dhonnoll

Has anyone on here wet sanded their factory clear coat? How did that turn out?

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

I did on my tailgate, then hit it with Meguiars Ultimate compound followed by Collinite 845, looked good, but I did it to get rid of "rust" spots. I eventually had the whole tailgate repainted and cleared by my dad as there was a couple deep scratches I wanted gone.

Mod (Ret.)

If you do not have deep scratches in the clear coat, you may want to try using a clay bar method to remove embeded dirt and haze before you sand the clear coat. The factory only applies one, maybe two coats of clear, so once its sanded off, it's gone, and would need replacement to obtain the factory shine it once had.

dom07

Clay bar is great to pick up stuff off the top of the clear coat, but doesn't do squat for removing scratches.

Before you wet sand (and it's not a big deal, don't be scared...), try this:

1) Wash with a grease cutting dish soap (only the panel you're working from to start)
2) With a quick detailer, clay bar
3) Wash again, same soap
4) Get your dual action polisher (go cheap at first, Harbor Freight makes a fantastic cheap one) with a cutting pad (again, the orange one at HF is a great cheap place to start)
5) Apply an aggressive cutting compound, and work it in 5-6 passes, overlapping (Meguiars ultra cut is fantastic)
6) Wipe down with a microfiber, and check your work. Repeat steps 5/6 as needed.
7) Wash
8) Apply a polish if you feel its needed, or skip to 9
9) Apply a good, durable wax (and keep it waxed)

If all that doesn't work, and you still have scratches that the cutting compound won't get out -- then its time to wet sand.

I like to use a spray bottle with a fine mist, applying water regularly (you can't use too much water, especially important for your first time). I use a clean sponge behind the sand paper to get an even application of pressure. Some use their hands, wahtever works for you. Be careful of edges, go slowly and evenly, and check your work regularly with a good bright LED or CFL light.

Fords clearcoat is actually pretty good and has enough thickness to be wet sanded. But my guess is the steps above will get you 80+% of where you want to be.

650NutKase

Have you ever wet sanded or used a rotary polisher before? If not, please please please practice on something before you try on your truck. Nothing uglier than buffer holograms or cutting all the way through the clear to the color.

jshillin

iTrader: (1)

You need to provide some more details...

When I bought my truck it has some scrapes on the bedside where it looked like shingles or something went down the side. I wet sanded and polished it out, but didn't need to do the whole truck. More often than not, wet sanding isn't needed and a polish will do it. You just have to make sure your clear is thick enough to handle it. THEN, when the paint is corrected you have to use proper wash techniques to keep it nice.

dhonnoll

Ok so more details. I HATE the orange peel my paint has. Yes it is shiny, yes it looks good. Yes it looks like an average stock truck. I am going to replace/repaint my front bumper myself after I assaulted a concrete divider (sober I don't drink) and the counterstrike screwed up the bumper. I have a few scratches I plan to fix with Duplicolor and some wet sanding to prevent sticky tacky feel anyway.

Really I have some scratches from when it was previously loved by a tool box and my WOOPS with a drill scratch on my tailgate. Once those duplicolored and wet sanded I was THINKING about wet sanding a 1 ft square patch on the roof and seeing what I was dealing with. I would probably spend some $$ to even get the 5000 grit I saw Chip Foose demonstrating at the 2013 or 2012 SEMA show. In the end I will probably just deal with the rest of the truck but I just can't stand the orange peel when I look close at it. I won't likely take it in and have a respray of clear coat put on it. Though I question just how expensive a respray of just clear coat would be. IF (and that is a big if) I did something like that would I need to wet sand first not even bother to polish then have 2 or 3 coats put on to wet sand and not have any orange peel or at least not the BAD orange peel I have?

I'm just glad it isn't black. If it were black it would look like CRAP.

dhonnoll

No, My thought was testing a 1'x1' square apx patch on the roof to see what I was dealing with or have repaired if I screw it up.

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Bucko and Dom are both right..
Try the cut compound and polish with a DA first. Wet sanding will honestly always be noticeable once the polish and waxes wear off..
If your content keeping up with the polishing and waxing, than wet sanding will work great if your scratches are no deeper than the clear coat..

But no matter what, like Bucko said, once it's gone, it's gone..
You may be better off accepting defeat and saving your money for the paint shop. You can do a mild sand and glaze, then just go ahead and prepare to have a pro blend in some light coats of factory matched paint... You can probably get a lot more paintwork done cheaply if you batch the work appropriately..

screamineagle

Wet sand with 2000 grit or even 6000 (if it existed) and you will still need to follow with at the minimum, 3 stages of cutting and polishing compounds using at the minimum, 3 different grits of cutting/polishing pads on a rotary. Unless you know what your doing and have experience please do not wet sand your vehicle, the results will be traumatic.