# Wet sand with 5000 then DA



## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

Hi, been reading about the 3M 5000 grade paper, I wondering if a would be able to remove light defects and restore clarity to my black civic type r? If so could you please tell me the route I should take also which product and pad will I be able to use with a DA to remove these light marks with. Any help will be great. Thanks


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## Stevesuds (Jun 11, 2012)

No expert but that seems mega fine even for Honda paint. I would have thought 2500 or 3000.


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## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

Thanks for the replie, hopefully someone could give me a little bit more advise on this


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## Adrian Convery (May 27, 2010)

You could go 2500 then 3000 and then use your DA, if it doesn't take out the sanding you could go up to 5000 then try again maybe?

I've never tried removing wet sanding marks using a DA but some form of MF correction might be your best bet.


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## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

All wanted to do was to taken or imperfections out and add clarity to the paint, surly 3000 grade would be ok for this,


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## xScotty (Apr 21, 2012)

you get always start with 5000 but its hardly gonna do anything, although it is honda paint.
i would use 3000 myself personally


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## Stevesuds (Jun 11, 2012)

The DA should get most of it. Wet sanding is a bit serious on soft paint. Older VAG and BMW maybe.


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## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

Any product and pad combo you guys no of that I can use?


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## LuckyStrike (Feb 3, 2012)

HI,

On my case, i'd wet sanded with Meguiars 1500-2500-3000. After that, used Das-6 (not pro) and Menzerna RD 3.02 with CG hex-logic pads. It was Toyota, black paint.


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## pe2dave (Oct 11, 2012)

*If * the grading is the same, then looking at some of the polishes, none (that I have seen) seem to say "removes scratches from > 3000 grit" so if you are going in with 5000 then you are into the territory of the superfine abrasives? I.e. doing manually what a polish does.

I have some 6,8 and 12000 'grit' (except it isn't) which I use for other purposes. IMHO they wouldn't do much for removing scratches on the car?

Just my view.


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## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

Thanks for the comment pe2 dave, makes sense. I think if anything I need to go a little bit more abrasive, something like 3000


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## Valis (May 3, 2011)

5000 grit paper will struggle to remove paint defects. You can use coarser grits first (3000, 2000). 
If you finish with 5000 harsh compaunds will become not needed. 3M Extra Fine on medium pad with rotary polished up very easy.

Go for 5000 if no cutting compaund, or you just feal more comfortable with sanding than polishing.


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## Lwalker (May 14, 2011)

Thanks for all your help guys, here's my plan! Am not going to hammer it, just abit of light sanding with 3000 then chemical guys v36 green cg pad then v38 with white cg pad and finish it off with creme glaze black pad and top it off with supernatural! How many passes with 3000 would you say was safe! Just to skim the top layer off?


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Lwalker said:


> Hi, been reading about the 3M 5000 grade paper, I wondering if a would be able to remove light defects and restore clarity to my black civic type r?
> 
> If so could you please tell me the route I should take also which product and pad will I be able to use with a DA to remove these light marks with. Any help will be great. Thanks


Sorry, just found this thread...

I don't normally recommend wetsanding or dry sanding or dampsanding factory paint. It's already too thin from the factory. If the paint you're working on is the factory clear coat then the clear layer alone is going to be on average around 2 mils thin.

Feel a 3M post-it note between your fingers, this is about 3 mils thin.

Here's a page from my how-to book on this topic...










While I understand the concept of working cooler by sanding and then removing your sanding marks versus the traditional route of using a compound with a rotary buffer, it's still a lot more work than most people think.

Also, if the car in question is a "Daily Driver", I recommend learning to live with the deeper defects as you'll likely just get more into the future.

Paint is thin, try to preserve as much of the factory finish as possible while still maintaining a very nice finish.


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## tzotzo (Nov 15, 2009)

Could you please justify why is it not recommended to sand a factory paint?

If factory clear is one post-it, how many post-its is a resprayed one?


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## tansel (Sep 26, 2010)

@tzotzo let me give you this example; if you had a chance to measure the thickness of both paints (factory vs. respray) factory will give you about 100-130 mics (healty ones of course), on the otherhand the resprayed one will give you a wide variety between 200 to 500 mics (depending on the resprayer). 
So here Mike says; it is not a good idea to sand factory paint to get rid of rdses. Your aim should be having a "slick finished glossy paint" not a "fully un-defected paint" thined for nothing.


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