A wet sanded 2006 GTO, your thoughts?

As some of you may know, I have a Silver 2006 GTO. When I bought the car, I wasnt into detailing at all, but since then I have become obsessed like so many of us are...

Well Ive come to find out as time went on that the paint job on my car, and apparently many GMs, is not really the best. Tons of orange peel (like most makes though), off-color paint stains from improper shipping and uncured paint, and some spots are obviously light on paint and some spots are splotchy. Basically it suck, but ya gotta work with what you got I guess.

So, I cam across this thread on the GTO forum. A black 06 GTO, the owner wet sanded the car. It seems as though this was his first venture into the process, and from the many pictures he posted it appears to have come out pretty nice.

LS1GTO.com Forums - wet-sanding advice, please

My question to all of you is, how do you think this will effect the longevity of the car's clear coat/paint. Someone in that thread states wet sanding will take away on average 20% of the clear, with the majority done at high spots in the clear. Is this true?

Not that im really considering it at this point, but would any of you that havent done this before feel comfortable doing this on your < 10,000mi car? After some practice on some junkyard panels?

And lastly, have any of you ever worked on a GTO, have anything to tell me about the clear coat hardness, or thickness?

A pic of my car for orange peel reference...

 

Went over and checked out your threads man. Nice work on the GTO. You've enlightened me on the wetsanding process and think I'm going to give it a try sometime in 08 on my personal truck 06 tacoma.

Thanks again.

 

wait do you think I'm the one who did the wetsanding? read my 1st post I just found that thread...

or am i mis understanding you?

 

Gm paint is thin so I would try an area with 1500, then go over it with 2000. I did a 08 Tahoe and the paint was very thin. If you do try it, sand in a back and forth motion, do not cris cross, keep plenty of water going over the area where you are sanding. Also if you hear a squeak type noise that means there is dirt uner the paper, stop and clear area and restart. Also get a squegee so you can check your work area often. Also do not use fast strokes, go slow so in case dirt gets under the paper there is alot less to correct. If you have any other question just ask, I have wet sanded hundreds of vehicles, this is all I can think of at the moment.

 

oh well nevermind :shakehead: .... good find though

 

Yea believe me If I were to do it, I would read everything I could about it, then practice on something else first. Thanks for the tips though.

Do you feel that the results will justify taking off that amount of clear coat? Will the car be hurting in the long run if I intend to keep the car for a long time?

I have a few bumper scrapes on my rear bumper I can play with touchup/wetsanding if I decide to try it.

its all good, I dont think I have the berries to go for this on my car just yet...

Did you think his results were good? I think I can see I substantial difference in the orange peel.

 

To me I dont think it is worth it, one mistake and you are going to have to get that area repainted. I have a slight scratch on my vette hood that should be wet sanded but the paint is to thin. I compounded and polished it to the point that I only know where it is. Will it make the vehicle look better, yes, if you plan on keeing the car for awhile I wouldnt want to remove that much clear becuase over time it does diminish from washing and polishing over time, plus if it gets scratched you do not have much to work with. With the couple of scratches try using 2000 grit and then compound, polish, lsp.

 

You have big cojones! Really great job.

 

I think there is an A.D.D. epidemic going on tonight lol :

 

anyone else care to add anything on this?

 

Great work on the wetsanding my friend, I would not have the donkey's to do that to my truck!!!

 

lol dude you are the 3rd person in this thread to think that I did the wetsanding...

you guys must need your :coffee:

 

haha walked right into that one....

 

Haha, wow.

I dont think Id do it unless you had lots of practice and a gauge.

 

joe great job on the wet sanding wow!!!!! that came out great!!!!!!!!!!:joint::joint::joint:

 

:giterdone:

 

hahahahahahahaha that's funny...everyone things that you did it hahahahahaa...lol...

:nod: I would have to agree with Asphalt Rocket, if your planning on keeping the vehicle for a long time I wouldn't wet sand it. Clear coat is quite thin and ven though you could get the vehicle re-sprayed it's still going to cost you, not only that but it's hard finding a good quality place to do a great job of re-spraying...well at least I haven't found a good body shop...if my friends reads this he's going to boot me out of his body shop hahahahaha.

Any who...I could be out to lunch on this but wouldn't you have orange peal on the paint as well? Again I'm no paint expert just my :2cents:

My friend that owns a body shop has showe me some of the vehicles he's re-painted and he deals with lots of BMW (orange peal autopia) and he's able to finish the panels/vehicles orange peal free but if I remember correctly he was telling me that the only way to achive orange peal free finish is by completely sanding down the vehicle all the way down to the paint again I could be wrong on this but that's what I think I remember :crasy:

 

Nica I wondered the same thing about orange peel. Is it in the paint (would need color sanding) or is it in the clear (just wet sanding). Im guessing it could be both, but with todays painting techniques its leaning towards mostly in the clear.

I know you have a paint gauge, have you ever worked on a GTO? Know anyone that can has and comment on the clear coat thickness/hardness?

I know there is a thread on the gto forum somewhere about someone using a paint gauge on one, I want to find it so you can see it and tell me what you think about the numbers.

 

Here it is...
LS1GTO.com Forums - GTO Factory paint thickness (we measured)

between 5 and 6 mil thickness. But does that mean just the clear or is that paint and clear? Would you guys consider this thin?
Quote from the post: "Some factory vehicles arrive with as little as 3.5 mils thickness while others may have as much as 7-9 mils or more. Usually vehicles will arrive between 5-6 mil range." You see how inconsistent the paint jobs are? Mine came out extra sucky.

That test was done by tropi-care, a detailing product company who is a sponsor on that forum.

 

The peel is in both, my friends paint shop we wetsand each coat of paint as he goes along. Yes you have to wet sand when finished to remove the peel. That is why he puts alot of coats of clear on so there is enough to remove safely to get a flat surface.