going to be painting the car myself this summer, i have a question about wet sanding. what do you guys generally use? i know what grits and such to use, but is it safe to use an electric sander for wet sanding?
I wouldn't use an electric sander..going to be too high an rmp and will leave circles and cut marks.
A lot of guys sand by hand, but you can now also buy DA's that are meant specifically for color and wet sanding...usually a 3" disc, dual action, and low rpm. I picked up a used one from my snap on guy for about $200...best investment I've made in a long time!
If your only options are an electric sander or doing it by hand...I would do it by hand personally.
Its gonna take a LONG time to do it by hand but the amount of control you get is 100% worth it imo.
-------------------Sig-----------------------------
"1999 Chevrolet Z24 GT"
"Wack...Missing The Z24 Interior"
"wow who wants to make a list that big!!! i want it all a fully built z24 spanking Lamborghiniz
and rarries.... hit the road like ZOOM!!"
Might sound like common sense but if you sand by hand, make sure you use a sanding block so that you dont get ridges from your fingers
^^Ridges can be avoiding by properly hand sanding which im not going to try to explain on the internet.. you can cut through the clear into your base pretty quick using a block not knowing what your doing.
At work I use a d/a for wet sanding sometimes..mainly large flat areas on bike parts. I prefer by hand though, it always just seems to look better. But I got 2 6" D/As that I can run 1000, 1500, and 3000 on wet when i feel like it or on car repairs that I am just trying to get dirt out and smooth out the clear a little bit.
The key to wet sanding is actually knowing your clear and reducer and knowing how to hybrid different levels of reducer with the temperature to get it to lay out the best possible.. the less orange peel or flatter the peel is the less time is needed to wet sand to make it smooth. No offense to you but I can only imagine the orange peel and dryness your planning on having to wet sand out because your probably painting this yourself.. Also there is a reason it costs so much to have a car wet sanded and buffed flat.. it does take forever.. some things just cant be done in a hour and if that is how you want it maybe you should take it elsewhere because your rushing is going to ruin the car. The little electric wood d/a idea is the worst yet. If you are so sure you want use a electric/air sander search for a water bug sander
Stephen (manta z) wrote:The key to wet sanding is actually knowing your clear and reducer and knowing how to hybrid different levels of reducer with the temperature to get it to lay out the best possible.. the less orange peel or flatter the peel is the less time is needed to wet sand to make it smooth. No offense to you but I can only imagine the orange peel and dryness your planning on having to wet sand out because your probably painting this yourself.. Also there is a reason it costs so much to have a car wet sanded and buffed flat.. it does take forever.. some things just cant be done in a hour and if that is how you want it maybe you should take it elsewhere because your rushing is going to ruin the car. The little electric wood d/a idea is the worst yet. If you are so sure you want use a electric/air sander search for a water bug sander
To the OP, the bold text can be the single best thing you learn from this thread. Anyone who has been painting for some time can tell you that the better the paint job you do, the less you need to do afterwards to make it look it's best. If this is going to be your first time painting, I wouldn't even worry about wet sanding yet...personally I wouldn't suggest painting your car yet. Practice on junk panels til you learn how the paint you are using reacts in whatever environment you are spraying in... i.e. - when you spray in a booth you would catalyze your paint differently than at home in a garage...difference in humidity will effect how you mix your paint, and that plus air temperature will effect how you adjust your air to fluid ratio through your gun. And like Manta Z said, the better you can get your color and clear to lay out, the less time and effort you will need to cut it after, and in the long run you will get a much nicer looking finish.
alright, ill do it by hand, not expecting alot of orange peel, just wanting to be prepared, wanting to make this look good. i have some painting experience, but not on a huge scale like the entire car. guess ill see what happens
I can vouch...helped a friend paint his truck in his garage and it was covered in peel and we had played with small stuff before and it turned out well.
well, no getting around it i guess? ill see what happens, worse comes to worse i can hand sand it for a while, i want to do this right and have it look good in the end
Like I said before, if you want to do this the right way, keep practicing on smaller things til you really learn how to be in control of the paint and equipment. Learn how paint atomizes, and get very familiar with your equipment set up so you can fine tune your spray as needed to get the most efficient atomization that you can. As pointed out by Manta Z, learning how to compensate for the environment around you by fooling with your mix ratio can go a long way in getting a good final result.
Practice on a fender or trunk a few times, and mix your paint a little differently each time to see the effects of different mix ratios, and fool with your air/fluid ratio in the gun each time so you can see how that effects your spray...remember if you spray ratio is too dry you're gonna get peel, too wet and it's going to run. Once you do well there, then move on to something like a hood to practice large flat areas.
Also keep in mind that different colors react differently because of the pigments they are made with... i.e. - blacks get hazy/milky in excessive humidity, some blues need a little higher dry heat to lay out well, etc...
You can easily get around having excessive peel if you have the practice and know how to do it....90% of the projects I paint, I do at home in my basement with lower than desirable temperatures and air flow, and most likely not the humidity level I would want, and in those conditions I get only a slight amount of peel compared to when I paint in a booth...but that comes with years of practice. When I first learned to paint, I had the good fortune of learning in an actual body shop and in a paint booth, and even in prime conditions, my first several sprays were horrendous, full of peel, fish eye, etc...because even in the best of condition, if you don't have the knowledge and practice, you will not produce a good looking product. It's not going to happen on you first shot...or second...or 10th. Painting is something that takes a TON of practice to really perfect.
