Actually, I'm thinking about my 2002 sunfire with a couple of abrasions and what not and saw Stacey David on Horse Power spouting about wet sanding with 2000 paper and then using a compound to "bring the shine back". Anyone have a clue what he is talking about? Anyone do it? I would need a polisher, but what compound would I use?

My painter did my chevelle as you mentioned with 2000 after last clear coat. Don't know specifics on polish type, etc., but turned out a beautiful deep gloss, but you need to know the technique of buffing I was told to achieve this.

Thanks, RWS 69ss

I did my 68 with 1600 grit (I think), some soapy water, and buffing compond, followed by a polish, a clay bar, and wax.

Managed to remove any trace of the water spots, there when I started, but it did take a couple weeks of evenings, and made for some tired arms, since I don't own, or trust myself with a real buffer.

It was a lot of work, but it didn't cost much, and made my car look alot better.

You will need to think about a couple of things. First 2000 grit is going to be pretty slow going, even on newer clear. I would suggest using 1500 or even 1000 if the scratches are deep and the clear is hard. You should start conservatively and it will become pretty evident how well the 2000 is going to work. You will want to get a rubber backing pad designed for wet sanding. If you find that you need a coarser grit to get the results you want you should use the 2000 and cut back across the sanding marks made by the first grit. Be sure to watch out for the edges and the base color. Buffing the 2000 grit marks out will probably need a wool buffing pad and rubbing compound. I really like 3M's Perfect-it III and then get a polishing glaze to take out the swirl marks made by the compound. Others will chime in with other thoughts and ideas, good luck. This can be very time consuming and may blossom into a bigger chore than you originally planned, especially since most factory paint jobs have lots of orange peel. If you work on one part of the car you may not like the fact that it looks like glass and the rest of the car looks like :eek: .........well you get the idea.

If you aren't experienced in doing this sort of thing, you should be extremely careful about sanding and buffing factory paint. Factory paint film build is usually much less than a typical "aftermarket" paint job, so not only do you have to worry about sanding/buffing through the clearcoat(or color), but getting it too thin also. For example: the clearcoat contains the UV protectant. If it is too thin, the UV protection will be diminished and the paint will fade/deteriorate much faster.

Film build on a typical GM vehicle from the factory can vary from 5-8 mils on the side panels to 9 mils or more on the upper horizontal panels. Those figures include all the primers/undercoats, basecoat and clear, so you don't have too much to play with in some cases.

Be careful.

Then what about a good buffing and polishing (not by hand smile.gif )? What would I use? What produucts especially? Something to smooth out the surface, but not take the thickness down that much (or at all?). It's mostly surface stuff. It's not the orange peel I'm worried about. Hard winters up here and much too much calcium mixed into the salt on the roads. The local clean-it-buff-it shop wnat $150 clams which I laughed at. I can do it myself.

I did this for a summer job for two years. get a good 2000 grit 3M paper and a big spray bottle of water, a hose, or a bucket full of water. All you need to do is get the paper and clear coat nice and wet and sand in straight lines with the flow of the body front to rear. KEEP THE PAPER WET!!! The water lubricates and cleans the grit and will prevent paint damage! A rogher grit would be faster, however, the actual buffing out of the clear coat afterwards would need to be more extensive and thus creating a higher probability of burning through the paint.
The clear should be white and have a flat appearance when wetsanding is complete prior to buffing.
Take your time, it will turn out nice afterwards!
Oh yeah, some hand buffer compounds will swirl clearcoat if not used properly.