75 Red Vert

I have a nasty scratch on my C3's rear quarter panel. I have it sanded down and ready to touch up. Is it ok to wet sand with 800 grit? Then polish and buff?

Jim Dillon

I use a fair amount of single stage paints and generally have very good success polishing them out. There are some paints out there though that are resistant to polishing. What type of paint are you using? I would suggest you get the product information sheet that should be available over the company website or from the jobber where you are buying your paint. You can use 800 and maybe a little finer after that and save yourself a little work in ridding the finish of sanding scratches. Your bigger battle may be the touch up. If you do not have experience with touch up I am sure there are a bunch of knowledgeable guys here that can talk you through it. Once you get it touched up let us know what if any equipment you have for polishing and we may be able to help you get a decent shine. Good luck-Jim

roger55

Is it a 2K (2 part) single-stage? If it's a 2K, I'd say just a couple of days would be fine. If it's lacquer, you can put a heat lamp on it (don't get it too hot though) and it would be ready for sanding and polishing after a few hours. Acrylic enamel is what takes much longer to fully cure.

I would wet sand it with 1500 grit before polishing.

I would then use 3M Finesse-It II with a polisher and a high-quality wool pad. I like the Schlegal pads.

If the area is large, I would use 3M Imperial Microfinish first and then go to the Finesse-It. Be sure to use separate pads.

Roger

75 Red Vert

Thanks for the replies. It is an enamel paint and the paint store took a picture of the paint and matched it very very well. I believe it is Dupont. fapco.com (Florissant Auto Paint) is my local store. They are great. I'll switch over to some 1500 grit for smoothing it out and then hit it with the buffer with Finesse.

On the rest of the Vette I used some Meguiars Fine Cut Cleaner, then clayed it (just because) then buffed in some Meguiars #26 and then topped it with some Zaino Z5 Pro that I had laying around. It is shining better than new and the Z5 goes on and off very easy.

Now back to the scratch

Thanks again.