169stang

I was at the Homestead Race and was talking with the owner of MRT (I already forgot his name) and he mentioned that they wet sand the paint. That Interceptor paint looks great! I was wondering about the pros and cons to wet sanding. Approx. cost? Thanks, David

drizztbob

Wet sanding is cheap and is NO GOOD. It is used for scratches in your clear coat to eliminate the scratch itself but creating swirls on your paint which can be seen when the sun hits your car. If you are talking about wet sanding the actual paint before applying it to the vehicle, I have never heard of that.

Mongoose

Sanding is a no no. Glay bar it then put on loade of Z. Heck just buy the whole Z kit and follow the instructions. You can read about it here under car care, I think that is where it is. If not someone here will tell YA.

Stubbies

The wet sanding process that I have seen on car resto shows etc has been PRE clear coat. They paint it, wet sand it, paint it etc. Supposed to keep orange peel under control.

kevinb120

It CAN be done, but the difference between perfection and ruin is WAY too small to try on your own car. NOT reccomended at all! :nono:

Stubbies

Indeed, not like I would suggest anyone do that to their brand new ride. Just giving what info I knew

houtex

Aw c'mon Kev! I did it on my Muskrat! It's not that bad!

It's just freakin' messy, tedious, and time consuming. And anyone who says it's cheap to do is either saying the materials are cheap. The actuality is that paying someone to do it right will cost you a pretty penny.

I mean, imagine trying to make an orange smooth, but not remove it's skin. With ultra fine sandpaper and a constant stream of water. AND make it shiny. Doable, but who wants to?

On a new car? Why bother. Unless, of course, it's a labor of love. Go fer it.

BTW, aren't swirl marks are caused by using a buffer wheel? I think that's right. Do it by hand, front to rear, and you won't get them. You'll also be doing it for three months by yourself... :P And probaby, you'll also get straight swirl marks. What would those be called? Anyway, they'll at least not distract from the lines of the car...

StangNut

It can be done and even a new car will come out looking better.
There's nothing wrong with sandpaper if you end up with a fine enough grit and you know what you're doing.
But as the others said, it'll either take you forever to do, or someone will charge a lot to do it. VERY time consuming.
BTW, the swirl marks are from washing the car, not from sanding.

Jason

MTAS

Get some Clay Magic, a bottle of Meguiar's Swirl Mark remover, a Porter Cable random orbital polisher and some Meguiar's pads and a Zaino kit (car wash, Z2, Z6 - with a color that light you won't need Z5 IMO) and get up early on a Saturday and begin Your car will be smooth, slick and have a shine like you wouldn't believe.

169stang

:nono: Oh no no, I wouldn't be doing this one myself. I was under the impression that wet sanding the paint (proffessionally) will make it shine better. I just wasn't sure if wet sanding makes the paint less protected by means of less clear coat or whatever else that could be bad. I just like that glass look as most of us do. I'm by all means no body shop guy. I'll let those who do this type of thing daily do it. I believe that there are some things better off having done then trying to save a buck!
I already ordered the complete Zaino kit. It came to about $125 with tax (and 2 free applicators ). That kit should just about take care of the entire car, inside and out. It should be here Tuesday or Wednesday.

Bookman

Unforntunately my car had some dirt or debris in the paint on the passenger side door. They worked on it for two days and removed the debris, however you can definitly tell it has been buffed. There are no swirl marks in the paint that you can see when up close, but when your away from it the sun hits it just right you can tell it's been buffed on the door.

Fastbackman

Exactly. You don't get swirl marks by sanding. That comes when you buff. In the process of sanding with roughly 2000 grit paper you can remove orange peel, but in the process, naturally you dull the paint. To get the shine back you buff after sanding. In comes the swirl marks. Therefore, the biggest trick is having someone good with a buffer. Never was my favorite thing when doing paint and body but some are really good at it. You have to start with one kind of buffing compound and buffing pad, then work to finer compounds and finishing pads for the buffer. Like anything there is a process to getting it right, but I had a hard time being patient enough.

lodom

You can get swirl marks by wet-sanding in a circular motion and spend quite a bit of time trying to remove them with various compounds. I found this out the hard way years ago.

There is NO way I'd even think about wet-sanding, even with 1500-2000 grit, and buffing the paint on the New Stang. Even in black, it has minimal orange peal for a factory paint job, and is light years ahead of the SN95 paint. There simply isn't enough clear coat on any new car to risk it. The clearcoat needs to be preserved for future scratch removal.

Zaino it and drive it!

conv_stang

wet sanding can get the paint smoother. which will give you a deeper shine if its done correctly. but the clear coat is sprayed so thin. you'll probably remove most of it even with 2000 grit. and you'll get swirls. most body shops i have experience with even ford get swirl marks. if you are going that route. id find the best shop in your area and pay someone to do it. it is expensive, but do it yourself and ruin the paint and you are screwed.

upstate

For the person who asked "What do you call straight swirl marks?" I call them scratches.

Fastbackman

When I explained some of the process, I was not recommending that you should do it. I personally will not when I get a new Mustang. I think they look great from the factory and it's just too easy to sand to much or even buff through the clear, especially when you get around body lines

jsaylor

There are a lot of misconceptions on wetsanding in this thread. Wet-sanding, when done properly, makes the paint surface as smooth and imperfection free as possible enhancing the shine and overall look of the vehicle. Also, any surface repels dirt and debris better when it is smoother paint is no exception. A wet sanded car is easier/faster to wax, and generally stays "waxed" longer.

As for wet sanding "being cheap", somebody had better call Troy, Boyd, and half the cars at the Concours de Elegance. Because most all of these have been wet sanded to improve the look of the car. There is nothing cheap about wet-sanding, especially not if you are the one paying to have it done.

And yes, wet sanding is often done between paint coats during the process of painting a car. However, as alluded to above it is indeed also done after the entire car has been painted to achieve the results listed above. When you see these show cars that look like a mirror done in color, how did you think they got that way?

There are downsides to wet-sanding your new Mustang. One, paying somebody to do it. This is not a task for beginners as it is very easy to ruin a part of, or all of your paint job. And, those who know how to do this right will charge a good deal for it. However, many good detailers can do this, and are insured to do work like this (even they will screw up from time to time)

Other downsides are the paint may be smoother, but it is obviously thinner too. The downside to thinner paint is a no-brainer. A wet-sanded car is easily kept waxed, but there is now more need to keep it waxed and in good condition for obvious reasons. Fords can also be particularly hard to wet-sand because their paint-jobs tend to be on the thin side.

I would not have a new Mustang wet-sanded unless it stayed in my garage more than it stayed on the road. But, that is my two cents.

hiznherponies

Sa stated above by jsaylor and Fastbackman, its a tedious process and quite expensive to have done rt. Their info. is corrcet, but you can also have it resprayed after the wet sanding with another coat of clear to combat the thinness of the paint(esp. w/ Fords) adding yet another expense to the process, so unless your planning to take it out on the show-circuit, its really cost-prohibitive for a daily(or even not-so)driver.

Bookman

So I guess from reading all this info is that the effects of the buffing that I can see from a distance are there to stay.

lodom

I wouldn't think think the swirls or whatever you're seeing are permenent. Just because it has been buffed, doesn't mean that it was done perfectly. You are probably still seeing the swirls they left. An easy thing you can do it to get some mild clear coat cleaner and polish it yourself multiple times using non circular motions using either a foam pad for application and 100% cotton terry towels for removal. Up and down on the sides, and front to rear on any top panels. If you can see an improvement after the first application, repeat the process until it looks the way you want it. Then follow-up with some protectant like Zaino, or Meguiars NXT.