Sanded off some clear coat, how to polish and match properly?

[mgill355]

I sanded most or all of the clear coat from the hood, roof and trunklid due to the paint being very dirty. (I was not able to clean it out) ... I do not have any experience in detailing, and I've learned that I may have been able to just use some Ultra Cut Compound to fix it...

That being said...

I plan on repainting the areas where I wet sanded, followed by using some 3000 grit sand paper on the entire vehicle, and then using the Ultra Cut Compound on the entire vehicle afterward...

My question is, will I need to also use a clear coat after I paint, or will the Ultra Cut Compound blend everything nicely?

Thanks!

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Sanded off some clear coat, how to polish and match properly?

Up to you, really. Clearcoat is really just another layer of clear paint applied over the base (color) coat. But that's not to say that you have to apply clear coat. Some folks are happy to save the money and go with a single stage paint job. UC will not restore the clear, if anything it actually removes a micro-thin layer of clear essential to removing paint defects. If you are talking about a product to pull out the sanding marks, UC might do the job but something with a bit more bite such as M105 will probably do the job much better, followed up with a polishing compound like M205.

[mgill355]

Re: Sanded off some clear coat, how to polish and match properly?

Ah, thank you... I am just worried that if I use the M105 on the car, the parts without the clear will not match the rest of the car.... but I suppose that is not the case? I just want it all to match so it doesn't look weird, because it's only temporary. The car does need a paint job, but I'm just cleaning it up for now until I have it painted.

So, I suppose I'll just wet sand everything with some 3000 grit, followed by M105 and then a polish... Thank you for the help!