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I am in the process of planning to wetsand the recently painted hood on my car. The paint job was completed a week ago. The bodyshop that repainted the hood used a high-end European paint manufactured by Sikkens, which is known for its ultra-hard clear coat finishing. This line of auto paint exceeds all OEM specifications in terms of quality and environmental compliance.
According to the bodyshop, they sprayed TWO layers of clear coats on my hood. The second layer of clear coat is thicker than the first coat for both durability and margin for correction in case of dust-nibs. According to the bodyshop manager, the clear coat they applied on vehicles are thicker than almost all OEM clear coats.
Flash-baking was utilized in between coats. After the final layer of clear coat was applied, they baked the paint in the oven.
After the car is rolled out of the oven, they did NOT wetsand or polish the car. They only washed the car with a bodyshop compliant car soap.
When I picked up the car after the hood is repainted, I noticed that the surface of the hood is relatively smooth. Orange peel is very minimal, although it exists. Orange peel level is no match to the factory smoothness. One thing I notice is that the newly painted hood lacks gloss. It is shiny with the help of the clear coat, but it lacks the depth and gloss that the factory paint possessed.
I tried giving the hood a few passes using M105 and an orange 5.5" orange LC pad. The M105 barely made any difference in increasing gloss. The bodyshop manager was not lying when he claims that the paint he uses is one of the industry's hardest. The hardness of my BMW's paint does not rival the hardness of my newly painted hood.
I understand that most bodyshops wetsand newly painted surfaces to a certain extent and give it a polish to bring back gloss and to reduce orange peel. However, the highly experienced painter who painted my car was so good at minimizing orange peel during the painting process, that wetsanding was rendered unnecessary to remove orange peel. The problem now, however, is that the clear coat is not 100% smooth because wetsanding was skipped. There was not enough orange peel to justify wetsanding the surface. And because the newly painted clear coat is not wetsanded and polished, gloss and depth is not maximized. When I look at the the paint using a magnifying glass, I could see that the clear coat is not smooth at a microscopic level, which hinders gloss.
Now, in an attempt to increase gloss and depth to my newly painted hood, I have decided that wetsanding is necessary. There is minimal orange peel, but highly tolerable. The only thing I find intolerable is the lack of gloss due to the unsanded, unpolished clear coat. I strongly believe 3000 grit and medium force would suffice in achieving my goal at maximizing gloss on the hood. However, I would like to seek opinion on that.
Also, before I go ahead and wetsand away, do you advise that I give M105 another go, this time with a LC 5.5" Yellow pad? That is virtually the most aggressive setting I could possibly go. Would that sufficiently buff away the clear coat imperfection? Or would that simply be a waste of my M105?
Or Perhaps I should just slap on two coats of NXT 2,0 and one M26 and call it a day when cure time is over???
This is what the hood looks like currently:
I am bothered that the gloss and depth of the newly painted hood BEFORE LSP is no match to the OEM paint.
According to the bodyshop, they sprayed TWO layers of clear coats on my hood. The second layer of clear coat is thicker than the first coat for both durability and margin for correction in case of dust-nibs. According to the bodyshop manager, the clear coat they applied on vehicles are thicker than almost all OEM clear coats.
Flash-baking was utilized in between coats. After the final layer of clear coat was applied, they baked the paint in the oven.
After the car is rolled out of the oven, they did NOT wetsand or polish the car. They only washed the car with a bodyshop compliant car soap.
When I picked up the car after the hood is repainted, I noticed that the surface of the hood is relatively smooth. Orange peel is very minimal, although it exists. Orange peel level is no match to the factory smoothness. One thing I notice is that the newly painted hood lacks gloss. It is shiny with the help of the clear coat, but it lacks the depth and gloss that the factory paint possessed.
I tried giving the hood a few passes using M105 and an orange 5.5" orange LC pad. The M105 barely made any difference in increasing gloss. The bodyshop manager was not lying when he claims that the paint he uses is one of the industry's hardest. The hardness of my BMW's paint does not rival the hardness of my newly painted hood.
I understand that most bodyshops wetsand newly painted surfaces to a certain extent and give it a polish to bring back gloss and to reduce orange peel. However, the highly experienced painter who painted my car was so good at minimizing orange peel during the painting process, that wetsanding was rendered unnecessary to remove orange peel. The problem now, however, is that the clear coat is not 100% smooth because wetsanding was skipped. There was not enough orange peel to justify wetsanding the surface. And because the newly painted clear coat is not wetsanded and polished, gloss and depth is not maximized. When I look at the the paint using a magnifying glass, I could see that the clear coat is not smooth at a microscopic level, which hinders gloss.
Now, in an attempt to increase gloss and depth to my newly painted hood, I have decided that wetsanding is necessary. There is minimal orange peel, but highly tolerable. The only thing I find intolerable is the lack of gloss due to the unsanded, unpolished clear coat. I strongly believe 3000 grit and medium force would suffice in achieving my goal at maximizing gloss on the hood. However, I would like to seek opinion on that.
Also, before I go ahead and wetsand away, do you advise that I give M105 another go, this time with a LC 5.5" Yellow pad? That is virtually the most aggressive setting I could possibly go. Would that sufficiently buff away the clear coat imperfection? Or would that simply be a waste of my M105?
Or Perhaps I should just slap on two coats of NXT 2,0 and one M26 and call it a day when cure time is over???
This is what the hood looks like currently:
I am bothered that the gloss and depth of the newly painted hood BEFORE LSP is no match to the OEM paint.
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