Hard Clear Coat ?

[g88]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

Sorry guys for lack of input.

- The car been resprayed about 8-9 years back (or at least 7 years) - only 1 time since out from factory
- During that time i know nuts about detailing and paint, therefore what i was only told by my dad was asked the painted to spray 'thicker' paint (not sure primer or clearcoat (i suspect is clear coat)....

I just went to measure the paint thicker earlier (my PTG measure from bare metal till clear coat (i can tell how thick my clear coat alone) and here's the result for the rear hood (left right top/bottom corner) , center of was about 170-180 mils.










What should i do now to remove these haze ?


Option A :
Hand Wet sanding again with 3000 grit (with sanding block) follwing by M105 (with PFW- that what i have else would be Makita 8" wool)

Option B :
ROB with 3M Trizact Hookit II 3000 grit Disks ollwing by M105 (with PFW- that what i have else would be Makita 8" wool)

Please advice further.

[g88]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

anyone ?

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

Well unfortunately that measures only what is in between the gage and the metal.
You just have to be careful when sanding, I've gone through my CC and now I know how much I can remove.
Just sand a little test spot and check.
That's really the only advise I can give you.
Unless the base coat was measured and then the CC was measured it's really hard to tell.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

Your average readings of 170-180 microns might seem quite good,but you said that this was a respray.So if you take into account that there is still the old paint underneath minus a bit of the old sanded clearcoat,it's hard to tell what the thickness really is.You could try and calculate as an estimate of what you have actually got to play with.

Possibly what has been suggested to you by Mario is what you'll need to try?I think you'll have to use some judgement here.The meter is only telling you what it's capable of.

[g88]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

So do i sand it again, probally with 3000 grit or run few passes of M105 with PFW ?

What you guy think ?

[TH0001]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?


As Tim perfectly pointed out, wet sanding is fairly easy, removing the sanding marks can very very difficult.

Keep in mind that when a polish or compound claims to remove xxxx sanding scratches easily, they are generally referring to even marks on fresh paint. Cured paint is much more difficult story. I am often amazing at some people who claim to be able to remove sanding marks with a Dual Action Polisher and moderate polish. In my experience with wet sanding factory paint it can often take several passes with an aggressive compound, a wool pad, and a rotary to completely level the paint?

Why go aggressive, particularly when we are told to use the least aggressive method first? Well the least aggressive method first works well with day to day chores and enthusiast level detailing and makes sense, but when it comes to wet sanding you are really discussing pretty advanced techniques. You have to be comfortable and willing to really grind at the paint in order to get it flat. When you sand you are creating a texture in the paint and the only way to remove it is cut it out.

Why do you still have a haze in the paint? The haze, obviously is thousands of little scratches in the paint caused by the sand paper itself. As you noticed its pretty easy to get the gloss back, but its the removal of those sanding marks that is the pain. With experience you will learn how to create a flatter surface when you sand so that all of the marks remove fairly similarly.

Before sanding always make sure the surface is completely clean. Wash, clay, and perhaps even compound the surface first to make sure that ALL contaminates have been removed completely. Anything that becomes trapped between the paper and the paint is going to cause you a number of head aches as it will grind into the paint (tracer scratches). Stop frequently and clean the surface and your sand paper and use plenty of water to continuously flush everything clean.

If you get tracer scratches, either from contamination or from abrasives of the paper sheering off they can be very deep and difficult to remove. Often times it is easier to sand them out instead of try to polish them out.
When you sand, work a small section at a time, clean very often, and inspect at every opportunity.

So what to do now?

You can try polishing some more and see where that gets you. I would switch to the Makita 4 ply wool pad (make sure it is clean). Wet your hand with water and spin the pad over it to remove as much loose fuzz as possible. Make several passes with M105, remembering that it doesn't take long to break down and inspect. See if you are getting anywhere.

If that doesn't get you where you want to go, then I would consider re sanding with Meguiars Unigrit 2500 in the opposite direction as your originally sanded. Instead of left to right, go up and down. This way you will be able to visibly inspect the surface to make sure you are removing the previous scratching.

After it is nice and level, then compound it hard to fully flatten it. Before doing anything, read Tim's post and make sure you want to continue.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

Well said Todd!!!



Tim

[g88]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

thanks Todd and Tim for the advice...

I think i would go for Makita wool with M105 see how it goes..will keep you all update (will take sometime since can only do it in 2 weeks later)...

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

G88, I only skimmed quickly through the thread so sorry if this was already posted, but after looking at the photos it's possible that he scratches you're looking at are under the clear coat that got sprayed 7-9 years ago. I've seen it numerous times, and mostly on older cars with white paint.

Not saying this is a sure thing, as you might need to refine your process and go at it a few more times (be careful about cc removal) but if M105 isn't cutting it (no pun intended, ok well maybe some ) after numerous passes this might just be the case.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

G88, I only skimmed quickly through the thread so sorry if this was already posted, but after looking at the photos it's possible that he scratches you're looking at are under the clear coat that got sprayed 7-9 years ago. I've seen it numerous times, and mostly on older cars with white paint.

Not saying this is a sure thing, as you might need to refine your process and go at it a few more times (be careful about cc removal) but if M105 isn't cutting it (no pun intended, ok well maybe some ) after numerous passes this might just be the case.

Morning,

Sanding marks below the CC are pretty rare as the CC itself will fill in any light marring that may be in the base coat. There are times however, when scratches can been seen and are caused by a few reasons, like the primer/filler was not sanded using a fine enough grit of paper or if the primer had not dried before being sprayed with BC/CC and when it shrinks there are grooves. Then we must ask: was the car painted or was there body work done to it? If it was just repainted, I doubt the marring is below the CC.

But from the picture in the OP's post, those are wet sanding marks in the CC, IMHO , and from the looks of it and the subsequent readings taking with a PTG, were caused by not using a sanding block and fine enough paper.

Tim

[Eddie6th]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

Yeah Todd,nicely written.

[KC's]

Re: Hard Clear Coat ?

G88 any updates yet