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wet sanding and buffing


D-Ramey

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my cousin painted my plastics nissan black yesterday and clear coated it now i think it's ready for wet sanding and buffing but iv never done wet sanding... can anyone give me any tip's and i know how to buff but dont know what pad or polish or whatever i need to use..

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For wet sanding, start with 1200 grit then move to 1500 and you should eliminate all orange peel. Maybe start with 1000 grit if you have real bad peel. Sand in one direction only so sanding scratched are uniform. Personally, I would buff the plastics by hand so you dont burn up the paint from any or the curves of the plastics. I did my old ninja by hand. Yeah it was a pin in the ass and took a long time but the results were well worth the time. I used Turtle wax brand platnum series buffing compound to get rid of the sanding scratches and then followed that up with turtle wax brand platnum series polishing compound. Both compounds are liquid form and neither are very abrasive so you dont have to worry about cutting away too much at the clearcoat. after the compounds, I hit it with scratch ans swirl remover, followed by a good polish and then with a spray detailer. My process might be crazy compared to how attack painter does it, but he is a professional and I did it all in my garage and my results were damn good for doing it myself and having no prior experience. there are many ways to do it. Its all preference and what you are comfortable with. Just my $.02

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extreme will ur process work with rattle can paint? I just painted my plastics and clearcoated and they look shiney,but not like a real paint job. I got the rubbing compound and am waiting to use it till a week or 2 of curing. Do i even have to wet sand?

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For wet sanding, start with 1200 grit then move to 1500 and you should eliminate all orange peel. Maybe start with 1000 grit if you have real bad peel. Sand in one direction only so sanding scratched are uniform. Personally, I would buff the plastics by hand so you dont burn up the paint from any or the curves of the plastics. I did my old ninja by hand. Yeah it was a pin in the ass and took a long time but the results were well worth the time. I used Turtle wax brand platnum series buffing compound to get rid of the sanding scratches and then followed that up with turtle wax brand platnum series polishing compound. Both compounds are liquid form and neither are very abrasive so you dont have to worry about cutting away too much at the clearcoat. after the compounds, I hit it with scratch ans swirl remover, followed by a good polish and then with a spray detailer. My process might be crazy compared to how attack painter does it, but he is a professional and I did it all in my garage and my results were damn good for doing it myself and having no prior experience. there are many ways to do it. Its all preference and what you are comfortable with. Just my $.02

what about ur gas tank did u buff by hand? and the orange peal is not really bad but u can notice it ill try post some pixs that i took off my cell phone. and how long did u wait to wet sand i just got finsh with the painting and clear coat last night

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extreme will ur process work with rattle can paint? I just painted my plastics and clearcoated and they look shiney,but not like a real paint job. I got the rubbing compound and am waiting to use it till a week or 2 of curing. Do i even have to wet sand?

Actually, I did this on a rattle can job. I used duplicolor because they have the fan spray pattern that lays the paint smoother and more uniform than a cone pattern found on most spray cans. Like you said, after clear, it looked shiney and ok but far from a deep wet gloss look you get after buffing and wet sanding. You only need to wet sand to cut the orange peel which I would assume you have since you did a rattle job. I know I did. I experimented trying to use the rubbing coumpound to smooth out the orange peel but it didnt hardly smooth it out. Wet sand it untill all the low spots are gone. you will be able to tell that all the orange peel is gone because if there is still some left, you will see little shiney dimple looking things from the un sanded clear. After wetsanding, then its time to buff it and polish. you should be on to buff and polish after only a week or curing to the paint. After you polish it, I would wait a month or two before you put wax on it. Let us know how yours turns out if you use my method. I was amazed how professional my job looked with rattle cand when I was done. Perfectly smooth and a real deep wet gloss. It was like mirrored glass.

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what about ur gas tank did u buff by hand? and the orange peal is not really bad but u can notice it ill try post some pixs that i took off my cell phone. and how long did u wait to wet sand i just got finsh with the painting and clear coat last night

I did the tank by hand too although you could most likely be safe with a buffer if you know what you are doing. if you want a perfect finish, you will have to wet sand. I waited a week to let the clear cure before I wet sanded it. After wet sanding, it will look real foggy, that is why I went through so many stages, to bring the gloss back to life.

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1000 may be too much, ive never tried it though, thats just my guess, im not a pro either, im in the process of learning too

3m rubbing compound FTW, if you use a buffer, dont let the compound get hot, thats how you burn through it, new paint is much easier to burn through, keep your buffing pad clean, spray it with water get all the nasty stuff off every once and a while. follow with some show car glaze

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I would wait a bit longer, atleast a week, before attempting this. This will give the paint plenty of time to cure, and you won't have to worry about burning it as much. After this is done, start with 1000 grit paper, and warm soapy water. Gently sand in one direction, keeping the paper nice and wet. DO NOT use alot of pressure, and be extra careful around edges, as they tend to naturally have less paint on them. Keep a towel handy to dry off your work, and check your progress. You do not want to sand through the clear coat, so if you start to see anything but white on the sandpaper, you have gone too far. This is up to the painter if he applied a nice heavy clear coat. If your trying to remove orange peel, sand a little, then check your progress. You will be there when it is uniformly dull, no shiny spots. Stop here. Wipe it all down, then gently sand with 1500 grit, untill you cannot see any tiny sanding marks.

Once this is done, I use a heavy cut compound to restore some shine, buffing it all over once, then move to a lighter polishing compound to put on a real shine. On black, I then follow with a gloss glaze to remove sanding scratches and reduce spiderwebs. After a month, I apply a hand carnuba wax, when the paint has thoroughly cured.

Be sure to check and see what type of paint was used, and its cure time, before starting!

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I did the tank by hand too although you could most likely be safe with a buffer if you know what you are doing. if you want a perfect finish, you will have to wet sand. I waited a week to let the clear cure before I wet sanded it. After wet sanding, it will look real foggy, that is why I went through so many stages, to bring the gloss back to life.

so after im all done wet sanding it will look foggy? and its time to wash it all off let it dry and start the buffing and finsh gloss?

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so after im all done wet sanding it will look foggy? and its time to wash it all off let it dry and start the buffing and finsh gloss?

You got it. It looks foggy because you roughed up the surface of the clear. Hopefully you put enough coats of clear down so you dont sand/buff through the paint. Wash it iff with clean soapy water (i used dish soap), dry it, make sure all the orange peel is gone and your surface is smooth as a baby's butt. It will be easier to work in small sections at a time rather than going over the whole peice at once. Then have fun with the polishing and remember to be careful around any edge of the bodywork because ite is real easy to sand through. Time and patience is key in a project like this.

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You got it. It looks foggy because you roughed up the surface of the clear. Hopefully you put enough coats of clear down so you dont sand/buff through the paint. Wash it iff with clean soapy water (i used dish soap), dry it, make sure all the orange peel is gone and your surface is smooth as a baby's butt. It will be easier to work in small sections at a time rather than going over the whole peice at once. Then have fun with the polishing and remember to be careful around any edge of the bodywork because ite is real easy to sand through. Time and patience is key in a project like this.

i posted pixs up of the tank and upper and fender and side....yea im scared to fuck it up...lol so just lightly sand and keep the sand paper wet at all times

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i put all the plastics back on the bike last night the tank is alittle shinner then the plastics, it's not as shinny as i though it would be its a mix between flat black and gloss... Picture02931.jpg

You probably didnt polish the clear enough. It took me a couple weeks to get mine shiney. That was working on it a couple hours a night.

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You probably didnt polish the clear enough. It took me a couple weeks to get mine shiney. That was working on it a couple hours a night.

i never did wet sand it...lol or polish it so do u think i can just polish it and get away with the wet sanding?

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looking at this picture, I would say you definitely need to wet sand... start with 1500

can i wet sand at anytime? or does time make things harder? i wanna go to bike week and come back and take my time..but i dont feel like pulling all the plastics again...

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how do factorys roll out cars that have very little noticeable orange peel effect?

Factory stuff likes to use acrylic enamel or acrylic urethanes that "shrink" when they dry. That eliminates or reduces the orange peel. They do that with the addition of a catalyst that hardens the paint by chemical reaction. Old style acrylic lacquers air dry, when the volatiles (thinner) evaporate from the paint. It takes longer. Heat speeds it up, either way.

And what Max Power said...

And each type of paint is dried and sanded differently. A little different anyway. Difference in length of drying time or type of sanding/polishing grit used. Usually whatever the paint manufacturer recommends is good. Show finish lacquer isn't sanded/polished the same way as factory enamel.

Yeah, I've painted a few motorcycles...

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