Clear coat issues...

[<STK>]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. Here's my problem: I was trying to remove some small clear coat scratches with some 3M Wetordry 2000 grit sandpaper and soapy water. I was lightly rubbing the sandpaper on the bumper and I finished so I wiped the water and everything off. I'm left with this dull spot on the bumper where there is no shine.
I used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound to try to get rid of the dull spot and it doesn't help the spot out . I've attached some pictures FYI. I don't know a ton about paint and I was hoping that someone here would know what to do to get rid of the dull spot. I know for a fact that I did not go through the clear coat. I have a buffer, but it's a cheapo. Someone told me that the orange peel would most likely be gone also. So my question is: What can I do to fix this? Thank You

*Images far, far too large*

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Clear coat issues...

Hi STK,

Welcome to MOL...

As for the images, they were absolutely enormous...literally twice the size of my 22-inch widescreen monitors!

Can you please take a look at THIS and re-size (shrink) the images and post them again?

Thanks!

[<STK>]

Re: Clear coat issues...

Hi,
I re-sized them and they are now 75% smaller. I didn't know that they were going to be huge I set the photos to public

Thanks

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clear coat issues...

We relinked the images for you since you're post was linking to the flickr page, not the image itself.

And now that we see what the situation is we can comment. Although, frankly, this is exactly what we expected to see given your description. Why? Because that is exactly what happens to paint when you sand it. In fact, if you look closely at the image you can see small shiny spots in the middle of all that dullness. Those are the low points of the orange peel - the areas of the paint that your sanding efforts have not yet reached. In order to remove orange peel you have to sand the paint flat, which means sanding until you no longer have those shiny low spots.

But that's if you're really trying to remove orange peel. We don't recommend that on factory paint because the clear coat is so thin. We really don't recommend wet sanding any kind of paint if you've never done it before. Partly because it's way too easy to go through the clear. But even if you don't go through the clear it's still very easy to create deeper "tracers" - isolated, deeper sanding marks caused by debris building up between the sand paper and paint. Lastly, we don't recommend wet sanding unless you also understand how to use a rotary buffer - and that is because you generally need the power of a rotary to remove the sanding scratches. And if you don't know how to use a rotary, you can create even more damage than you started with. For a novice who just jumps into wet sanding with no prior knowledge of both sanding and rotary work, it quickly becomes a downward spiral. And that, unfortunately, is where we are now.

So, how to fix this? Well, you've got Ultimate Compound and tried it, but didn't get the result you wanted. But you didn't tell us how you applied it. If you used your "cheapo" buffer then it most likely just didn't have the power to get through the sanding marks. If you did it by hand, then you didn't work it long enough or aggressively enough. Our suggestion, then, is to go back over it with Ultimate Compound by hand, applying with a foam wax applicator pad or maybe a microfiber applicator pad. You're going to need quite a bit of elbow grease here, and it's going to take some time. Whatever you do, take your time and don't concentrate on too tiny of an area at a time or you run the very real risk of going through the clear coat. Yes, even working by hand you can go through the clear - we've seen it plenty of times. Usually though, when that happens, it's because the person was working very vigorously to remove a small defect (maybe the size of a dime). It appears as though you've sanded both the horizontal and vertical areas of the bumper so we'd suggest the following: Work on half of the horizontal area that's been sanded, using a circular motion with your applicator and a fair amount of pressure. That should spread the energy out enough to prevent you from going through the clear, but also keep your work area small enough that you put enough energy into the sanding marks to start removing them. Once you've got the results you want, move on to the other half of the horizontal area, then do the vertical area half at a time.

[<STK>]

Re: Clear coat issues...

Thanks Michael, I've been working on it for the past hour and a half and the scratches have almost disappeared. I did though remove the orange peel in the area which for me is a bad thing since it now does not match the surrounding area Thanks for your help though, I'm glad I didn't have to take it to a shop

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clear coat issues...

At least you're making progress and things will get sorted out OK in the end. Just don't start thinking about sanding the rest of the car to match the new texture you've created here!!!

[<STK>]

Re: Clear coat issues...

Yeah, I'm definitely not going to be sanding until I learn how to properly use a DA polisher.

Oh btw, I got the area fully cleaned up and blended. It looks great without the orange peel.

[Jim Bob]

Re: Clear coat issues...

Yeah, I'm definitely not going to be sanding until I learn how to properly use a DA polisher.

Um, I don't think a DA will remove sand scratches.