I am currently looking at buying a new Maxima. The car is grey lustre and has a couple flaws that I was hoping a good wetsand and polish might take care of. I really don;t know much about it and what all it will fix, but I'm sure someone on here will.
There are a couple scratches no deeper than the clearcoat so those should be taken care of. What I'm worried about though is the bugs on the front of the car. The car has been taken care of, but there are some bug guts thats have sort of gotten "baked" in. If the acid didn't make it to the paint, should a wetsand get rid of the baked on bug guts?
Thanks in advance.

 

If you can feel the scratch with you nail, then it's most likely repaint time.

There is also a certain wax application to take off bug stains and I'm sure a wet-sand would take care of it.

 

I went to the local body shop today and asked about wetsanding. He said the only time they will ever wesand a car is when the paint is new or before painting? Does that sound right? I've heard a bunch of people talk about getting thier car wetsanded and they were older cars.

 

to the best of my knowledge:
wetsanding is usually done as a finishing step or a prepping step to make sure that the paint is applied flat or the areas around newly applied paint will not be drastically different in color from the new paint.

I would not recommend wetsanding a vehicle in hopes of fixing minor imperfections. Wetsanding is usually only done if you are painting. Here's a couple suggestions. If you want to take out surface scratches and baked on bug guts I recommend a couple products.

Turtle Wax just came out with a new bug & tar remover (it has a red mustang on the bottle) which is not a spray. This stuff works wonders and can take out tree sap/oil/etc. I used it when I got oil on one of my vehicle hoods being a dumbass and it took a lot of elbow grease but worked very well. I also used it on quite baked on bug-guts and it took those off as well. Make sure you use lots of elbow grease and wax after using this product.

ScratchX by Meguiars works quite well on surface scratches

and when in doubt, use a polishing compound by turtle wax (green bottle) on bug guts/ scratches. Don't polish it excessively until it eats through the clearcoat though.

While I think that wetsanding will indeed dislodge the bug-guts you are speaking of this should only really be used as a last resort as it may remove some of the clearcoat. I would def recommend using any type of product on the vehicle before resorting to this step. I can agree w/ a body shops hesitance on wetsanding the entire vehicle.

I work at AutoZone and we sell all of the products I mentioned above and then some. I would really recommend using some products they sell there first. If you're in the NJ area I can even hook you up with some money off. Resist the urge of wetsanding until you try some products that are clearcoat safe and are made for this type of repair. Like someone said earlier, if you can feel the scratch with your nail, don't try and repair it, it usually is time for a sand-prime-repaint if you so desire.

also... in terms of wax... the best over-the-counter wax is Zymol. This also carries with it the ability to remove surface scratches. If you aren't happy with the finish after Zymol, it's probably not going to get any better unless it is repainted.

 

also I really recommend taking into account the price of these fixes to the price of the car... This may be a good negotiating point, but in all honesty just remember that putting $1,000 worth of work into the car from the start really negates any "good deal" that you may have gotten on the car.

 

Wetsanding is using very fine sandpaper to sand out imperfections in the clearcoat.Its called that cause water is used as a lubricant and to keep the sandpaper from clogging up.

Doesnt matter if the clear is old or new its the same process.if youve done it before its
no big deal.If not practice on moms car.

Afterwards the clear looks dull so it has to be polished back up.

 

Hmm, makes sense. Sounds like the best thing for me to do is throw some good products at the car one weekend and see how much of it I can get out myself. After that, it's off to the professionals. One of good friends is part owner in a body shop so I'm taking to him for the buff/polish and wax.

 

Yup,he should know exactly what to do.

 

can you post some pics if you can? that would prob make it a little easier for us to help advise you on what to do .. just take some shots in the sunlight if you can. if you are looking at a used car just tell them you want to take some pics to compare cars you are looking at

agree w/ talking to your body shop friend as well

 

body shop professionals at buffing? they are usually just as bad as dealerships, good hack jobs.

wetsanding isn't hard, but you will need a rotary buffer a PC will not work on taking the sanding marks out.

 

What about a body shop in a dealership...?

 

hey what part of jersey? lol im interested in some money off!!! im on a serious budget and looking to do these little things here and there to make the beast look a little better.

 

Actaully he is...he's owned the body shop for 25 years and has had a detailing business longer than that. He's one of the best.