The Supra looks great. Let's see some pics of the P-car

 

ditzler and 3m make the best and most consistent compounds.

 

I got distracted with the Supra and haven't finished the P-car yet. I'm waiting to obtain the factory touch-up to fill in a couple spots, then finish the wet sanding and polish the rest of the car out. It will come out as nice as the Supra or nicer! I'll post pictures when I'm done...

MoeMistry, I've seen many of your posts and you seem to be a very skilled/knowledgable detailer!

Regards,
Daniel

 

damn that 93' supra looks amazing!!!!!

 

Thanks for the kind words Daniel. I do my best to help others that share the same passion as I do. All I can say is that I'm truly blessed to be sharing what I love and having people appreciate it as well. I'm glad the Menzerna polishes worked out great for you. They're a much better polish than what you were using. Can't wait to see pics of the porsche when done.

 

How does the wetsanding affect the clearcoat? I assume it removes it? Do you respray with clearcoat after?

 

Your assumption is correct; wetsanding removes some of the clear. An experienced and knowledgeable detailer will measure the area using a gauge. The most you can remove without compromising the integrity of the clear is about 8 microns. Colorsanding should be left to a professional because mistakes may require a VERY costly repaint. I should also add, if the manufacturer finds out the paint has been colorsanded and/or machine polished, they may void warranty. Now, with all that said, colorsanding can take a so-so paint job to something out of this world. The results are short of breathtaking. So in the right hands, you can achieve AMZING results but the risks aren't always worth the reward. That's just my 2 cents.

 

Well you are assuming it has a clearcoat to begin with. Some of the black cars from the '90's and early 2000 era were single stage, such as the MKIV Supra. You definitely have a lot more latitude with single stage than you do with base/clear. If you start off wet-sanding with 3K Grit, it is really pretty safe even on clear coats as there are actually compounds that are more abrasive than this. However, you definitely do have to use extreme caution. A a paint meter can be helpful to avoid surprises. Some factory paint jobs have paint as thin as 2.5 mils, while others like the Mitsubishi 3000GT have paint as think as 10 mils from the factory.

Respraying clear coat on a car is a mis-used term--Its called repainting the car!

 

FWIW the most you can remove off a normal clear coat is a little less than .5 mils. The reason for that is the uv inhibitors are in the top .3 mils, if you go through that you remove them. This can lead to fading of the base color layer under extended periods of direct sunlight. For new ceramic clears it is pretty similar. The ceramic structure is in the top .3 mils also, remove more than the top .3 mils and you will remove the extra hard protective coating that ceramic clear offers.

This is the reason for the new technology in ceramic clear abrasives. They are not more agressive persay. They are simply sharper at initial stages, and finish out to a better finish. Eliminating a extra cut or polish step.

So knowing that a clear coat layer is on average 1.5-2.0 mils helps, then from there you have to guesstimate based on previous condition, exp, and other cars of the same type what is left of that .3 mils to remove.

In many cases a harsh compound will remove more than .3 mills when trying to remove scratches or deep swirls. in this cas wet sanding is an option. You can often effect as much change as needed while removing less than the .3 mil max. Yes even after polishing steps.