Help Needed - Post Body Shop Wet Sand And Buff Repair Question

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Honais

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Hello All!

First I want to thank all of you for the wealth of knowledge I have learned on the site. I have been a lurker here for the past few years and have a question I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions on.

I recently got in a small accident and came into contact with a car on a narrow street. The body overall was in good shape and there were some marks left going down the passenger side of my car.

I went to a few reputable body shops here in Atlanta and received a few quotes. I chose the shop I felt best about and followed their recommendation of a combination of wet sanding and buffing. One thing I learned here on the site is to use the least aggressive method that will provide the desired result. I conveyed this to the body shop manager that I wanted to protect the clearcoat and paint as much as possible.

I picked up the car and it looked pretty decent overall, but I have recently noticed a couple of areas that are concerning and appear to be pretty dull and do not feel like the surrounding areas on the same panel. My concern is that they may have removed too much or all of the clear coat in a few areas. I have attached some pictures to give a better idea of what I am looking at.

The questions I was hoping to get some feedback or guidance are:

1.) Does it look like the clear is removed in the pictured areas? Or maybe just rough wet sanding that needs some more polishing?

2.) What would you do to repair or improve this if you were in my shoes? I am an amateur in skill level, but I do have a porter cable 7424 XP that I purchased here on the site and some pads and microfiber pads for hand polishing as well. I want to protect the area and make it look as good as possible and it is not in my budget to repaint. I will use Klasse all in one and sealant glaze after I finish the work, just don't know the best options to improve the appearance and still leave the paint protected.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you may have. Please let me know if you need any more photos to clarify any questions. Solid community here and thanks to all in advance for your help and suggestions!!


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Hello All!

First I want to thank all of you for the wealth of knowledge I have learned on the site. I have been a lurker here for the past few years and have a question I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions on.

I recently got in a small accident and came into contact with a car on a narrow street. The body overall was in good shape and there were some marks left going down the passenger side of my car.

I went to a few reputable body shops here in Atlanta and received a few quotes. I chose the shop I felt best about and followed their recommendation of a combination of wet sanding and buffing. One thing I learned here on the site is to use the least aggressive method that will provide the desired result. I conveyed this to the body shop manager that I wanted to protect the clearcoat and paint as much as possible.

I picked up the car and it looked pretty decent overall, but I have recently noticed a couple of areas that are concerning and appear to be pretty dull and do not feel like the surrounding areas on the same panel. My concern is that they may have removed too much or all of the clear coat in a few areas. I have attached some pictures to give a better idea of what I am looking at.

The questions I was hoping to get some feedback or guidance are:

1.) Does it look like the clear is removed in the pictured areas? Or maybe just rough wet sanding that needs some more polishing?

2.) What would you do to repair or improve this if you were in my shoes? I am an amateur in skill level, but I do have a porter cable 7424 XP that I purchased here on the site and some pads and microfiber pads for hand polishing as well. I want to protect the area and make it look as good as possible and it is not in my budget to repaint. I will use Klasse all in one and sealant glaze after I finish the work, just don't know the best options to improve the appearance and still leave the paint protected.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you may have. Please let me know if you need any more photos to clarify any questions. Solid community here and thanks to all in advance for your help and suggestions!!

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Honais said:
Hello All!

1.) Does it look like the clear is removed in the pictured areas? Or maybe just rough wet sanding that needs some more polishing?

2.) What would you do to repair or improve this if you were in my shoes?


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Welcome to AGO! Sorry to hear about your mishap. Too bad you didn't have good pictures of what the damage looked like before you brought it to the body shop.
Would have been interesting to see if some good old M105 or M101 could have taken care of that with a Foam DA.

To answer your questions:
Q1 - Yes, it looks like they either burned the clear or they did not polish the section out.
Q2 - I would bring it back to them and tell them this is unacceptable. That it needs to match the rest of the paint. Or, if they screwed it up once, odds are they will screw it up again... You could take it somewhere else, then charge them for their repair bill & the second repair bill.
 
Not trying to get on your case, but you shouldn't have accepted that kind of results in the first place.

I agree with Paul on the two questions that he answered.
 
Honais said:
Hello All!

First I want to thank all of you for the wealth of knowledge I have learned on the site. I have been a lurker here for the past few years and have a question I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions on.

I recently got in a small accident and came into contact with a car on a narrow street. The body overall was in good shape and there were some marks left going down the passenger side of my car.

I went to a few reputable body shops here in Atlanta and received a few quotes. I chose the shop I felt best about and followed their recommendation of a combination of wet sanding and buffing. One thing I learned here on the site is to use the least aggressive method that will provide the desired result. I conveyed this to the body shop manager that I wanted to protect the clearcoat and paint as much as possible.

I picked up the car and it looked pretty decent overall, but I have recently noticed a couple of areas that are concerning and appear to be pretty dull and do not feel like the surrounding areas on the same panel. My concern is that they may have removed too much or all of the clear coat in a few areas. I have attached some pictures to give a better idea of what I am looking at.

The questions I was hoping to get some feedback or guidance are:

1.) Does it look like the clear is removed in the pictured areas? Or maybe just rough wet sanding that needs some more polishing?

2.) What would you do to repair or improve this if you were in my shoes? I am an amateur in skill level, but I do have a porter cable 7424 XP that I purchased here on the site and some pads and microfiber pads for hand polishing as well. I want to protect the area and make it look as good as possible and it is not in my budget to repaint. I will use Klasse all in one and sealant glaze after I finish the work, just don't know the best options to improve the appearance and still leave the paint protected.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you may have. Please let me know if you need any more photos to clarify any questions. Solid community here and thanks to all in advance for your help and suggestions!!


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That doesn't look good, I wish you would have posted here before letting the body shop do the work. I think most people here even Mike Phillips himself probably would have told you not to have factory clear coat wet sanded. Did they wet sand and buff the whole car? Sorry I can't help with the problem
 
Honais said:
Hello All!

First I want to thank all of you for the wealth of knowledge I have learned on the site. I have been a lurker here for the past few years and have a question I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions on.

I recently got in a small accident and came into contact with a car on a narrow street. The body overall was in good shape and there were some marks left going down the passenger side of my car.

I went to a few reputable body shops here in Atlanta and received a few quotes. I chose the shop I felt best about and followed their recommendation of a combination of wet sanding and buffing. One thing I learned here on the site is to use the least aggressive method that will provide the desired result. I conveyed this to the body shop manager that I wanted to protect the clearcoat and paint as much as possible.

I picked up the car and it looked pretty decent overall, but I have recently noticed a couple of areas that are concerning and appear to be pretty dull and do not feel like the surrounding areas on the same panel. My concern is that they may have removed too much or all of the clear coat in a few areas. I have attached some pictures to give a better idea of what I am looking at.

The questions I was hoping to get some feedback or guidance are:

1.) Does it look like the clear is removed in the pictured areas? Or maybe just rough wet sanding that needs some more polishing?
Click to expand...


Hard to tell from the pictures if the paint is just dull or if the clear is missing.

Basecoat is DULL so if they removed too much clear and exposed the basecoat then it will look dull.

IF they didn't get all of their sanding marks out then sanded paint looks dull.

The only way you can tell and it's kind of tricky - you need a dark cloth like a chunk of black t-shirt and a grey polish. Rub some grey polish with the black t-shirt over a dull area. If you see white paint coming off then the clear is missing. If the t-shirt and grey polish is all you see then the clear is still intact. At this point, you should be able to rub longer with a quality polish and see clarity and gloss come back to the dull paint - that is if the clear is still present.

IF the clear is gone then the only recourse is to repaint.




Honais said:
2.) What would you do to repair or improve this if you were in my shoes? I am an amateur in skill level, but I do have a porter cable 7424 XP that I purchased here on the site and some pads and microfiber pads for hand polishing as well. I want to protect the area and make it look as good as possible and it is not in my budget to repaint. I will use Klasse all in one and sealant glaze after I finish the work, just don't know the best options to improve the appearance and still leave the paint protected.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you may have. Please let me know if you need any more photos to clarify any questions. Solid community here and thanks to all in advance for your help and suggestions!!
Click to expand...


What do you have for compounds and polishes?


Sorry to hear of this mishap - I'm sad to say your experience is the norm for most body shops.


:)
 
Thanks so much to everyone for the quick feedback. I will follow Mike's recommendation for the black shirt and gray polish and will post once I know if the clear is indeed gone.

What is a good gray polish to use? (Maybe something I could buy locally to check this out tomorrow?)

Thanks again,
 
Honais said:
Thanks so much to everyone for the quick feedback. I will follow Mike's recommendation for the black shirt and gray polish and will post once I know if the clear is indeed gone.

What is a good gray polish to use? (Maybe something I could buy locally to check this out tomorrow?)

Thanks again,
Click to expand...

Megs Ultimate Compound, not exactly grey, buy a light beige and should do.
 
Mike Phillips said:
Hard to tell from the pictures if the paint is just dull or if the clear is missing.

Basecoat is DULL so if they removed too much clear and exposed the basecoat then it will look dull.

IF they didn't get all of their sanding marks out then sanded paint looks dull.

The only way you can tell and it's kind of tricky - you need a dark cloth like a chunk of black t-shirt and a grey polish. Rub some grey polish with the black t-shirt over a dull area. If you see white paint coming off then the clear is missing. If the t-shirt and grey polish is all you see then the clear is still intact. At this point, you should be able to rub longer with a quality polish and see clarity and gloss come back to the dull paint - that is if the clear is still present.

IF the clear is gone then the only recourse is to repaint.







What do you have for compounds and polishes?


Sorry to hear of this mishap - I'm sad to say your experience is the norm for most body shops.


:)
Click to expand...


Thanks, Mike. I very much appreciate your insights.

I currently don't have any compounds or polishes, but if the clear coat is still there, I will definitely buy any recommended pads and compounds/polishes.

I am going to buy a little bit of the grey polish now to test a small area with a black t-shirt as you suggested. What kind of polish or compound would you recommend for this?

REALLY hoping the clear coat is still there :)

Thanks again to all of you for your help!
 
I don't think that the polish being grey is that important. You just need a polish that are not white so its easier to tell the difference on the black cloth between the polish and the car's white base coat.
 
.


First let me post an article I wrote in 2011 as I'm going to reference it in a follow-up reply.

This information is also in my how-to book, "The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine" on pages 8 and 9 - just to plug the book - there is TONS of "head knowledge" in this book that it would take the newbie detailer a lifetime to learn on their own.


Here's the article - note the sentence I coded RED


How to Test for Single Stage or Clear Coat Paint

To test for a colored single stage paint, try to use a white polish and a white applicator or light colored applicator or cloth.

If you're testing white paint then try to use a polish with a color to it and a dark colored cloth. The reason for this is so you can confirm that you're removing white paint and not just seeing the color of the polish or the cloth.

If the cloth and polish are both white it will be hard to see paint pigment.

56StarCheif039.jpg



Use an ample amount for plenty of lubrication as you're going to want to push firmly if no oxidation is present as was the case with the finish on the classic car.
56StarCheif040.jpg



56StarCheif041.jpg




Confirmed, we're working on a single stage paint... also note the heavier accumulation were my fingers pressed down with the most pressure... this is because you can exert more pressure to the small area of your finger tips than you can with your entire hand, you can use this to work for you or cause problems depending upon what you're trying to do...
56StarCheif042.jpg




:)
 
DBAILEY said:
I don't think that the polish being grey is that important. You just need a polish that are not white so its easier to tell the difference on the black cloth between the polish and the car's white base coat.
Click to expand...

I agree that a person doesn't need a polish is grey - the problem is it's about the only other color that's dark and on the market. Most compounds and polishes are white and there are a few polishes that are grey.

The BIG PICTURE is that you cannot test for WHITE paint (easily) using things (cloth and polish) that are also white. The reason why is because the human eye will not be able to distinguish between the cloth, the polish and any removed white paint in a situation like this where you're trying to find out if the clear layer of paint is now removed.

Make sense?

But yeah... any color will do, whatever you can find, the darker the better so that if white paint is coming off the panel as you rub it will build up on the dark cloth with the dark colored polish so your eyes can see it and then you can make a definitive judgment as to whether or not the clearcoat is missing.




Honais said:
Thanks so much to everyone for the quick feedback. I will follow Mike's recommendation for the black shirt and gray polish and will post once I know if the clear is indeed gone.

What is a good gray polish to use? (Maybe something I could buy locally to check this out tomorrow?)

Thanks again,
Click to expand...


I don't think you'll find compounds or polishes at the retail level that are not white.

Most retail waxes are actually cleaner/waxes, they simply don't state that in the name on the bottle. Perhaps if you could find one of those gimmicky "colored waxes" that would work. Maybe at the Dollar Store?



Honais said:
Thanks, Mike. I very much appreciate your insights.

I currently don't have any compounds or polishes, but if the clear coat is still there, I will definitely buy any recommended pads and compounds/polishes.

I am going to buy a little bit of the grey polish now to test a small area with a black t-shirt as you suggested. What kind of polish or compound would you recommend for this?

REALLY hoping the clear coat is still there :)

Thanks again to all of you for your help!
Click to expand...


Doing a full write-up today on an old 2-door Chevy out in the garage, it will show you how to tackle your car.


:)
 
Hello All,

Just wanted to post a quick update and thank all of you again.

I called auto geek and per Mikes recommendation asked for a gray finishing polish and 3D HD polish was recommended. Came in the mail yesterday and I took a black t shirt and applied the prduct and applied it in an up and down motion where the doors meet (which was the area I was most concerned about).

The shirt turned a little gray, but did not appear white. I think it was just the polish and the area I was concerned with looked a lot better if not great :)

I think the clear is still there because it is now glossy and smooth as opposed to rough and dull. Spent 3 minutes polishing with a t shirt, hit with a microfiber towel to remove excess product, and rinsed to dilute anything left behind. Not sure if that was necessary.

Here are a few pictures I took with the best light I had (before is on the left and the last three are after).

I think things are looking good and this made my day if not my week! Thanks again to all of you for your help and direction - God bless you fellas.

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