Getting prepared for some wet sanding

[matt colvin]

I am ordering the Meguiars Unigrit 3000 papers, and was wondering how many sheets it would take to do a single cab, short wheelbase Chevy truck. It's my 1998 z71. At first I'll just be doing some touchup, but I may be compelled to do the rest of the truck later on. I'd like to go on and have enough on hand to do that.

I'm ordering from ADS, and they sale it by the sheet.

I'm also ordering the #00 high tech wash too, so I've got that part covered.

[Mike Phillips]

#3000 is very, very fine...

If your goal is to remove some orange peel, then at least start out with some #2500

For the expense and hurdle of ordering, I would suggest ordering,

4-6 pieces of #2000
4-6 pieces of #2500
4-6 pieces of #3000

Even 4 half sheets of each will give you some tools for our tool box.

What are you working on? Fresh paint? Factory paint?

What is the goal?

[matt colvin]

On autopia.org, there was a great demo of doing touchup on some very small pinhole type scratches. Last year I swapped mirros with someone on a narrow road, and the broken glass from my sideview mirror scratched my door in a few small places. After seeing the demonstration of doing touchup on these types of small scratches, I think I'll give it a try myself.

The person doing it used Meguiars Unigrit 3000 to level the touchup paint. He was able to remove the sanding marking with his pc using a polishing pad and a product that is similar to 83. I plan on using 83 on the whole truck anyways, so I might as well rid myself of these marks on my door. That is the goal here. Also, the paint is factory onyx black from GM circa '98, so I'm not going to take much paint off as I don't have a thickness guage.

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mike,

Well in that case, yes please do stick with the #3000 grit Nikken Finishing paper. I read the write-up by the way. As you know, as a policy we don't recommend for enthusiasts to try to remove sanding marks using a dual action polisher.

I know the logic behind it, but I'm here to tell you I've come across sanding marks that could not be removed using a rotary buffer. We're talking personal experience.

Here's a suggestion, before going crazy and doing a lot of sanding, try sanding only a small area and then see if you can remove your sanding marks completely in this small area, if you can then you'll have the confidence and experience to move forward.

If you cannot, well then you'll be glad you didn't sand the entire finish down and volunteer to sand all your friends and neighbors cars down too! :D

Just be cautious to start with and see how things go...

Good luck! :xyxthumbs

[matt colvin]

It's Matt

But anyways, the scratches I described about are very small, in the same vicinity of one another. Very similar to what the person on autopia.org did. The only variable that I can see is difference in paint hardness.

Promise I won't go crazy wetsanding ;) .


I guess I just wanted to leave that door open later on, assuming this experience goes well. The truck is full of orange peel, as are all other GM's.

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Matt colvin
It's Matt

Yeah, yeah, yeah... another case of typing to fast and thinking to slow... hey what can you expect, I've been posting since early this morning...

The forum clock is off by a few minutes but you get the idea...
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12313

:D :D :D

But anyways, the scratches I described about are very small, in the same vicinity of one another. Very similar to what the person on Autopia.org did. The only variable that I can see is difference in paint hardness.

Promise I won't go crazy wet-sanding ;) .


I guess I just wanted to leave that door open later on, assuming this experience goes well. The truck is full of orange peel, as are all other GM's.

Thanks Mike.

Best of luck to you and if possible and whether or successful or not, try to captures some before and after pictures and post a write-up. If you're successful it will help others and if you're not successful it will help others...

Each one teach one :bigups

[matt colvin]

I'll do my best to Mike. I have a friend who seems to be pretty good at photography. He might be ableto do some pics of the process for me, as we'll both be off on summer break when I do it. I plan on polishing with 83 and 80, then using 7, 26, and 16 as my toppers. I will also be trying out 39 on my tonneau cover, which is always looking pretty bad. I will be trying out the safe-d-greaser on my undercoating job from last year, and then using all season dressing (I hope it looks half as good as Tim's Ford always does).


I've posted pics on here before, but it's usually not good conditions to take pics by the time I get done washing and waxing. Oh well, I'll go on and order now.

[Murr1525]

I really like the ASD, I think you'll be happy with it. :xyxthumbs

[matt colvin]

I sure hope so. The tonneau cover is an older design that has the buttons riveted to the side of the bed. It was on the truck when I bought it, as I would definetly not drill those holes in the body of a truck. This vinyl is not of the same type/grade as what you find with the newer brands.

Hopefully the 39 will clean it up considerably, and then the asd can keep it nice and black.