Hard clear? Should I wetsand? Help quick

**The Count** · 09-26-2011, 04:59 PM

Ok, so I washed and clayed my Ranger today 2008 Ranger and I started 105 it with a orange pad and my flex, I did the roof went over it 6 times and it looked better but not great, then I did the hood, on one part I had to do it 18 passes you know like 18 squares and it still wasn`t perfect, you could still see some scratches and theres like little bubbles all over, so I finished the rest of the hood with 6 passes and its not near as good as I want it.

I did my 5.0 and it got like 100% correction and I was stoked

With 18 passes its prolly 90% correction and with the usual 6 passes its prolly like 45% correction.

First I thought it was my new pads cuz the new pads dusted after like 3 passes, so I went back to the old ones and they can last 6 passes easy, but then it still didn`t give the results that it could have so the only thing I can think is hard clear?

What are your guy`s thoughts? I`m taking up garage space now and can`t have it in there for too long.

Should I wetsand it? But if I wetsand with 2000 grit would that be super hard to get those scratches out?

**Street5927** · 09-26-2011, 06:41 PM

I would use wet sanding as a last resort. I would try a rotary with a compounding pad and then use the flex to remove light swirling or holograms that you created. (if you have access to one)In my experience, wet sanding a hard clear required rotary to remove the wet sanding marks. However, I have had excellent results on super hard GM clear with the Megs MF pads and 105...so that may be something to look at.

**Ron Ketcham** · 09-26-2011, 07:05 PM

O8, three years of curing, of course it is going to be more dense/hard.

Age of the OEM is clear has, in most cases" a lot to do with how "dense/hard" it works.

Grumpy

**autoaesthetica** · 09-26-2011, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by The Count

Ok, so I washed and clayed my Ranger today 2008 Ranger and I started 105 it with a orange pad and my flex, I did the roof went over it 6 times and it looked better but not great, then I did the hood, on one part I had to do it 18 passes you know like 18 squares and it still wasn`t perfect, you could still see some scratches and theres like little bubbles all over, so I finished the rest of the hood with 6 passes and its not near as good as I want it.

I did my 5.0 and it got like 100% correction and I was stoked

With 18 passes its prolly 90% correction and with the usual 6 passes its prolly like 45% correction.

First I thought it was my new pads cuz the new pads dusted after like 3 passes, so I went back to the old ones and they can last 6 passes easy, but then it still didn`t give the results that it could have so the only thing I can think is hard clear?

What are your guy`s thoughts? I`m taking up garage space now and can`t have it in there for too long.

Should I wetsand it? But if I wetsand with 2000 grit would that be super hard to get those scratches out?

Range Rovers in my experience are not what I would consider hard paint at all.. Are you sure what you are dealing with is not a defect depth issue?

Another thing just for consideration if it is the aforementioned is are you able to measure what amounts of material you are taking off? Do you have access to a paint thickness gauge?

**Accumulator** · 09-27-2011, 11:45 AM

The Count- Those "little bubbles" make me think that you should *NOT* wetsand it. Some vehicles just aren`t destined for Autopain perfection, despite the apparent miracles you see posted here.

**The Count** · 09-27-2011, 02:30 PM

Well I just took my time and am just 105 it and its lookin pretty good, a scratch here or there but about 90% corrected so I`m happy now LoL, I got over half of it done.

And why`s this guy talkin about a Range Rover?

**SpoolinNoMore** · 09-27-2011, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by The Count

Well I just took my time and am just 105 it and its lookin pretty good, a scratch here or there but about 90% corrected so I`m happy now LoL, I got over half of it done.

And why`s this guy talkin about a Range Rover?

Probably read Ranger as Range Rover.

Good call on letting 105 do the amount of correction to make you happy, wet sanding should be reserved for "special" details on your own DD (ie: before selling to get it to look its best, or if you have a PTG and know the limits of `how far you want to dig`).