Rant: I used to hate wet sanding but a '56 Chevy tailgate changed my mind

For the last 10 years I swore wet sanding was a waste of time on clear coat. Then last month I took on a '56 Chevy tailgate that had orange peel so bad it looked like a golf ball. After 3 hours with 1500 and 2000 grit, then buffing it out, the reflection came through clear as glass. I finally get why the old timers push it so hard. Has anyone else had a job that made them flip on a technique they used to badmouth?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith_rodriguez12d ago

Yeah, fair point but heres what nobody talks about - the clear coat formula from back then was way different than what we got now. That 56 Chevy was probably repainted with single stage or early urethane that actually had enough material to work with. Modern waterborne clears are thin and brittle. I wet sanded a 2018 F-150 once and burned through in two passes. Ended up repainting the whole panel. So now I only wet sand classic stuff. Have you run into that difference yet?

mila_flores812d ago

Wait TWO passes?! That's insane. I would've lost my mind if I burned through that fast.

dakotawood4d ago

Nah, I've stayed away from the newer stuff since I watched a buddy do the same thing on a 2020 Silverado. He barely touched it with 3000 grit and it looked like he took a grinder to it. What grit did you start with on that F-150? I'm wondering if the clear just gets harder to read once it's past a certain cure time, not just thin from the factory.