Wetsanding/colorsanding new paint?

[Jand3rson]

Id amagine you painted the parts in a booth and baked the paint after application so it should be fine to sand when your ready.
Good luck.
Feel free to ask any questions.
"Edit" saw you painted in your garage you might want to wait a few day

You are correct, I was thinking I probably won't start sanding until later this week, and give everything a few days to dry completely.

[BahnE30]

if you start at anything below 1000 you'll run out of paint before you get it smooth, personally i'd start at 2000, and just work it, besides, how long can it take doing a few spots. if your not experienced doing this kind of thing, best to play it safe or you'll be repainting. i work at an autobody shop, and this is what i do all day.

step by step if you need it

fold 2000 grit paper into 3rds
mist water on with squirt bottle
work out the high spots until the color is even throughout the area
move on to 3000 for final finish
the only reason for 3000 is to save time when buffing, and the less buffing you have to do the less chance of burning through the paint, also with 3000, you would be able to buff to somewhat of a shine by hand, atleast enough to hold you over until your friend can do it for you...

if you need anymore help, shoot me a PM

[Reynard38]

Norton makes products for color sanding. Also Eastwood sells a complete kit. I had a shop do my Porsche as it had some acid rain damage. He used 1500 grit followed up with 3000. Then 3 grades of poloshing compound, glaze and wax. Car looks like a red mirror now.

[der affe]

I really wouldnt start that low. I wetsanded/buffed my whole e30 after it was painted with 1500 after a couple days and that worked great. 800 is way too rough. In the body shop industry we only use 1000 on big runs and 1500 and 2000 just getting rid of some dirt/orange peal. Make sure you buff with a foam pad or black with swirl REALLY bad..it probably will anyways. You just have to keep on machine/hand glazing untill it is gone. You still don't want to hand wax it untill the paint is cured after about a month or two.

like he said wait to wax! you can hand glaze w/o a prob., but if you wax it you will seal the paint and not let it "breathe " to finish the curing process. get some 3m colour sanding blocks in foam and rubber squegee's, they will help you sand flat and with even pressure. if you are not used to sanding all the time you will have a tendency to press with you fingers and dig grooves. tape your edges so you don't go through sanding!

[Jand3rson]

I don't know if you guys saw or not, but I ended up fucking up the paint in a couple of areas when I wetsanded, I burned through a couple of the radiuses on the front valence.





I took it to a body shop that a friend from high school's dad owns, and they're going to reshoot the valence and the bumpers for me for $100, I just have to sand the paint down.

[der affe]

i thought you were going to try to colour sand it yourself again after it is reshot?????
greg