. My suggestion is to pay someone because not only is this something that you really need experience in doing, Fords have notoriously thin paint and it's even easier to burn the paint on a Mustang than any other car.

Hope this helps, if you need any other info, let Amy know, I'll try to help you out.

Mark