please do not wet sand the car, you are effectively reducing the longevity of your paint. Orange peel is tough luck. I say its better to have peel last longer than no peel last short.

counterpoint: if youre not going to own the car for more than 5-7 years, then GOOD WORK getting the "fix"

 

wet sanding, done properly, can look amazing! I've seen professional shops do it right.

a few months ago, there was a bodyshop that did a demo for the local ferrari guys, just incredible what you can do with the right equipment and knowhow. long lasting or not, if you are doing wetsanding its not going to ruin the longevity of the paint, it will only smooth it out. then it will be coated over, and probably become a stronger paint because of that (the after, not the sanding!)

 

Hey 350zMotoring,
Is the wet sander your talking about located up Roswell Rd. I have heard good things about him.

 

>please do not wet sand the car, you are effectively reducing
> the longevity of your paint.

Could you please explain how wet sanding effects the longevity of paint?


koryo

 

The top part of the clearcoat (the top .3 mills to be exact) is the densest, meaning its the hardest and provides the most protection from the sun/elements ect. Wet sanding removes this, leaving you with a much softer, more vulnerable surface. Think of not having the epidermis on your skin, its like that (though not THAT severe). DONE RIGHT, it can look fabulous, but again, theres a fairly large margin of error and will still leave you with a weaker finish.

Orange peel is a part of current and future paint, so your gonna hae to lve with it. The Zs aint so bad, about thesame as any Bimmer you will see.


There are a few things going on in the world of auto paint thats quite interesting. One is a clear-coat thats about as strong as glass, meaning you can almost completely kiss swirl marks good bye. Second is a paint thats called the lotus leaf experament. Why? The lotus leaf in nature is completely self cleaning. Get the picture

 

When is this new clear coat going to be generally available to manufacturers and body shops? What company is working on it?

 

Have no idea, just passing along info one of my guys in the biz. I would guess a few more years to see it pop up one one of the higher end, more techno savy automakers (Mercedes)

That lotus leaf paint is pretty crazy stuff...a car that can clean itself of dust and dirt. Thats one of the reasons some concept cars of the past few years have had the satin paint look...aperently the chemists couldn't get the lotus leaf paint to be shiny, so they tested the flat look on consumers. But you know us Americans, we like our women blonde and our cars shiney.

 

>Wet sanding removes this, [clear coat] leaving you with a much
>softer, more vulnerable surface.

Ok ok, that makes sense. I was under the impression that clear or color would be reapplied sanded, ad infinitum, until the paint was perfect. Kinda like just repainting the car. However there are numerous factory paint jobs that don't have clear coats.


koryo

 

There are not thata many 2003 model year paint jobs w/o a clear... but thats beside the point. Also, a non-clearcoated paint will be designed to put up to the elements as well. Notice I said the top .3 mills f the clear coat, not the whole clear itself. Its that dense critical layer which provides the durability. The same thing would probably happen if you wetandes the paint of a non-clearcoated finish.

If you re-spray the sanded surface and work it until you have a perfect finish (and HAVN'T sanded as the last step) then yes that would be fine. But were talking alot of time and MONEY for that.