Wet-sanded through OEM clearcoat

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washnwax

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This is an offshoot of another thread I posted where I had prepped one of my cars for a key scratch so to wet sand and buffing.

Yesterday, I decided to take the project to the next step by wetsanding the touched up area. I started with 2000 grit paper. I didn't count the strokes, but was being pretty light-handed and only the top tip of the sanding block was gently touching the paint. I moved to a 2500 grit when I saw the touchup paint level out so to trade in 2000 grit scratches for 2500 grit scratches. Then, I put my PC 7424XP, 5.5 LC yellow foam pad and WG TSR to attack the scratches. Wow - that combo is SICK! The whole area was full of gloss in a matter of seconds and that combo did an absolutely AMAZING job in removing all the sanding - had me asking - do I really need to move up to a white pad? It looked totally flawless.

Then....

I put my PC down, and took a nice close look at the repair. I saw one area that was still a little high - so I thought I would try to wet-sand and level it out a bit more. Heck, I had just built up enough confidence in the previous exercise and results that I thought I was G2G.

So....I went back to the 2000 grit paper. Shortly after starting, I noticed a change in appearance in the spot I was working on - seemed "flatter". That sunken gut feeling started settling in. When I wiped the area dry, it looked like a blotch of dull paint was showing up, no haziness. Had I sanded off the clear altogether in that area? (Pics are coming). Sure looks like I did.


In an attempt to free myself from this nasty feeling, I searched feverishly online for my solution - more clearcoat. I thought - "Somebody has to make this stuff accessible to the public without needing to be a paint shop, right?".

Well, I was right. There is a company that sells it as a liquid or in aeresol cans. So, my thought was to by some of the clearcoat in aeresol form (due to the size of the damage) and spray several coats, let it dry, wetsand, and polish and see if it will look like OEM or if it will forever keep that dull look.

While it seems I sanded through the clearcoat, I wonder - is the basecoat still safe? I can still see the metallic flake in it, so I'm hoping the clearcoat will make it glossy and keep the color consistent in that area. I can get some basecoat in liquid or aeresol form as well but I don't want to risk the new base application to be off color the slightest, especially if all I need to do is clearcoat it.

Thoughts?
 
if you take a little white polish on a pad and rub it on the spot are you getting the base colour on your pad? If so then you've gone through the clear. If not, then use some TSR on orange to shine it up again.
 
washnwax said:
Well, I was right. There is a company that sells it as a liquid or in aerosol cans. So, my thought was to by some of the clearcoat in aerosol form (due to the size of the damage) and spray several coats, let it dry, wetsand, and polish and see if it will look like OEM or if it will forever keep that dull look.
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It's going to be harder than you think to re-paint this area and have it look like nothing ever happened... that's usually everyone's goal.

Do the repair and it doesn't ever look like there was a repair?



washnwax said:
While it seems I sanded through the clearcoat, I wonder - is the basecoat still safe? I can still see the metallic flake in it, so I'm hoping the clearcoat will make it glossy and keep the color consistent in that area. I can get some basecoat in liquid or aerosol form as well but I don't want to risk the new base application to be off color the slightest, especially if all I need to do is clearcoat it.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You can try... how it will look will depend on how much, (if any), of the basecoat you sanded off and if you "affected" the metallic flake when sanding. Even a subtle change in the metallic flake in the basecoat can be detectable once you restore the clarity to the area with fresh, clear paint. All you have to do is stand back a little ways in the right light and any changes will be detectable.


embolism said:
if you take a little white polish on a pad and rub it on the spot are you getting the base colour on your pad?

If so then you've gone through the clear. If not, then use some TSR on orange to shine it up again.
Click to expand...

Once you document and verify that you have gone through the clear then stop applying any kind of compound or polish to the basecoat or you may run into surface adhesion problems when you try to re-clear the area.


Not trying to play "Debbie Downer" but body shops struggle with re-doing accidents like this and getting the repair to look so good that you cannot tell there was a repair. If they struggle with all their tools and equipment then it's probably not going to be easier in your garage with a can of spray paint.


I'm all for you trying and even more so for documenting your project to help others...


:)
 
Thanks Mike - i will add up all my pics shortly to show the story...

For attempting the clear coat repair - IYO, is aeresol going to apply better than brush application?

Would you suggest applying a coat of basecoat before the clear to be safe? Well, as safe as someone trying to fix burning through clear and not taking it to a paint shop (yet).
 
Go for it man. Aerosol should work. I re-painted a portion of a black bumper with over the counter duplicolor paint and clear.. was able to blend the clear into the oem clear by wet sanding and polishing with an orange pad and TSR. I was a total noob and it turned out great. Just tape off a square around the messed up part and shoot clear over it, wet sand, polish.
 
washnwax said:
Thanks Mike - i will add up all my pics shortly to show the story...

For attempting the clear coat repair - IYO, is aeresol going to apply better than brush application?

Would you suggest applying a coat of basecoat before the clear to be safe? Well, as safe as someone trying to fix burning through clear and not taking it to a paint shop (yet).
Click to expand...


The two issues you'll need to overcome are,

Adhesion issues - Everything has to be surgically clean to avoid any adhesion problems

Matching issues - Since this is a metallic finish, everything has to be done perfectly or it wasn't match the surrounding panels. Even if the color is right getting the metallic flake to lay down exactly as it lays in the surrounding panels is the challenge.
​

Might want to find some forums for painting cars and check with the forum members there for more detailing information...



:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
It's going to be harder than you think to re-paint this area and have it look like nothing ever happened... that's usually everyone's goal.
Click to expand...

I can vouch for that. I thought it would be pretty simple. But nope, spend two days sanding then shot the clear and it came out TERRIBLE. Sanded that off and shot it again a few days later and it still came out not so great.

I made a thread awhile back if your curious.
 
ChrisGT said:
Go for it man. Aerosol should work. I re-painted a portion of a black bumper with over the counter duplicolor paint and clear.. was able to blend the clear into the oem clear by wet sanding and polishing with an orange pad and TSR. I was a total noob and it turned out great. Just tape off a square around the messed up part and shoot clear over it, wet sand, polish.
Click to expand...

Did you happen to log the work with methods used and pictures?
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
The two issues you'll need to overcome are,

Adhesion issues - Everything has to be surgically clean to avoid any adhesion problems

Matching issues - Since this is a metallic finish, everything has to be done perfectly or it wasn't match the surrounding panels. Even if the color is right getting the metallic flake to lay down exactly as it lays in the surrounding panels is the challenge.
​
Might want to find some forums for painting cars and check with the forum members there for more detailing information...



:)
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike - I've talked to the support staff at the company selling the clear. They gave me direction on prep: Dawn wash, light 1500 sand for adhesion, NOT to tape off so to avoid seeing tape lines, but to fold some paper or other barrier and tape that, spray, dry, sand (optional), buff w/ compound and hopefully resolved.

I wonder how I got through the clear so quick - I was only at this for an hour and was really light (I though anyway) on the pressure and used 2000 grit paper to start, follows with 2500, then WG TSR PC and yellow - is it possible the yellow pad and pressure on the PC7424XP chewed through some clear too? This hole process scares me into thinking twice before doing this again...2x edge sword - looks great but going for perfect bit me. How anyone gets away with an airpressure sander like Griots or Megs and not cutting through clear is a mystery to me.

Thanks and I'll post the storyline when I get through this mess.
 
Washnwax, I feel your pain buddy. I've been working in a body shop the last couple weeks and let me tell you, what they can do is nothing short of magic. Wetsanding factory clear is a risky process. It's so much easier to do on a panel that has been resprayed by the body shop.
 
rakkvet said:
Washnwax, I feel your pain buddy. I've been working in a body shop the last couple weeks and let me tell you, what they can do is nothing short of magic. Wetsanding factory clear is a risky process. It's so much easier to do on a panel that has been resprayed by the body shop.
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Thanks Tim.
 
washnwax, sorry to hear your troubles. I had a similar problem (right in the middle of the hood of a BMW) and ended up taking the hood of a BMW into a local body shop. Then guy warned me that touching up the spot will always look as though it had been touched up. It was a $400 lesson that I've not forgotten.
 
I hope you can make it decent. If you read my thread on fixing key sratches, you'll see where I do not recommend one trying this without a paint thickness gauge.
 
richy said:
I hope you can make it decent. If you read my thread on fixing key sratches, you'll see where I do not recommend one trying this without a paint thickness gauge.
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Lesson learned. The big take away is that when repairing key scratches, I need to focus on keeping the touch up paint as flat to the existing surface as possible. I put a bit too much on and turned out to be a little "higher" than the surrounding paint. So naturally sanding that high area down chewed into surrounding clear that was at OEM thickness. Wait til you see the pics. The wet-sand gods would be proud of the sacrifice - a half-dollar coin would barel cover this mistake. That said, the area that I sanded which actually survived and was later hit by the yellow and WF TSR looks amazing. I understand what wet-sanding can do now. So the yin and yang are in order- I get the reason to do it, but understand with great reward comes risk...The gloss, the shine, wow - I'd wet-sand the whole darn car if I hadn't run into this...for now I have my tail between my legs thinking "naw, I'll pass"....for now.....for now.

The clearcoat to fix this is enroute. I'll spray it, sand it and hope it looks like it wasn't touched. My only concern is UV rays on the basecoat and whether it will fade it before the clearcoat arrives. I mean its only been a week. But, if I laid out in the sun for a week with no protection I'd be roasted, so applying what I know about human skin to car paint, I'm crossing my fingers the area is in the shadows for the next week or so.

Again, pictures are coming. Just super busy with the kids and work these days to get 20 minutes to myself (at a decent hour).
 
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That's why it's key to not go overboard. It's tough to say when to stop.

I usually wet sand till I create a slurry, then stop immediately, wipe it clean, blow on it till it's dry, and thoroughly check the area. I choose then whether to go at it more, or not. Most the time I'm just checking to see if I've made a dent at all in the scratch. If not any change at all...I try a bit more. If that does nothing...just give it up, and move on.

Even with a paint gauge, you still don't know how much clear you are dealing with. So you can never get too excited.
 
Here are some pics of the sanding job BEFORE I went through the clear. After I took these shots, (hands still shaking from this being my 1st sanding experience) I grabbed my PC 7424 XP, prepped my 5.5" LC yellow foam with WF TSR 3.0 and hit the area with an OPM of 5. I was impressed with that combo against 2500 grit paper.

The gloss looked great - but the touchup paint (shown as darker color below) was still a bit raised.I started sanding again - at that point I took off clear on the larger scratch at the top.


Posting more pics later.
 
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Sadly blending clear coat is not a very good practice. Some body shops do it, buts its not a highly accepted way of repair. Blending paint is another thing and is perfectly acceptable. The problem with blending the clear is that it will probably eventually fail and become very visible around the blended edge. To properly fix your situation, the entrie panel would needed to be cleared. This is why shops clear entire panels, even on panels that recieved some paint blending. Example: Door gets hit and both fender and 1/4 get blended to match color. However all three panels would be cleared totally. What aerosol clear are you using? I ask this because most auto clears are 2k meaning they are a 2 part and require a hardner. I do know that some companies do sell these in aerosol and have a small pump at the bottom. Spray Max being one of the companies I believe. Good Luck
 
6supersport7 said:
Sadly blending clear coat is not a very good practice. Some body shops do it, buts its not a highly accepted way of repair. Blending paint is another thing and is perfectly acceptable. The problem with blending the clear is that it will probably eventually fail and become very visible around the blended edge. To properly fix your situation, the entrie panel would needed to be cleared. This is why shops clear entire panels, even on panels that recieved some paint blending. Example: Door gets hit and both fender and 1/4 get blended to match color. However all three panels would be cleared totally. What aerosol clear are you using? I ask this because most auto clears are 2k meaning they are a 2 part and require a hardner. I do know that some companies do sell these in aerosol and have a small pump at the bottom. Spray Max being one of the companies I believe. Good Luck
Click to expand...

This is so very true!!

Washnwax, Please dont try to blend clearcoat on your door . It will be very noticable !
 
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