# Will this 'polish out' without wet sanding first?



## BenB

I've just bought an Audi A5 and it has deep scratches on the tops of the front wings. I'm wondering if anyone thinks these will be masked/reduced by polishing alone, or if I should wet sand it a bit? Any advice appreciated, I've not been on this forum for a while and my already limited detailing knowledge I'm sure I've forgotten most of!









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## wish wash

You need to take readings to see what you've got to play with. Wet sanding should be a last resort. It needs compounding so do a test spot and see. If you've got high readings then wet sand. The trouble you have is with the marks going right up to the edge.


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## Soul boy 68

^^^^ This :thumb: a respray is a last resort.


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## [email protected]

Do not try to wet sand this. When they paint a panel there is less paint at the edge so it's easy to go through, wet sanding and compounding this close to an edge is disaster.

Get hold of a good DA and compound it then use a finishing polish and just live with what's left it's going to be less hassle in the long run.

Any idea how these scratches got there?

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## Moet1974

Absolutely not this! Wetsanding should be the matter of choice in this scenario. If you can and have the equipment take PDG readings. Mask the leading edge off. Take some 2000 grit and work slightly across but not directly perpendicular to the scratches. You will have far more control in removing them compared to just hitting it with a compound. It’s all about the contact you have. Precision wet sanding followed by refining the sanding marks with a polish will remove far less clear than just going in with an aggressive compound. This is not my opinion but a matter of fact. Wetsanding just like using a rotary polisher is often misunderstood and therefore portrayed as the last resort where in fact it should be the first choice as it’s the most sensible option bud. :thumb:


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## mawallace

[email protected] said:


> Do not try to wet sand this. When they paint a panel there is less paint at the edge so it's easy to go through, wet sanding and compounding this close to an edge is disaster.
> 
> Get hold of a good DA and compound it then use a finishing polish and just live with what's left it's going to be less hassle in the long run.
> 
> Any idea how these scratches got there?
> 
> Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk


What compound would you recommend?


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## [email protected]

My go to product is the meguiars microfiber system compound and cutting discs it's pretty much unbeatable 

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## chongo

Moet1974 said:


> Absolutely not this! Wetsanding should be the matter of choice in this scenario. If you can and have the equipment take PDG readings. Mask the leading edge off. Take some 2000 grit and work slightly across but not directly perpendicular to the scratches. You will have far more control in removing them compared to just hitting it with a compound. It's all about the contact you have. Precision wet sanding followed by refining the sanding marks with a polish will remove far less clear than just going in with an aggressive compound. This is not my opinion but a matter of fact. Wetsanding just like using a rotary polisher is often misunderstood and therefore portrayed as the last resort where in fact it should be the first choice as it's the most sensible option bud. :thumb:


Before I read this I also thought this needs wet sanding :thumb: but the leading edge would need to b tape off with masking tape, about 2-3mm so it's covering the edge. I would use 2000 grit wet sand paper first, then if you can still see them, then use 1500 wet&dry paper followed by 2000 then 3000, then instead of using a compound follow up with 5000 grit, this will make it easier to refine with a medium polish like Menzerna 2200 or Menzerna 2500. When you do come to refine the sanding haze remove the tape and just be careful when polishing close to the edges :thumb: the left over scratches close to the edge will either be removed or smoothed out.

Going in with a aggressive compound will only remove more clear coat than wet sanding, so if you are going to do this yourself for the first time, then practice or just find a local Detailer to do it.


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## Rayaan

Most of that should come out with a simple hand polish. The deeper scratches will remain but at least look better


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## BenB

Thanks for all the replies! From what I gather, to remove them completely, a professional could take readings, carefully wet sand, then polish away the haze... but if I'm doing this myself I think I'd better be happy to settle with reducing and masking them!!

I have a feeling I could make things a lot worse- I'm certainly glad I asked before heading out with some 2000 grit!

What product would you recommend for a hand polish on these areas? They are within a 6x2" space, so I'm thinking a big polishing head would be overkill. And what product if I do decide to dust off the old DA? The car is amazingly straight and I'm going to give the whole car some attention with the polisher when the weather improves, but right now it's just lacking that sparkle!


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## percymon

They look to have been caused by the service garage putting dirty wing protectors on, or putting wing protectors onto a dirty wet car, then scratching the paint with movement or during fitting/removal.

Those paint protection blankets are more trouble than they are worth


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## BenB

That's a good shout, hence they're in the same place on both sides. Annoying as the car has quite new front wings too apparently after hitting a deer


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## MBRuss

Can somebody explain why sanding out the scratches will remove less paint than compounding them out? Surely, to remove them entirely you just need to level off the paint, which will require the same amount of paint to be removed regardless of which way you do it?

Or is it just that you're more likely to remove too much with compounding for some reason?

I'd have thought you were less likely to do this though, as compounding tends to remove material at a slower rate than sanding...?

Unless there's another factor that I'm missing?

TIA


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## Leebo310

MBRuss said:


> Can somebody explain why sanding out the scratches will remove less paint than compounding them out? Surely, to remove them entirely you just need to level off the paint, which will require the same amount of paint to be removed regardless of which way you do it?
> 
> Or is it just that you're more likely to remove too much with compounding for some reason?
> 
> I'd have thought you were less likely to do this though, as compounding tends to remove material at a slower rate than sanding...?
> 
> Unless there's another factor that I'm missing?
> 
> TIA


Because you can isolate the scratches more with wet sanding that you can with a da. Even a 3in pad on a 5mm throw machine will remove more clearcoat from the surrounding areas than a small piece of sandpaper. You can attack the scratches pretty much alone with sandpaper. All depends on how careful you are.
You're right in that whether you compound or wet sand, you still need to remove the same amount of paint to level the scratches. You can just ensure the size of area you do this to is less with sandpaper.


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## MBRuss

Top man, thanks. I thought there would be a simple answer!


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## petemattw

wish wash said:


> You need to take readings to see what you've got to play with. Wet sanding should be a last resort. It needs compounding so do a test spot and see. If you've got high readings then wet sand. The trouble you have is with the marks going right up to the edge.


Compounding has been proven on here previously to have the potential to remove more CC than wet sanding! I'd say measure and then which ever route you choose to take, proceed with caution!


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## BavarianRob

Before you start wet sanding, do the scratches disappear when wet? If so, a good compound will get most of them out. If you can still see the scratches when wet, I doubt you’ll get them out completely without risky wet sanding. Having said that, even polished scratches are less obvious than unpolished ones. 


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## Atkinson91

If you can catch your nail in the scratches, chances are, they're too deep to remove FULLY. Problem with going at it with a machine is heat and its on an edge. Problem with wet sanding is...you're on an edge
either way you're limited to what you can do and chasing perfection may not be possible. I would try a 3" pad to finesse the area, see what results you get, if they're not the results your after, as Chongo said, try a few light passes with some 2000-2500 grit, polish back up and be happy with the results at that point. Last thing you want is a resprayed panel!


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## Andyblue

BenB said:


> I've just bought an Audi A5 and it has deep scratches on the tops of the front wings. I'm wondering if anyone thinks these will be masked/reduced by polishing alone, or if I should wet sand it a bit? Any advice appreciated, I've not been on this forum for a while and my already limited detailing knowledge I'm sure I've forgotten most of!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my LON-L29 using Tapatalk


Stupid question time - did you buy it from a garage and if so, why not get them to sort it ?


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## BenB

No, I bought it privately. The guy said they were very recent resprays after hitting a deer, so really annoying that the whole front end has been treated so badly!
I've been so busy I've only given the car a basic wash once in the 6 weeks or so I've had it (Shame on me) let alone polish anything, but I've definitely decided to stay away from wet & dry! Masking these scratches even 50% would be great, I think they are too deep to lose completely.

I will of course update this thread with how I get on


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## OldskoolRS

I recently had some damage to my OH's car caused by a careless window cleaner dragging his hose across the passenger wing/windscreen pillar. While we could have claimed on his insurance, we could have then ended up having to deal with whatever mess the bodyshop cause (especially if they decided to 'do us a favour' and 'mop' the whole car).

I picked a small area on the pillar to try to wet sand (I have done this before) and used P2000 and P2500 paper, then my DA polisher with a medium grade of Menzerna polish to bring back the shine.

I still need to refine the finish, but it's a new car to us and I plan to work my way round the whole car anyway. This was more to prove whether I could get the scratches out without it needing a re-spray, so it was a success on that score.

Close up of damage:









Post wet sanding:









After medium grade polish with DA/Hexlogic orange pad:









The colours went a bit strange, but that's a reflection of my camera skills; the top picture is more like the actual colour.

This area is small enough, that if it had come to it I could have sprayed it myself, or gone the insurance route, but just thought it might be a good example of what can be polished out with a lot of care.

We got the window clean charge dropped and the next two visits are free, which probably equals the amount of time I'll have spent wet sanding/ polishing out the damage once I've done the rest of the wing. He has promised not to let his apprentice clean our windows again...


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## Andyblue

BenB said:


> No, I bought it privately. The guy said they were very recent resprays after hitting a deer, so really annoying that the whole front end has been treated so badly!
> 
> I've been so busy I've only given the car a basic wash once in the 6 weeks or so I've had it (Shame on me) let alone polish anything, but I've definitely decided to stay away from wet & dry! Masking these scratches even 50% would be great, I think they are too deep to lose completely.
> 
> I will of course update this thread with how I get on


Hope you manage to get it sorted :thumb:


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