First Time Wetsanding - 08 Viper

[Malu59RT]

Well, I just couldn't look at it anymore. I think the company that painted the car (Saleen), forgot to wet sand my fenders, as all the panels look good except for my fenders. So last night I went out to the garage and busted out the 300 grit sand paper to take the paint from this:

to this:

So how do I make the paint shiny again? Suggestions?















Kidding


I used 3M 1500 Wet/Dry Sand Paper and a sanding block, with LOTS of time and patience. I'll probably use the 1500 with 2500 afterwards, on the other fender later this week. This one fender took me a good long time, but I wanted it to be perfect. Menzerna Power Gloss on a Edge 2K green pad, and some 106FF on an orange pad helped finish out the process.
In process:

Jason

 

[Malu59RT]

Continued:

Jason

 

[Baracuda]

Superb !

I must say...you have balls

 

[Malu59RT]

Superb !

I must say...you have balls

I've been getting that comment a lot from the Viper forum too.

 

[Dropkick Detail]

The title itself is enough to make people look. Not terms I like seeing: First Time Wetsanding and '08 Viper. 300g to start, huh?

 

[Malu59RT]

The title itself is enough to make people look. Not terms I like seeing: First Time Wetsanding and '08 Viper. 300g to start, huh?

LOL, the 300 grit was a joke. I started with 1500.

 

[richy]

LOL, the 300 grit was a joke. I started with 1500.

No sh!t..I read that and thought..ok it's a typo for 3000 grit which is a pretty safe way to start. I like your sense of humour!!:cheers:

 

[dannythekid]

I thought the same... like "so he's going from orange peel to the bare metal look?"

good work.

 

[med]

Nice job. I can't imagine buying a car of that caliber and have the paint look like that. They should do something about their quality control.

 

[Jordan88]

Nice job. You scared me there for a bit!

 

[mingraygt]

I about crapped myself when I first read this!

 

[TOGWT]

Quote: So last night I went out to the garage and busted out the 300 grit sand paper to take the paint from this:"

That certainly got my attention (first time wet-sanding, 300 grit on a Viper's paint....)

But nice job

 

[bryansbestwax]

Well done, next time though I would make the place that painted the car fix it. But nevertheless, excellent work.

 

[Malu59RT]

Well done, next time though I would make the place that painted the car fix it. But nevertheless, excellent work.

It's a brand new car, and Saleen paints the body panels for Dodge. It would have to be a warranty issue, and this is more customer preference than manufacturing defect. I can take care of it, so I did

Jason

 

[m4gician]

No sh!t..I read that and thought..ok it's a typo for 3000 grit which is a pretty safe way to start. I like your sense of humour!!:cheers:

lol I already had my insult to how stupid you are for doing that... lol good one!

 

[Brian_Brice]

You might want to consider taping or avoiding sharp edges while sanding, looks like you were painfully close to a huge upset.

 

[jay'sautodetail]

First off,let me say great job!!! Secondly, Saleen should have done the whole car. Back in '95 I worked as a subcontractor for a special vehicle facility here in DETROIT wetsanding & rubbing the hoods of these cars. The hoods on these early model gt's also included the top of the fenders. These hoods would come out FLAWLESS after 8 hours of wetsanding with 1500/2000 grit and rubbing out with 3m finesse it 2.

 

[Malu59RT]

Thanks Jay! This is a VERY time consuming process, and I wish Saleen would have delivered a show ready finish on the entire car, but I'm happy for now.

Here's the other fender:

MUCH BETTER!

Cleaning up is going to suck

All better

Jason

 

[Surfer]

First off,let me say great job!!! Secondly, Saleen should have done the whole car. Back in '95 I worked as a subcontractor for a special vehicle facility here in DETROIT wetsanding & rubbing the hoods of these cars. The hoods on these early model gt's also included the top of the fenders. These hoods would come out FLAWLESS after 8 hours of wetsanding with 1500/2000 grit and rubbing out with 3m finesse it 2.

Gen II Vipers had the best paint of any factory car, made a Rolls Royce look like it was painted at Maco. My ACR was flawless, no orange peel, untill dumbass blonde hit me months ago. Now all the changes to paint standards even Vipers have op now. Whats weird is Saleen must have glitches when painting as I've seen a few 08's that had little OP and others that had noticeable OP. My ACR had just under 550 rwhp n/a, went for ride in 08' to test and fawk the new cars are fast, felt slightly quicker then my ACR.

 

[blk45]

Nice job, but I'm curious. Why did you open the hood and create a mess in the engine compartment? Wouldn't the clean up have been much easier with it closed?

Love that blue!