72 hour Rule: Wet sanding must be done within 72 hours of finishing CC.
There are two school of finishing wet and dry sanding. I will talk about dry sanding briefly and direct the rest of this write up for wet sanding.
Dry sanding using a hook II system allows for you to sand the paint using a DA sander. Buy the 1/2" pad. It helps with contures. There are many grades of paper for this system, but primarily 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 are used. I will only suggest that you use 1200 or 1500 grit. The main issue with dry sanding is that it takes someone who is skilled that it to use it. If you are not, it is better that you use the wet technique instead. Go in one direction just like if you were block sanding - X pattern - then swap in the opposite direction.
Wet sanding is straight forward. When I did my 40 last week, I chose to go with 1500 grit and dip in a bucket and start sanding in the X pattern. You will know when you have a smooth enough finish that when you apply water to the area the water runs smoothly across the paint. There is a sheen. Watch out for the edges and ideally you should go until you do not see any orange peel. I say "Ideally" since this is not a snow car but a cruiser. Don't worry about the taking off to much color, you probably will so anticipate that it will happen. To get the wet look, you must apply an additional 3 coats of clear after the initial wet sanding is done.
Runs of CC on the rig...take a razor blade and scuff one side with sandpaper 800 will work. Apply pressure to the blade and remove the run. One can also use the tape method by apply tape to each side of the run and sand away until the run is removed.
Buffing:
I chose to buy a Portercable variable speed buffer/polisher years ago and it works great. I use the Merquirer's 3 6" pads for the buffing. As far as compounds to use. I use 3M's products. Unfortuantely, the stuff I bought no longer is for sale so I can't give you what I use but can say that 3M's products are wondeful.
Absolutely, do not use buffing compounds in sunlight. Remove the product asap after use. It is a bugger to remove once it is dried especially do areas that you do not want to have it on.
Any questions...
There are two school of finishing wet and dry sanding. I will talk about dry sanding briefly and direct the rest of this write up for wet sanding.
Dry sanding using a hook II system allows for you to sand the paint using a DA sander. Buy the 1/2" pad. It helps with contures. There are many grades of paper for this system, but primarily 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 are used. I will only suggest that you use 1200 or 1500 grit. The main issue with dry sanding is that it takes someone who is skilled that it to use it. If you are not, it is better that you use the wet technique instead. Go in one direction just like if you were block sanding - X pattern - then swap in the opposite direction.
Wet sanding is straight forward. When I did my 40 last week, I chose to go with 1500 grit and dip in a bucket and start sanding in the X pattern. You will know when you have a smooth enough finish that when you apply water to the area the water runs smoothly across the paint. There is a sheen. Watch out for the edges and ideally you should go until you do not see any orange peel. I say "Ideally" since this is not a snow car but a cruiser. Don't worry about the taking off to much color, you probably will so anticipate that it will happen. To get the wet look, you must apply an additional 3 coats of clear after the initial wet sanding is done.
Runs of CC on the rig...take a razor blade and scuff one side with sandpaper 800 will work. Apply pressure to the blade and remove the run. One can also use the tape method by apply tape to each side of the run and sand away until the run is removed.
Buffing:
I chose to buy a Portercable variable speed buffer/polisher years ago and it works great. I use the Merquirer's 3 6" pads for the buffing. As far as compounds to use. I use 3M's products. Unfortuantely, the stuff I bought no longer is for sale so I can't give you what I use but can say that 3M's products are wondeful.
Absolutely, do not use buffing compounds in sunlight. Remove the product asap after use. It is a bugger to remove once it is dried especially do areas that you do not want to have it on.
Any questions...
