wet sanding

[ELIC1]

hey guys looking to get the car wet sanded. i went to the shop that did the custom paint on my car the price he gave me was 8 hunderd dollars for the whole car... that seems way to much for a wet sand.. can you tell me if this sounds right to you or i should look somewhere else thanks

[shnormo]

I'll tell you what, you try wet sanding an entire car. It's a lot of work for quality and going to take a lot of sand paper to get the orange peel out, not burn through the clear, and then polish it all out. I'd gladly pay $800 if it came out without any burnt spots. It's a skill and an art.

Got to tape all the trim, glass, etc. anything you don't want compound on.

[ELIC1]

so 800 is a good price then.. some other shop just told me 250

[ELIC1]

Originally Posted by shnormo

I'll tell you what, you try wet sanding an entire car. It's a lot of work for quality and going to take a lot of sand paper to get the orange peel out, not burn through the clear, and then polish it all out. I'd gladly pay $800 if it came out without any burnt spots. It's a skill and an art.

Got to tape all the trim, glass, etc. anything you don't want compound on.

thank you for the info

[shnormo]

Any time... If they painted the car, they know how much they can take off. If anything happens they'll be able to fix it.

[HDRDTD]

I would also assume it depends on how fine a grit they wet sand down to.
Do the stop at 320 grit, 500 grit, 1000 grit, 1500 grit or finer yet, etc.

Does the $800 include the final polishing/buffing stages? I would assume it does?

[cypressh]

to do a proper wet sand you start at 800 >1000>1500>2000>3000 than 3 stage buff compound>scratch remover> swirl remover...... ask me how, I know just did the wet sanding this weekend for a friend, do the polishing/buffing this weekend

[HDRDTD]

Originally Posted by cypressh

to do a proper wet sand you start at 800 >1000>1500>2000>3000 than 3 stage buff compound>scratch remover> swirl remover...... ask me how, I know just did the wet sanding this weekend for a friend, do the polishing/buffing this weekend

Absolutely.

It's just when two people use the term 'wet sanding' and one charges $250 and the other charges $800, it makes me wonder just what they each mean by the simple term 'wet sanding'.

Sorta like comparing a Earl Schieb $29.95 'paint job' to a professional 'paint job'

It's just a good thing to be sure you understand just what you get in each case.

[Nor Cal ZL1]

You better measure the paint thickness before you consider wet sanding. Clear is very thin on these cars.

[Maverick1776]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal ZL1

You better measure the paint thickness before you consider wet sanding. Clear is very thin on these cars.

+100
GM really doesn't add much coating on any of their modern cars these days. Another reason why the paint easily chips with highway debris.

[shnormo]

Originally Posted by ELIC1

hey guys looking to get the car wet sanded. i went to the shop that did the custom paint on my car the price he gave me was 8 hunderd dollars for the whole car... that seems way to much for a wet sand.. can you tell me if this sounds right to you or i should look somewhere else thanks

Custom painted... hence taking it back to the place he got it from

[thegreatwhite]

what does wet sanding do to your cars surface

[cypressh]

when you look at any factory car the paint isn't truly crystal clear, it has what is called orange peel in the clear, what is that you may ask, it highs and lows in the clear and causes what looks like an orange peel when looking at your paint.

What does wet sanding do? It removes little bits of clear to level out your paint. starting with the most aggressive grit at 800 which will take the most clear, than the next grit at 1000 will pull out the scratches that the 800 leaves as well as a little bit more clear and so on and so forth with the 2000 and 3000. you will notice after decreasing the grit on the paper the paint will gain some shine back as you go higher in number. what buffing and polishing does, is remove the very fine sanding marks to give you a crystal clear finish to the clear.

see photo below. it is not my photo just one I found on google.

[vinman]

Kind of off topic, but I just had paint work done, can I use my pc7424xp and Adams fine machine polish to get out some light scuffs I noticed? Been painted since Saturday, I won't be sealing or waxing for a month