My car has some slight orange peel and overspray from previous owner. I was wondering if I applied some 3m guide coating and then wet sanded it, if that would get rid of it.. Thanks in advance guys,

Why do you need the guide coating? Its a waste of money. Not only will you have to wet sand it, but you will also have to buff it when you are done.

What would you reccomend? I'm not to keen in the bodywork department if that wasnt obvious before .

Wetsand with 2000 grit sandpaper and water. Keep sandpaper wet. Check the area often to make sure its getting smoother and not going completely through the clear coat. Shouldn't take much pressure. Get a small sanding block so you don't have low spots from the uneven surface of your hand. When you wipe the area dry, it should be a uniform dullness. When you sand a little bit and dry it, you will notice how uneven the paint is from the 'orange peel'. Just sand until completely smooth.

Take your time, otherwise you'll have to get it touched up if you go through the clear coat and down to the paint.

Water and 3000 grit sand paper on a orbital sander. Will take away the peel and the overspray. If the peel is bad enough you could resort to use of 1000 grit paper but be careful because if you sand to much in an area or run across the edges enough times you will remove to much clear and leave the base exposed with no clear over top it. If it has a run you can even go as far down as 600 grit to block it out, but you better have a lot of material because your going to have to work your way up. 3M buffing compound does work so if you are looking to do the job right. Don't settle for cheap stuff and expect it to last. The sand scratches will come back if you do not heat that thing up enough to get all the imperfections out.

You will need to buff it once you get done wet sanding.

I like that Nu Finish scratch stuff, comes in an orange bottle. Easy as crap to use.

inspire said:

Water and 3000 grit sand paper on a orbital sander. Will take away the peel and the overspray. If the peel is bad enough you could resort to use of 1000 grit paper but be careful because if you sand to much in an area or run across the edges enough times you will remove to much clear and leave the base exposed with no clear over top it. If it has a run you can even go as far down as 600 grit to block it out, but you better have a lot of material because your going to have to work your way up. 3M buffing compound does work so if you are looking to do the job right. Don't settle for cheap stuff and expect it to last. The sand scratches will come back if you do not heat that thing up enough to get all the imperfections out.

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3m buffing compound is great stuff it is a 3 part process to do it right. Use the #1 and s wool pad at a slow speed. Use #2 with the grey or black waffle pad still slow speed and a little lighter pressure. #3 with the blue pad. I have used this stuff for years and I use it on $100,000 vehicles all the time with no issues or complaints. O yeah plus on semis putting more miles on in a year then your car will see in its life. No problems with fading or sand scratches coming through EVER.

Start with 1000 grit 3M wet or dry sand paper, continue until orange peel is gone. To be sure it is gone, dry the surface with a squeegee and make sure there are no shiny spots. Once all orange peel and overspray is gone, switch to 1500 grit to sand out the 1000 grit sand scratches, then to 2000 grit to sand out the 1500 scratches. If the orange peel really isnt bad, or you have a lot of time, you can sand it all off with 2000.

After sanding is finished, buff all scratches out.

If its mainly overspray, try just getting a fine grade claybar. Its used for removing imperfections in the paint. To get rid of orange peel, try just buffing it with some cutting compound and a rotary buffer and a wool pad, then polish with a swirl remover compound and foam pads.

Black Widow97 said:

Start with 1000 grit 3M wet or dry sand paper, continue until orange peel is gone. To be sure it is gone, dry the surface with a squeegee and make sure there are no shiny spots. Once all orange peel and overspray is gone, switch to 1500 grit to sand out the 1000 grit sand scratches, then to 2000 grit to sand out the 1500 scratches. If the orange peel really isnt bad, or you have a lot of time, you can sand it all off with 2000.

After sanding is finished, buff all scratches out.

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Best response I have seen. I wet sand show cars. Forget the gimicks, what you have to do is a straight polishing work up, and what he said is right. 1000, 1500, 2000... The only addition I have to this is USE A 3000 grit TRIZAC PAD!!! Then hit it with a good rubbing compound, then a good polishing compound. It is a simple process too many people complicate unnecessarily.

H@xtGSX said:

Best response I have seen. I wet sand show cars. Forget the gimicks, what you have to do is a straight polishing work up, and what he said is right. 1000, 1500, 2000... The only addition I have to this is USE A 3000 grit TRIZAC PAD!!! Then hit it with a good rubbing compound, then a good polishing compound. It is a simple process too many people complicate unnecessarily.

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I'd honestly just use 2000 grit if he's a novice. I've seen 1500 take the clear off in 4 swipes on used cars. You can follow up with the 3000 grit to make cutting and polishing easier. We use 2000 for scratches and orange peel, along with 3M's compounds and polishes and a DeWalt rotary buffer.

If its overspray you can feel on the paint, like rubbing your hand on a piece of paper and not glass, then you'll be ok with just clay barring.

That is good advice. What you said is true. Really, a mil test would be most helpful... If it is what I think it is though, and the PO just shot some urethane clear on himself to make it look newer and nicer than it was, I am willing to bet the orange peel is big. Most people don't notice shop orange peel, even if it is "big" in the eyes of someone who knows paint, but this man has already said he isn't a body work enthusiast, and he's concerned about it....... That leads me to think it is chunky orange peel. In order to remove that sort of peel, 2000 grit will take days.

H@xtGSX said:

That is good advice. What you said is true. Really, a mil test would be most helpful... If it is what I think it is though, and the PO just shot some urethane clear on himself to make it look newer and nicer than it was, I am willing to bet the orange peel is big. Most people don't notice shop orange peel, even if it is "big" in the eyes of someone who knows paint, but this man has already said he isn't a body work enthusiast, and he's concerned about it....... That leads me to think it is chunky orange peel. In order to remove that sort of peel, 2000 grit will take days.

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I agree. Somebody that looks at paint all day long will think certain things are a lot worse then somebody that doesn't work around paint all day. If it was a respray, then you may want to do 1000/1500, but just until the bumps are less noticeable, then switch to 2000 grit until no bumps remain. Just personal experience, I don't work in a body shop, but have to detail cars for the dealership I work at and we usually only wetsand and buff out scratches.

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Too bad mil readers are SUPER expensive, didn't realize this until it was mentioned. If you know somebody with one, definitely use it, and check out the other stuff on the website I posted.

Same here!! Just a word of advice since it happened to me....whatever you do, DONT use a orbital sander or DA sander or whatever you want to call it. If your not big in refinishing you will burn thru the clearcoat quick! Better of taking time and doing it by hand like it should be done. Its time consuming but there's nothing more rewarding than a nice polished exterior that just shines!!!

This is what I always recommend. They work very even and will save your arms a bit of soreness.

I don't know if anyone mentioned but go easy when using a buffer. It is possible to go through the paint with one.

Thanks for all the awesome responses guys!

I would just clay bar the overspray should get most of the imperfections out without risking going thre the paint while wetsanding and not having to buff and polish the area. If the overspray is really bad then clay bar to get the heavy stuff out then go over it with 2000 grit sandpaper and some water then buff.

H@xtGSX said:

This is what I always recommend. They work very even and will save your arms a bit of soreness.

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A must-have when doing whole panels/cars. Good call.

No doubt, they are the beginners best friend, and the experienced wet sanders 1st choice for blocking a car. I also use the "cheese grater" block from Motor Guard for the chunky peel because it cuts very quick, and the flexible contour block for the round edges. For a beginner though, the big block is the way to go. You can see change over a wide field, which makes it MUCH easier to reference how much you are taking off. I find it a lot harder to get a good, even, mirror flat polish doing the old "sand a square foot" routine than just hitting the whole panel in big block sized swaths.

Try the easiest first like everyone is saying and just try a clay bar, if it doesn't work then you have a clay bar and you can just clean up the car or another car with it to just have clean paint But back to the sanding, when wet sanding take your time with it if you're new. I am in auto body at my school and we have to paint panels to get used to it, I watched a kid that thought he knew what he was doing and sanded straight through the clear in a few swipes because he wasn't careful.

Use plenty of water because it helps cut on drag from the sanding block (and definitely pick up a sanding block.) I also recommend just doing a couple swipes that your comfortable with, drying it by squeegeeing and blowing on the surface to show whats there. Don't use a DA or Orbital, you'll tear it up before you even have the idea of controlling it in your hand.

I don't know if anyone has said this on this post yet but try and do an X pattern when sanding. Sand diagonally and at 45 degree angles. This helps with reducing big scratches from the sides of the sandpaper.

And most definitely be careful with the buffer...They will go through paint quickly, they are unforgiving in not careful hands.

soapy water also helps cut when wet sanding