Hello Everyone, I had a question about wet sanding. If you wet sand with lets say 2000 grit and then put some compound with your DA and buff it out, is the pad going to get paint on it? It is going to get coloured alittle bit? I did this on a car that was white. It turned out great but the pads got white and I don't know if it is from the compound or from the car itself. I saw a video of someone on youtube doing the same thing and theirs pad was red and their car was red. Is there a way to avoid this so I can clean and reuse my pads for different cars? I know you are not supposed to but these are just our home cars, they are not ferraris. Also, would you recommend using something like a wax and greese remover before sanding? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks, Amir.
To use a wax remover before sanding wouldn't really make much sense sine you're sanding the surface down anyway. Properly wash the vehicle for prep. Some cars I have wet sanded have shown the paint color of the pad (I use a rotary), but not all. It will sometimes depend on the paint age and whether it's a single or two stage paint. If you're worried then I wouldn't sweat it. It kind of sounds like you may have a single stage paint job, but I definitely cannot say for sure.
So I want to see if I have the process correct: Wash, clay, wetsand, compound, polish, wax. Is wetsanding even a good practice? Should I just skip it? I did it on a car and it left some scratches which were first not visible. I used 2000. If you get some paint on the pads, can you use the pad on another car of different colour?
Sounds like you have a single stage paint job meaning there is no clear coat on the car. Single stage is basically like having the color and the clear mixed together. A 2-3 stage paint job is putting down a base color then applying clear coat over it. I would stay away from wet sanding unless you have a scratch you're trying to level out and only if you know there is enough paint material there so you won't sand through. Otherwise your pad turning white is normal on a single stage paint job. And yes you can clean that pad and use it on another car.
Apologies for the late reply ...... You really don't need to clay if you're going to sand. A proper and thorough wash will suffice. If you sand then the best practice is to always sand at levels. Meaning, if you sand with 2000 grit then finish it with 2500 etc until the scratches are minute. A good DA will be able to polish those sanding marks out without any problem.
I thought maybe claying before sanding can help, in case there is something that will cause scratch but I am not really the fussy type of person, I just wanna learn things properly. Whatever is necesssary. Do you have any experience with painting? I have an old car that I am selling and I don't want to spend much money on it. It had a rust hole which I fixed with fiber glass. now I am putting body filler. There are dings all over so I am fixing it all but I don't want to spend money on painting so I have some color coded spray cans. I am trying to find someone who has experience using those so I can ask for some advice. I don't want to paint whole panetls. Just the required areas. And blend it in best I can and make it look hidden by shining the car up nicely there after. If you know anyone or you yourself can help me with this with some advice, I would really appreciate it. Thank You, Amir
