Hi,

I live in Korea.. I'm also not too happy with the more than usual orange peels on my Z. So, I found a detail shop here in Korea that does the wet sanding... Well, the conventional wet sanding I used to see on american TVs and bodyshops have been carried out by several guys squatting down with a sand paper and a water spray... Boy was I shocked when I saw these Korean guys working on my car. They use compressor sander!! The secret is the Japanese patented new age sand paper!!! They are working on it as I'm writing this, but it was getting too late, so I got home... Enjoy the pictures!

 

Sanding?

 

Oops!! It has been 10 months living in Korea, and I am already forgetting English.. Hehehehe....

 

Just got the car back.. It's incredible!! It looks better than the day I received the car from the dealer!! Absolutely NO orange peels! I'll try to take pictures soon!

 

I'm somewhat skeptical about this process. Orange peel is caused by the base color, not the clear coat. So, what happens to the clear coat when they use this process? I'd imagine the clearcoat thickness would diminish greatly or completly, in order to feather out all the high spots of the orange peel.

 

wouldn't this thin out your clearcoat really fast...

 

subscribing...
where the pix??

 

Pictures will be semi-useless at this point. Now if he had taken some "before" shots to compare against the "after" ones that would have been cool.

It's hard to photograph orange peel unless you can get the light just right and have a good camera.

 

I have to go to Osan for a year without my Roadster. Can you give me some rides while I am there?

 

Yes, wetsanding shortens the paint's life. Avoiding it is best.

 

He..He... Osan? Are you in the military?

 

Yeah, get there in March 06

 

It's a one time deal. You only do it once to get rid of orange peels. High quality bodyshops do it right after paint/clear coat is dry, and hotrod shops always wet sand after painting as well. Obviously mass produced cars like our's isn't fortunate enough to get wet sanded at the factory... too much labor is required...

 

dont they use like 3000 grit sandpaper?

 

4000

 

Wetsanding is used to cut the clear, and no orange peel is caused by the clear not the base. Basically the clear is either applied too fast, or the base wasnt put on correctly, so by cutting the clear your allowing the paint to breath and to flatten out the hills/bubbles in the finish known as orange peel...

 

Just FYI, but this isn't only overseas. Meguiar's an Mirka have been putting on classes for over a year about these techniques:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...&threadid=2802

I've never done it, but it sure looks cool. I don't believe it's a kind of thing where machine sanding is always superior to hand sanding, but rather another tool in the toolkit.

 

Cool~ So, there are detail shops in US that does this as well.... I'm sure those guys who took the course work on exotics and antique cars... and it would be very expensive!! This work cost me $300.. Not bad for an awesome work!!! I can seriously park next to Ferrari's and lambo's and not shamed about the paint quality!!

 

Meguiar's offers that class to anyone who wants to learn. It seems like it's usually some pros, and some hobbyists. It's usually $495, but you get to take home a kit with about $450 worth of stuff in it, sanding discs, machines, etc. I don't do professional work, nor am that interested in sanding my cars, but I'd take that class in a heartbeat if they offered it here.

Since the topic is still going, I just wanted to make a comment on the hot-rod/custom example of wetsanding. Typically those types of cars are painted to be sanded. Meaning they are sprayed with more clear than is desirable, taking into account some will be sanded off.

This is not true of factory cars (except some that are hand-sanded from the factory, possibly Bentleys and the like). So you are taking the clear down a fair bit, and there is increased risk of clearcoat damage. That doesn't automatically make it a bad idea, though. Just something to be aware of. In the future, you may have to be careful about polishing defects. You probably would want to think twice before wet-sanding or aggressively polishing out a scratch in the paint, for example. You'd also probably want to make sure the car is always well-waxed to maximize your protection from the sun/oxidation.

It'd be great to see some mirror reflection picts off your peel-free paint!

 

Then there is also the option of going to a bodyshop and have them shoot additional coats of clear, then you can do the procedure of wet sanding. That should work, right?