Wet Sand after all this time or not???

[homer302]

I have a GT I had painted back around 1995. When it was painted, it was for my father who has since passed away. He never was into waxing or washing his cars so I had the painter (I was in the booth when it was painted) put 4 heavy, wet coats of clear on it so it would hold a shine in spite of never being waxed. It has been garage kept most of the years since. I inherited it in 2004 and it hasn't had 20 miles put on it since then I know. I was scared to drive it. I am to the point now where I think he would want me to drive it and be ok if it gets nicked.
My question is, all that clear does have a bit of orange peel. Is it too late to wet sand it some after all this time? I don't want to screw it up but I think it would look bad ass wet sanded.
Any advice is appreciated.
These pictures are current, not years ago.

Cheers! :beer:

 

[96dreamer]

my car was painted two years before i bought it and had orange peel so bad my friends called it a golfball. i wet sanded it a year after i bought it and had no problems. from everything that i read it is actually better to wait a while for the paint to cure.

 

[homer302]

That's encouraging. Can you give me tips on what you used to wet sand? What grit did you start with, what polishes/waxes etc.


Thanks

 

[LS1PUSSOUT]

looks ok to me i would just leave it

 

[thomas91169]

id only attempt it if you know how to properly wetsand and follow up with compounding/polishing.

otherwise the timeframe between when it was painted and now does not effect wetsanding. id say go for it if it bothers you and you can successfuly do it, otherwise id say dont **** with it.

 

[96dreamer]

mine was so bad i started with 600 grit, then 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000. As far as polishing goes im not real sure what i used lol. I know i used a wool pad at first but i did it a friends body shop and he gave be an unmarked bottle of something. The last step was the 3m polish and a foam pad.

 

[Silverboost]

take it to a professional if you are unsure about doing this yourself or at least get a hood out of a junk yard and start practicing.

 

[Nicky Pass]

take it to a professional if you are unsure about doing this yourself or at least get a hood out of a junk yard and start practicing.

Wet sanding is not easy. You have to use a special block....never use your hand. Then after its wet sanded you need a good rotary buffer....and multiple stages of compound to do it right. You could probably pay a good body shop $150-$200 to do it right.

 

[cobraman1024]

Wet sanding is not easy. You could probably pay a good body shop $150-$200 to do it right.

wuuuttt?
Why would a local body shop quote me $1500 to wetsand my '95 Cobra??
It was just painted 8 months ago for $4200 including some minor body work but the orange peel is pretty evident in the finish. This body shop that quoted me said that for the $4200 that I paid, they should have wet sanded it before giving it back to me.

 

[jldecke]

You shouldn't have too many issues with the wet sanding. I wet sanded my 98 TA after three years of being painted and it turned out ok. Just make sure and find somebody who knows what there doing, or it will be burn through city..:burnout: