neeland

Alright so I need to wet sand an buff the hood on my wife's 01 xj. The hood had started to oxidize an i used some rubbing compound an buffed it all out then waxed it up an it looked great for abit. Well couple months later it started looking bad again so I waxed it an it helped but didn't take it away. Fast forward a couple more months an I went the compound an wax route again. Well the last time I think the hood was alot warmer than I thought an it didn't really take the wax well. So now her hood is all jacked up an I promised I'd fix it for her or get it repainted. The rest of her paint is excellent an the whole hood looks like dog *** lol.

So here is my questions:
What grit paper do I need to use
Does it matter warm or cold water
What motion circular side to side
Just straight water?
What are the chances of me screwing this up lol.

I'm not an idiot an I'm pretty car savvy I just haven't ever done this before. I don't guess I could make it look much worse than it does now but I'm trying to save some money from repainting it.
Hopefully I'm gonna get to on Friday an I'll have before an after pics for y'all

SKidder

YouTube had some great diys for wetsanding and other paint correction methods... I would search there.

djb383

I'd almost be willing to bet the clear/top coat is gone and all that's left is the color/base coat. Probably needs re-painting. The color coat will never shine, the clear coat is what shines but its gotta be there.

DaddyCat

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=22872

This test will tell you if you are through the clear coat (if color shows on your rag you are through the clear coat).

If no color shows on the test rag you still have some clear coat left, how much is unknown. I would not want to try and make the hood shine with wet sanding, it's almost impossible. Wet sanding is normally done to make the paint surface flat and smooth. Then it's made shiney with a rotary polisher or DA Buffer (Dual Action).
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45702

hitstick8

daddycat is right. the purpose of wet sanding is to even out the clear coat so there is no imperfections. since im working on getting my AA pretty soon in auto body i hope im right lol
how the steps work for painting is prep..paint..clear..wet sand..buff it with a rubbing compound then wax..
the rubbing compounds and waxes is what brings out the shine in the clear coat. if there is still clear coat on the hood you could wet sand it..re clear it..then buff it and wax..
you can always drive the jeep to a local auto paint retailer and hopefully they could probably help you out with everything you need from advice to methods of doing it. i cant really tell you much more without having the car in front of me..but good luck with that.
hopefully you dont have to do that much work..or get it re pained..
good luck man

neeland

A friend of mine has a brother that works for an autobody shop an he looked at it alil while back an told me to wet sand it. It looks like the wax an compound is trying to push back out of the clear. It looks like u could wipe it out almost but u can't. It's all just sitting there piled up. Atleast that's how it seems an like I said can I really screw it up that much worse if it needs to be repainted anyways. I don't know much about paint so I'm not gonna say anybody is wrong I just know what I was told may work an that I couldn't screw it up anymore than it is unless I took 80 grit on an orbital to it lol.

wahoo

You should use 1000-2000 grit paper with warm water in a circular motion, I would test it in a small area first.

KD3NE

Cold water works best .... minimizes any possible heat buildup.

1500-2000 to wet sand clearcoat.\


I would use 2000 ONLY, on something I did not paint myself and was unsure of how much clear was there.

IMPORTANT: For best results KEEP THE WATER FLOWING. I usually wet sand with water from a garden hose to keep the flow constant. This washes away any waste thus avoiding buildup.

All you want to do is lightly go over the affected area, they after that hit it with a buffer and glaze polishing compound.

DO NOT use an ORBITAL buffer .... get a RANDOM ORBITAL buffer, it is not as aggressive as a straight orbital unit and thus minimizes the chance of burning through the clear/paint.

waltermitty

Qualifications: Third (3rd) generation paint and body man.

If the clear coat has begun to oxidize the only resolution available is to sand it and repaint, both base and clear. You'll have to do the entire hood to make it look right. FYI: If the hood is gone, the top and tail gate are not far behind.

Every base coat manufacturer on the planet recommends no finer than 600 grit sand paper for sanding primer prior to base coat application. After the base is allowed to dry for the required period of time, the clear coat may be applied directly to the "unsanded" base coat. If you use a high solids clear only two coats will be required. Normal clear I would use three.

Steps in order: Sand to metal all paint from hood. Apply etch primer or a self etching high build or normal primer. If etch primer is used wait the required amount of dry time, apply sanding primer. Sand with progressively finer grades of sandpaper up to 600 if required. Then refer to the paint steps listed above.

If you have an air compressor and a place to do the work you may be able to handle the job your self. You will need a high quality charcoal filter respirator at the minimum and a Tyvec suit with full skin coverage is highly recommended. If you don't have the required equipment and don't plan on doing much of this type work it will be far cheaper to have it painted at the body shop.

If you do wish to pursue the paint job yourself, pm me. I'll take you through the steps.

Tim

Jmb94

Same problem, here's what I found:
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35182

neeland

Thanks for the help guys that's all very quality info. I think I'll try an sand it with the 2000 grit under flowing cold water an then wax it back up an see what happens if it's a loss then so be it I guess. Atleast I tried to do something about it. I won't try to paint it myself. I know a guy who does pretty good work an will give me a deal. I'll try to get a pic in the morning to show in detail. If ur subscribed check back then please an let me know if your opinion has changed. Thanks for all the info

DaddyCat

2000 grit is going to look dull and wax is only going to hide the scratch marks for a very short time. You need to polish with a machine after 2000 grit, even 3200 grit will look dull untill it's machine polished. Maybe you can do the 2000 grit wet sand and have your paint guy can polish it for you. Though to be honest 2000 wet sand is more course than I would want to polish. Ask your paint guy if he can/will polish and what grit sanding he prefers.

neeland

I have an orbital buffer an plan to polish an wax after

DaddyCat

An orbital buffer will not polish well enough to remove 2000 grit sanding scratches. I'm sorry if it's not what you want to hear but I don't want you to spend 20 hours polishing with your orbital buffer and end up with the same poor results where a pro with a rotary polisher would do a better job in under an hour.
I do not recommend rotary polishers for the faint of heart. They are the chain saws of the auto finishing industry, great tools if you know how to use them, very dangerous in the wrong hands.
The tool that is safe yet able to remove 2000 grit scratches is a DA Polisher. Look at the Porter Cable, Meguiars, or Makita DA polishers.
It'll cost + $200 to get setup but you'll actually be able to polish.

neeland

So the moral of the story is take it to a body shop an say fix it lol