Well, a few weeks ago, when I was detailing a car, the owners cat decided to jump on my MINIs bonnet . Let some scratches...actually, this happened twice. Also, just recently I noticed a dent in the bonnet which appears to be from a rock on the highway. That also left a pretty nice scratch. I've also always had the unpleasant marks on my bonnet from the windshield wiper fluid, so I figured I would try to knock that out as well.


So, I decided to test my fate with wetsanding parts of the bonnet today to get rid of the deep scratches. I don't really have any hands-on experience with wetsanding, but figured I'd give it a shot anyway.


Process:

Remove Windshield Wiper Jet
Claybar
Wetsand scratches with 2000 grit
Polish with Meguiars #83 on a Edge2000 Yellow PC Cutting Pad (Speed 6 on PC)
Repeat
Repeat
Polish with Meguiars #80 on a Edge2000 Blue PC Finishing/Polishing Pad
Repeat
Wax with P21s


Pictures!!

Before:

Stupid Windshield Wiper fluid stains the MINI paint :impatient











Cat nails and paws can do wonders to your paint job...



Here is the scratch from the rock that hit the bonnet:



After Wetsanding:





Time to get to work:


Now after 1 Pass of Meguiars #83 (lots of hazing and micromarring - which was expected):




Skipping ahead to after final polish with M80 :










Final shot after appyling coat of P21s (removed with Monster Fluffy towel of course ) :






I would say it is about a 90%-95% improvement. Most of the cat scratches are gone, and the scratch from the rock is completely gone. However, the paint that is marred from the windshield wiper fluid is still noticeably messed up from some angles.

 

nice job! i use meguiar's wet sanding block myself... more for my
PDR than detailing, but comes in handy during touchups, etc.

 

Speaking of PDR...I have got to find someone in Austin! That rock left a nice little dent on the bonnet as well...

 

yikes... ever coming out to Chicago anytime soon? ill give you
a freebie for some detailing tips.

btw, try www.dentwizard.com and also check out your local dealers.
they usually have a mobile dent guy coming in almost everyday.

 

Just a disclaimer for anyone desiring to wetsand their finish.

Your MINI paint has about 5 to 6 Mil of paint--from the metal. That would include any primer, base coat, and clear coat. When you wetsand your paint, you are intentionally scratching up the clearcoat--sanding it away. In order to remove those fine scratches, you have to remove more clearcoat, and what you're left with is maybe 3 to 4 Mil of paint. Should you ever try to wetsand the paint, or buff the paint with a rotary buffer, you might just go through the clear coat.

For these cat scratches, I would have used the rotary buffer, You could get them out 100% and with minimal potential compromise to the clear. I've done this many times. Don't get me wrong, you are still removing paint when using the rotary, but sanding and buffing is still more aggressive.

As for wetsanding a scratch, you generally want to very carefully sand alongside the edges of the scratch rather than across. The objective is to round off the sharp edges of the scratch---imagining a cross section as a V, you want to round off the shoulders so they can't catch the light as readily.



Btw as for the drip around the washer jet, you're pretty much gonna have to live with that--I've got it too.

Good job nonetheless! You're a brave man to learn wetsanding on your MINI. I practiced on a MINI body panel first from a body shop.

 

Bold move, nice result. From what OG says, though, you can only do this once per spot. It seems like a follow up with new clearcoat wouldn't hurt anything. More feedback, OG?

 

Putting on clearcoat smoothly might be hard to do especially with Skitelluride's sharp eye.

FWIW, I tried to repair some damage to my wifes Murano after the gate at her work closed on your car..put a dent, and scratched the paint. I got a little too carried away on the wetsanding, and actually went through the clear. I was using 3000 grit Unigrit (automotive sandpaper) by the way. I was glad it was my wifes car and not a customers. . Wetsanding is tricky stuff. Who knows if the dealer hadn't worked or maybe already buffed on that side of the car before I worked on it. I should have used my electronic paint thickness gauge first to ensure there was enough paint to work with.

While it may be possible for Skitelluride to wetsand the area again, removing those sanding marks may be impossible the next time around, and I would definitely be careful should he do any rotary buffer work on it.

I've wetsanded my bonnet, but only to blend touch up. There are so many curves on the bonnet, paint is always thinner on panels that's aren't flat and the paint isn't uniformly thick, so there are thin and thick areas all over. I've measured anywhere from 5 to 10 mil on some bonnets.

Richard