To Wet Sand or Not To Wet Sand... that is the question!

[78silver]

About 4 months ago I got my '78 SC back from being professionally repainted. I took it to the painter completely dissasembled and when I picked it up he said that the paint job came out so well he's not even sure if he'd wet sand it unless I planned on showing it... however if I wanted him to, bring it back once I got it all put back together and he'd wet sand it for me to really bring out the shine and ensure that there's no "trash" left over.

I definitely don't intend to show it... rather to drive it as often as I can so I had decided to leave it as is, but now that I have it all back together I'm debating...

It has three coats of clear and very little trash... I've found about four little tiny specs on the whole car that only I'd be able to find.

Does anyone have thoughts/suggestions on whether I should or should not take it back to him and have him wet sand it for me?

I know it's hard to tell with pictures but here are a few:

[unimog406]

that is simply georgous...
I say leave it, and drive it, but your call...

[herr_oberst]

Beautiful car, the money shot is great - did you photoshop the car to bring out the highlight/shadow?

IMO, I'd ask the painter if he could wet sand the "bad" spots only, then have him do something like a mirror or a bumper to see if you could see enough of a difference to decide about doing the whole car.

I love the color/wheel/stance combination. Well done.

[the]

no way anyone can tell whether or not it needs to be wetsanded by looking at digital pictures of it on the internet.

[78silver]

Wow, thanks for the compliments. Believe it or not, these are un-photoshoped, untouched, just plain pictures using my old 4.0 megapixel canon digital camera... it's actually one of those tiny little canons that's smaller than a deck of cards.

Anyway, thanks much!

Good opinions as well. I may take the advice of just having him hit a few spots. To add a bit more to my original posts, the owner of the shop was trying to tell me that it wasn't necessary to wetsand and that it'd cost me $300 extra to have him do it. He claimed that unless I was going to show it, wetsanding would make it so shiny and smooth that just rubbing the palm of my hand over it when there was dust on the car would leave scratches... Give me a break!!! Like I'm really going to let dust build up on my beauty!

HOWEVER, the actual painter who did the job caught up to me on the way out behind back and told me that to make it perfect, call him once I had it back together and he'd wetsand the car for $80.

[78silver]

the... you make a great point. I'm just curious as to whether a professional paint job done right almost ALWAYS have a wetsand or if it depends on the quality of the job.

If the answer is, yes... every high end paint job gets a wetsand, then I think I'll probably take it back to him and have him do it. Hell if the guy who actually painted the car will do it for $80 it's not like it's a question about spending money.

[the]

Yes, a top line professional paint job is always wetsanded.

For example, you take your late model BMW to any top end shop to have a damaged fender redone. They will always wet sand it.

Are there other shops that don't wet sand? Yeah. But that's not the norm for a top line shop.

I do question what he is planning on actually doing for $80, though. The materials alone cost something, and a proper wetsand and polish is pretty much an all day job.

[78silver]

Good point... I'll make sure and ask what I'm getting.

[Zeke]

Wet wand removes orange peel and other "texture". If it's smooth and glossy, you are only opening up the paint skin to deterioration. Of course, wax will prevent much of the deterioration. By contrast, I have a car that was painted and never even waxed in 3 years.
The "skin" is undisturbed and the paint is in good condition after 3 years. The car (truck) has never seen a garage, only a sponge.

[DARISC]

Here's a really neat little trick I learned a couple months ago.

Carefully slide the cellophane off of a pack of cigarrettes. IMHO this is even worth the price of a pack of cigarrettes if you don't smoke or know anyone who does. I've since tried this using other cellophane but it seems that only the very thin cig. pack stuff works.

Pretend it's a condom for your index finger and lightly stroke the body of that beautiful baby of yours (Great color, incidentally!).

If you feel ANY roughness at all, the clearcoat is not as smooth as it can be.

A friend bought an absolutely pristine 72 Targa. I commented on the good looking paint and he replied that he still had more clay barring to do. Really? I replied. He told me to run my index finger lightly over the paint, which I did, and it felt smooth as a mirror.

Then he handed me his cig. pack cellophane and said do it again.

I was amazed at how the visually glass smooth paint felt gritty through the cellophane. "When I'm through, you won't feel that" he said.

My SC was repainted about a year before that - multicoats of clear also. The painter did wet sand the paint. After its next wash I tried the cellophane trick and, to my delight, my paint felt smooth as glass. My paint guy did a great job!

While such tiny "grit" in the clearcoat may not be visible to the human eye, I'd guess that it being there would allow more traction for the build up of dirt and contaminants.

I told another friend about this trick and he said "Oh yeah. That's an old painters trick, been around for years".

I'd try the cellophane trick. Let us know what you find. I'll bet you'll have it color sanded.

David

[Bobboloo]

I say leave and do a wet sand in a couple years when you want to remove scratches from normal wear. Then it'll look brand new again.

[78silver]

Cool... going to get some cellophane right now!

[78silver]

Found some cellophane, most everything was great except for the hood and top of car (flat surfaces) that had a little bit of orange peal.

I'll be having it wetsanded this week!!! Can't wait.

Thanks everyone!

[BMAN]

Your car looks great the first thing after having it wet sanded is installing a clear bra. I only wish my previous owner did