Quote:

I think my paint job is FUBAR-ed! I went ahead and sanded the hood with 1000g to find no shine and tons of fossilized bugs in the hardened paint.

Its sopposed to rain today so all I did was wetsand, no paint. this is how I uncovered the fossilized bugs. Theres somewhat of a shine but definitely not a keeper. What I don't get is that there is 6 layers and after sanding with 1000g to move onto coat 7, there is no shine. I mean right now I should technically be finished, right?
or maybe it was because of a thicker 6th coat that messed it up. can someone fill me in on how the final wet sand surface is supposed to look like?





The final wetsanded surface should have an overall dull gloss - almost like a satiin wall paint compared to a glossy wall paint. The dullness should be similar everywhere on the panel or hood that you are working on.

What you are looking for here is to ensure that the final painted coat is all at one level.

For example, if you were to slice your hood in half and look at a side profile it, it should look like this :

====================================== Paint layer
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX metal hood


IF you were look at a side profile of the paint and it looks like this :

========wwww========www=======wwwwwwww== paint
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX metal hood...

Then it means that the paint is not all at one level layer.

Now... taking a close up of the problem layers


WWWWWWWWWWWWWW====== you need to sand the peaks

wwwwwwwwwwwwww====== after light sanding you might be able to get it a little closer. For some people this might work out OK. But the key to a high gloss shine is to get one level contiguous surface...

==================== This is ultimately where you want to get to.

IF you have reached a point where your 1000 grit has successfully dulled the entire surface to the point where you can not see shiny patches, then you are probably at about the right point for the 1000 grit. But you have to remember that the 1000 grit wet sand is not suppose to leave you with a shine. Afterall, it is scratching away at that final outer skin of the paint - removing the paints natural outer shine.

IF you have a uniform dull look to the paint job, then you can start moving up to the 1200 grit, 1400 or even 1600 grit.

You have to remember that each time you are going up to a higher level of grit ( finer ), then the sanding scratches left by the wetsanding will be getting smaller and smaller. As the wet sanding gets finer it takes away from the scratches left by the previous coarser grit sand paper.

If a microscope view of the 1000 paint looks like this :

\ /
\/

When you take it to the 1200 grit, it will look like :

\/

And when you take it up to the 1600 grit it will look like this :

__

At each point where you apply a finer grit sand paper to the wetsanding, you will find the overall surface is taking on a more and more shiner overall look.

This is because the scratches from the wet sanding are taking the surface closer and closer to a smooth surface. The smoother the surface, the shiner it gets.

When you move on to compounding and polishing the surface, that is when you will regain the actual shine. But you have to remember that what the compounding or polishing product is doing, it is simply sanding at a higher level of grittiness. I think most compounding paste are probably equal to a 2500 to 3000 grit sand paper. Polishing compounds might range in equivalency to 2500 to 3500 grit. Remember that compound paste and polishing products are not magically putting something into the surface to regain the shine. They are simply making the surface smoother and smoother. The more smooth it is, the better the reflective value. The better the reflective value, the more shiner it becomes.

NOW... when you finally get to the WAX stage, it does a couple of things. It fills in the microscopic scratches of caused by the wet sanding. But wax can only fill in 'so much' of the scratches. And that is why we have gone through a lengthy wet sanding, compounding and wetsanding sequence... to reduce the size of the scratches.

Now... for myself I went with the 100% pure Carnuba wax from Meguirs ( it had a lovely banana or cherry smell to it ). My theory was that pure Carnuba wax would allow the paint below to continue breathing as it evaporates ( and yes, the paint will be evaporating gases from it for a few months after you finish. The carnuba wax molecules are quite translucent and they are big enough to fill in and camoflage larger scratches.

But some guys have gone to the acrylic type polishes ( usually these newer 'wonder car waxes' that claim you only have to wax 'once a year' ( NuCar, NuFinish, Turtle ICE, etc ). Some folks have gotten great results... as the acrylic base liquid waxes are like pouring on a wet final coat that can fill in the scratches. The only problem I suspect is that because they are acrylics, they may cause a 100% non-breathable surface over your fresh paint. That would mean that evaporating gases trapped under the acrylic layer may give the overall look a bit of fogginess after a few months.

.