Scrap Hood- Wetsanding

[budman3]

Scrap Hood- Testing products (pictures)

As you may know I picked up a BMW hood yesterday. Well it's raining out today so it was a good time to practice some wetsanding . I took a razor blade and scratched the panel so I had something to remove. Well, lets hope someone doesn't decide to take a razor blade to your car... it can't be wetsanded out . Even though it is still there, it is a lot less visible. Oh well... that's why it's a scrap hood.

Process:
-Wetsand w/ 1500 grit
-Wetsand w/ 2000 grit
-OHC, rotary, LC orange light cut x2
-Menzerna Powergloss, rotary, LC orange light cut x2
-Menzerna 106 Nano, rotary, LC white polishing pad

Pictures:

Scratched hood:

Before, taped up:

After 1500 grit:

2000 grit still wet on panel:

2000 grit dried:

OHC still on the panel:

Afters:

So I had a good time :cheers:. If you do decide to wetsand, be sure to use even pressure, keep the paper/panel wet, go one direction, and most importantly... pay attention. Cutting this much clear could be detrimantal to the longevity of the paint job. However, after all of that sanding and polishing, there is still clear left... so if you are afraid of polishing your paint with a PC... I've cut the paint probably 10x more than the PC would and had no issues. Hope you enjoyed :righton:.

 

[FMINUS]

Very nice! I need a Bimmer panel...

 

[budman3]

Any body panel would be good to have. I plan on pushing the limit on some products to see how they fare. If I screw up... no big deal. This way I can judge how I should use these products in the future.

 

[AL417]

Very impressive! Thanks for doing this. Even though it made my skin crawl to see the AGO scratched on the panel I thought it was cool.

 

[budman3]

Very impressive! Thanks for doing this. Even though it made my skin crawl to see the AGO scratched on the panel I thought it was cool.

Well it's still there too . I guess the razor blade was a little too strong to sand out... oops. Let's hope this is the only time you'll see something written in the paint.

 

[budman3]

Instead of posting new threads of the tests that I will be doing, I'll just post them in here and hope people will find them...

Up today was a head to head comparision of the UDM and the PC. Since the hood is in decent shape I decided to add some swirls to it. I took a piece of the 2000 grit sandpaper that I used yesterday and lightly scuffed the finish, dry. Quite surprisingly I created swirls that can be seen on 85% of the vehicles on the road....

The left hand side is where I used the UDM and the right is the PC side. I did 5 passes (one pass is side to side for the whole section as well as up and down) and one pass with light pressure and faster movement. The polish that was used was Menzerna Nano Polish 106 and pad was a 7.5" LC VC white polishing pad. Both machines were used on speed 6.

Pictures:

Swirled up:

UDM polished:

PC polished:

Final results:

It's too early for a conclusion but this is the second time that I've had better results via PC. It could be because I have had more time with the PC and the more experience helps... or just the swirls on the UDM side were a little deeper (I don't think that's the case... I was careful to be as even as possible). But either way, the sections that were polished out look a lot better than it was before. I was a little skeptical to use the Menz via D/A because I haven't had good luck with IP or FP but it was a pleasure to use. It works better with the rotary though... but a polish that works with both is a good find .

 

[07ImpalaSS]

Cool!

 

[D]

SIP works very nicely with the PC as well. You just need to break it down. Otherwise its hard to remove.

 

[dannythekid]

Excellent tests. I have some old trunks in my garage I wanna start working on. maybe I'll post them up on here when I do it...

I need to get one of these PCs... Seems like it's the right tool for the job. Thanks again.

 

[FMINUS]

I really have to try and get some panels....
I need one a newer Bimmer one....

 

[Nica]

Very nice :righton: I like the wet sanding, wet sanding is lots of fun but like you said really got to pay close attention. If you do wet sanding correctly, there should be clearcoat left after wet sanding.

What your doing here budman is wicked, I mean anyone who is anyone can learn from this. Man props to you bro :applause: :applause: :applause:

Thank you for taking the time to post

 

[budman3]

Well guys, I'm running out of ideas here... you need to help me out!!!

I sprayed on some maroon spray paint about 2-3 hours prior to the pictures. I figured this would be a good way of showing how to remove over spray as well. I usually tackle overspray with clay or a paint cleaner. So out came the PB gray clay and some lube. The paint was a little tacky still but clay was doing the job... slowly but was working. After I did about 1/4 of the overspray, I decided to bust out the Poorboy's Pro Polish and a terry towel to do the rest. If I kept claying, I would have been there all night... so PP to the rescue!!

To clay you'd treat it normally... spray on plenty of lube and then rub the clay in...

Product used:

Lube on:

After a little rubbing:

After PP:

 

[budman3]

And... if you see this on a vehicle you are working on and are using a rotary... you burnt the paint. I did this on purpose to show that the rotary isn't a toy. This was on the edge of the hood used with a light cut pad and it only took 10-15 seconds to burn it...

 

[Truls]

Great tread Budman.

That last pic with the burnt paint! if it took you 10-15 sec to burn the paint, that is a "long" time spending on one place with the rotary. ive always wounderd how long it would take to get through the paint. if it either went trough the paint, if it was in like a sec or longer. Guess i got my answer from you Budman, needs some "effort" to work your way trough then?

Thanke Bud

 

[Nica]

Wow budman that's wicked stuff bro :righton: very nice. That last picture of the burnt paint is good stuff, I did the same thing on my Jeep and learned fast how easy it is to burn through the paint/clearcoat. This is wicked stuff that your doing.

 

[budman3]

I tried to burn the paint on the edge where the hood curves but didn't have any luck. I kept the buffer in one spot for a long time (not sure how long... but it was more than 10 seconds) The paint got really hot but no burn. However, the edges of the panels are a different story. Didn't take long at all to go through the paint. As I said earlier, a little common sense and paying close attention to what your doing you'll be fine .

Glad you guys like this... it's been fun for me as well... now I just need some more ideas

 

[klumzypinoy]

Thanks budman3 for sharing this. It must be fun playing around with a test panel. How much was that test panel?

 

[budman3]

I just took it from a body shop

Actually I called this place last year to see what they did with their damaged body parts and they said they throw them out back in a trailer to send off to be recycled. I asked if I could take one and they said that's fine. So if I want a new panel I'll bring this one back and come home with a different one . I assume most body shops do similar so if anyone is looking for some panels, call a local body shop and see... it never hurts to ask.

 

[Totoland Mach]

Budman3: GREAT WRITEUP! It's always fun to see the "what if's" on products and process. And, not worry that it's a customer car!

Very informative, even for folks that wet sand like me. I've found that 2000 grit is the best for scratch removal. I use it and also the 3000 grit, but it's not aggressive enough. Plus 3M Trizact 3000 is waaaaay too expensive.

Toto

 

[budman3]

Exactly. I got one hood last year to practice the rotary on. This BMW hood is not the "what if" hood. I already figured out that 2000 grit is still a tad too abrasive to compound out easily. I think a pass of 2500 or 3000 grit after the 2000 would be benificial.

I'm running out of ideas to do to the hood so I've just been using some new products including Presta Ultra Cutting Cream, their 1500 polish, Menzerna 106 & 85, all with the rotary. It's fun, I'm learning, I'm not screwing up someones car and it gives me something to practice on when there aren't any vehicles to detail.