Is Wet Sanding Dangerous or Bad Practice?

**The Driver** · 05-15-2013, 11:16 AM

Imo, a safe tip for wetsanding. Don`t use a grit that your polish can`t remove. I never really go below 2000, most of the time it`s 3000 and by block/hand.

Btw ~ Just finished wet-sanding my whole car with 2000 by D/A. It was resprayed though and the orange peel was awful.

**Todd@RUPES** · 08-20-2013, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by The Driver

Imo, a safe tip for wetsanding. Don`t use a grit that your polish can`t remove. I never really go below 2000, most of the time it`s 3000 and by block/hand.

Btw ~ Just finished wet-sanding my whole car with 2000 by D/A. It was resprayed though and the orange peel was awful.

Using a fine grit is always a safe practice although sometimes you need to get coarse in order to go deep.

**Merlin** · 08-20-2013, 02:20 PM

Had a F150 respray a few weeks back. I did PC "damp sanding" with Megs Unigrit discs it came out MUCH better but not perfect.
Followed that with a regular polish job and it looked pretty nice. The job didn`t pay enough to hand sand the entire truck....

I`ve ordered some Carpro Denim pads and I thought I`d give them a try on the same truck. BTW- the orange peel was painfully awful!

BTW - He took the truck to his Dad`s house and his father asked him if he bought a new truck. He truly didn`t recognize his sons truck.

...and yes...as always a very nice write up Todd!

**RaskyR1** · 08-20-2013, 02:49 PM

Not sure how I missed this one, but great article Todd.

**mrclean81** · 08-20-2013, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by Todd Helme

Using a fine grit is always a safe practice although sometimes you need to get coarse in order to go deep.

If you watch old episodes of American Hotrod, Boyd`s guys would start out at 800 grit, even on a car painted by Charlie Hutton (if you dont know who that is, Google him). Granted thats on a fresh repaint and not factory clear, but its still the same concept.

**Todd@RUPES** · 08-20-2013, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by mrclean81

If you watch old episodes of American Hotrod, Boyd`s guys would start out at 800 grit, even on a car painted by Charlie Hutton (if you dont know who that is, Google him). Granted thats on a fresh repaint and not factory clear, but its still the same concept.

I know of one painter in Southern California that blocks each coat with 600 grit until the final coat which is blocked with 800 first as well. Then the car is parked in the desert for at least 6 months before being blocked once again with 800 grit.

His paint jobs cost upwards of 60k and there is a LONG waiting list to get him.

**Rsurfer** · 08-20-2013, 09:04 PM

Great write up Todd. I would never wet sand without a paint gauge.

**Todd@RUPES** · 08-20-2013, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by Rsurfer

Great write up Todd. I would never wet sand without a paint gauge.

Thank you!

**Concours.John** · 08-20-2013, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by Todd Helme

I know of one painter in Southern California that blocks each coat with 600 grit until the final coat which is blocked with 800 first as well. Then the car is parked in the desert for at least 6 months before being blocked once again with 800 grit.

His paint jobs cost upwards of 60k and there is a LONG waiting list to get him.

All this in the process to avoid shrinkage and die back. Have worked on some of Juniors work (after many years of shows etc. damage) 1 of Charlie`s when he was with Boyd. It`s truly hard to describe the level of what they do till you have to fix a later repair to match.
It is a true process of perfection.

**Stokdgs** · 08-20-2013, 10:17 PM

When I painted a long time ago, we always wet color sanded with a block using 600grit wet or dry paper.
It absolutely leveled quickly, uniformly, and there were compounds and wool/wool blend pads that could bring the color up beautifully.

A good Painter could also paint in the wet zone just enough to avoid runs and leave a very nice smooth finish with very little orange peel anyway.

Today, I see mediocre to pretty good painting but bad prep work showing even worse 40-60grit scratches, pigtails from using dirty paper with a DA improperly, and somehow the Painter didnt even correct and prime that mess and block it before painting...
Dan F

**glen e** · 08-20-2013, 11:51 PM

I still consider it extreme. If I can do it with compounds I will.

**Todd@RUPES** · 04-22-2014, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by glen e

I still consider it extreme. If I can do it with compounds I will.

Says the crazy guy who wetsanded his new Vette!!!!

**Lou Bunn** · 04-23-2014, 08:09 AM

I see orange peel in new cars all the time, mine included, but I`m like - so what, it`s not a trailer queen show car that gets used on the car show circuit.

I know I`ll probably get that side ways look from ya`ll, but honestly, if I could, I`d specify my cars to have some kind of Rhino /Line-x type paint. I saw that done by West Coast Customs (I think) and they did a satin black on a Caddy (again old memory here) anyway, it looked awesome! Hey, might be a new thing and catch on, I know I would buy it and give the old middle finger to worrying about chips, scratches, and wax!

**Todd@RUPES** · 05-09-2014, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Lou Bunn

I see orange peel in new cars all the time, mine included, but I`m like - so what, it`s not a trailer queen show car that gets used on the car show circuit.

I agree, wholeheartly... but since the Mazdaspeed3 is now a garage queen/fun car, I have been thinking about how flat can I make it...