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  4. Wet sanding

Wet sanding

Wet sanding is using wet-and-dry fine-grit sandpaper to flatten the paintwork by hand. When polishing a car, we are removing a very thin layer of scratched paint, however the sponge pads we use are not flat, and they are soft, and so if we know we need to cut-back the surface to remove a scratch, we can use a very fine sandpaper on a flat sanding block or bobbin. This if both faster than polishing and will remove paint more evenly.

This technique is often used to remove light scratches and bird mess etching.

Wet sanding will also remove high points and reduce orange peel. After sanding, we continue polishing the car with compounds, polishes and sponge buffing pads on a random orbital polisher.

Wet and dry sandpaper is special waterproof sandpaper which is designed, so it can be used wet. Using water acts as a lubricant, and we can also wash away dust from the paper and panel.

In the US, this technique is sometimes called 'color sanding', which is a relic from the days when cars were painted with a solid base colour. 

Written by . Last updated 27/02/2023 16:57