Old school vs Modern sanding

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Here's something more recent I wrote on hand sanding


How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips


From a class on the topic,

And.... no burn-throughs from either the sanding or the buffing....

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Meguiars makes some nice smallish semi flexible sanding blocks.

I don't know about any flexible sanding block from Meguiar's - maybe some other company?

Meguiar's does have these,

How to use Meguiar's Unigrit Sanding Blocks to remove runs and dirt nibs in paint

When my car was painted my painter hand sanded with a block but we ended up finishing with 3m Trizact with 3000, 5000 and 8000 with a air powered RO.

I'm not sure you can hand sand as fine as 8000 on a RO.

Finish looked great. Not a trailer queen car, driven regularly on the street.

Pictures please!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Mike, nice to see you teaching people how to use a rotary.

That's a skill needed for wetsanding.

I think I go back to 2003 for teaching an actual wet sanding class.

Here's a Rotary Buffer Class, we didn't sand but the students got to train on a 1966 Corvette Stingray. Pretty cool. Most of the classes a person could go to you'll only get to work on a hood on a stand.

How to use a Rotary Polisher

Here's Audrey learning to use a Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer with a wool pad and Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound to remove the swirls and scratches out of a 1966 Corvette Sting Ray...

 

[DUBL0WS6]

I guess I was wrong about the sanding block. I know that you can find small sanding blocks at any auto paint supply store.

 

[DUBL0WS6]

2000 Trans Am. Pic didn't upload.

 

[DUBL0WS6]

2000 Pontiac Trans Am - Completely Finished - Huff's Auto Body & Repair | Facebook

Tried to upload the pic but had an issue.

That's bare paint. I ended up finishing it up with Wolfgang Spray Ceramic Coating.

 

[2black1s]

Here's some of what I wrote in my initial reply...

... The waviness that the OP describes, if I'm interpreting his description accurately, is from one of two things... The paint was either applied in coats that were too wet and heavy; or too many coats were applied (without in-between sanding)...

Today I went back and read through this entire thread again. I caught where the OP stated that seven (7) coats of clear were applied. Assuming that the paint (clear) used was a modern urethane, seven coats is beyond excessive in my opinion. Most paints are designed to typically have a final film thickness of less than 2 mils. That is the rough equivalent of 2 or maybe 3 coats depending on the application technique.

The only time I ever applied seven coats of clear to anything was back in the days of acrylic lacquer. With today's urethane clears, I have never applied, nor would I recommend, more than three medium-wet coats.

 

[DUBL0WS6]

I've watched Powernation type videos on youtube where they've done as many as 6 coats of clear. I'm guessing they sanded between coats to do that many.