Wetsanding/Touchup Help

[clark_carty]

I had a very small stone chip (about the size of a dull pencil tip) on the door under the mirror of my 2005 Z with Ultra Yellow paint (yellow base, 3 different metallic coats of pearl clear). It was barely visible and not through the primer.

So instead of just filling it in with a few drops of touchup paint, like an idiot, I decided to follow the instructions here: http://site.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=27

I used 1500 and 2000 wetsandpaper hole punched out and glued to pencil erasers. I probably ran the 1500 8-10 times and the 2000 3-4 times over the surface. The repair was great, not noticable and smooth to the touch. I used ScratchX by hand to remove the sanding marks. I finished at night and everything looked perfect in the garage. All the metallic finishes were clearly showing through where I sanded.

Now the next day in the light I looked at it again straight on and it still looked great. I can plainly see all the three different metallic colors from the three different clearcoats. I get up, start to walk around the car, and with the light hitting it just right, now I can see the area the size of the pencil eraser showing up, reflecting differently than the rest of the car.

Any ideas? Am I just out of luck, and I made the repair surface now slightly lower than the rest of the panel and its always going to reflect differently. Or is there some hope that somebody who knows what they are doing with a rotory could fix my mess up and try to level it out?

I haven't had the time to try the G100 with 83 or 80 yet.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[Mike Phillips]

As long as you weren't pulling any color when you were using ScratchX you're probably okay.

Give the M80 with the G100 a try on speed setting 5.0 work the area for a few minutes but don't buff to a dry buff, if you start running out of wet product on the surface, stop, wipe of the residue, clean your pad and apply fresh product and begin again.

Chances are very good with the G100 you can remove the sanding marks completely and leave a uniform looking appearance.

[clark_carty]

Nope, no paint pulled, and I'm pretty sure I didn't go through the first layer of clear either.

I was just looking at it some more. Viewed head on it looks crystal clear and perfect. Viewed at an angle with the light reflecting just right, it looks cloudy and dull, almost like the sanding marks are still there.

I'll give the G100 and 80 a try this weekend and see if I can fix it. There's just enough room under the mirror to get the spot an inch or two into the pad, but not the middle. I'll probably have to have it at a slight angle. I'm going to wrap a plastic bag around the mirror so I don't mess it up.

Thanks,

Clark

BTW Mike, bought your video and loved it.

[clark_carty]

Tried number 80, twice, with a 10 minute break inbetween the two passes. All of the sanding marks are totaly gone now. Clear at any angle.

But, you can still tell at certain angles with the light at certain angles that there's a circular "impression" there still.

So, I tried 83, followed by 80, and it helped a little. I believe I sanded the bottom part of the circle a bit deeper than the top half. The top half seems almost perfect now, and instead of seeing a circular impression it's almost a half circle now.

I know I didn't go through the three layers of clearcoat because I can definately see all the three shades of metallic sparkles in the circlular area that's probably about 1/4 of an inch in diameter.

I guess I learned a valuble lesson on wetsanding (do as little as possible). And if a stone chip mark is tiny, just fill it in and leave it.

So, if I were to find a very knowledgable person with a rotary, would it ever get back to normal? I mean, would you have to rotary down all the clearcloat on the whole door panel to the level of where I sanded? I know it's hard to give an opinion without seeing it in person.

Maybe I'll try filling it in with 10 coats of Zaino (blah!!!) :-P

Luckily, it's right under the passenger door mirror, that's mostly shaded most of the time so it's not really noticeable unless you know it's there.