Wet sanding

[Hartman]

I got keyed in February on my drivers side door, the scratch ran about 3/4 the length of the door, and as a temporary fix I just filled it in with some touch up paint (tacky, I know). But, the little brush that you apply the touch up paint with is not very precise, and it just make the scratch even more noticable because of the globs of paint that come off of the brush. My question is this, would it be OK to wet sand this area until it was smooth again, then wax the area? Would this be OK for the clearcoat?

Any suggestions on how to clean this up would be great. If possible, I would like to get this scratch almost all of the way out. It is fairly deep, it was white when it first happened and I could definately get my nail caught in it if I ran my finger down the door.

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

Go to www.autopia-carport.com and do a search there. There's a lot of info about wetsanding. Basically, you're going to need some 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper, a couple of brand new pencils (sandpaper goes on the eraser) and some Swirl Mark Remover (SMR) to remove the haze left over. It's all explained in great detail over there. Good luck!

Mike

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I've read from the Autopia board that people use a mixture of lacquer and rubbing alcohol and used a towel and butter knife and gently "scrape" the excess lacquer paint and make it level with the rest of the paint. From what they've said, it should be safe for clearcoats but don't take my word for it. Good luck!

 

[MONMIX]

Well , obviously where the scrach is there is no clear coat , but yes you are correct , fill it in the best you can with a nice touch-up brush. Then wet sand the area , make it all one surface and buff the shine back. It will never be invisable but it will be like , " If you don't know it there , you don't see it " sort of thing.

 

[Hartman]

I was worried about damaging the clearcoat around the scratch while wet sanding. I think I'm going to go over the scratch real good with the touch up paint again to make sure everything is filled, then I will wet sand. I got a question though, what grit sandpaper should I use to do this? Obviously it's going to be a pretty high grit paper, but I want to know of the ideal number to use.

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

Start with 2000 grit, and if you feel it is necessary, move to 1500. I wouldn't go any lower than that though. Also, when you use the touch-up paint, don't use the brush that came with it. Use the tip of a toothpick instead.

Mike

 

[Hartman]

I went to Pep Boys today and got a 3M Spot Sanding pen. So I got home, got the tip of the pen wet, and went to work on the scratch. It works well, but now I have milky white areas around the scratch because the pen caused more clearcoat damage. What the hell do I do about that?

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

That milky-white area is exactly what happens when you wet sand paint. To remove it you're going to need an SMR (Swirl Mark Remover) like 3M SMR or Meguiars #9. Both can be found at Pep Boys I believe. What grit was the sandpaper? As long as it was 2000 or 1500, the SMR should take care of the hazing.

Mike

 

[Hartman]

I didn't use any sandpaper, just the 3M spot sanding pen, which is basically thousands of glass fibers that sand really small areas. I tried to get rid of the hazing with Meguiars Scratch X, but it didn't work. That stuff is crap anyway I guess. I thought about getting the 3M Swirl Mark Remover, but sheesh, $11.99. Oh well, guess I don't have a choice.

 

[hinkle_e]

A buffer in the right hands would make very quick work of your problem.

 

[RFR2212]

Buff it, and the white marks will go away...

 

[Hartman]

Tried it. Maybe I should use the Swirl Mark Remover and then buff that in. Eh?

 

[hinkle_e]

Are you buffing by hand or w/ a variable-speed angle buffer? Hand buffing probably won't suffice, but if you did use an electric/pneumatic buffer, then I'm out of ideas.