Whilst watching on Youtube i came across this video of a guy removing "scrath" LOL

I watched in horror at his method.

I cannot imagine what ChrisRs`s reaction to this will be!!!!!!!

Watch this space.

Wet sanding and polishing...Quite a common technique

One thing you must do though is check the clearcoat depth with a PTG

If its gone through the clearcoat, then it will need painting

Apart from that..a good job

Normally I'd start with 1,500 or 2,000 grit wet and dry in straight lines wrapped around a wood or plastic block, then 2,500 then 3,000, then fine compound and ending with a finishing polish. But to be fair to the bloke it worked, he didn't go through the clear coat (if there was one on that particular paint) or through the paint itself. Safe practice should be followed in future really and a paint depth gauge would be almost essential so you know what you've got to work with and how best to handle it.

Presumably once you have done this to the area your clearcoat has thinned and is more vulnerable? Also if you let it get super dirty and polish-less does it come through as obviously less shiny (I.e dull patches of paintwork?)

Presumably once you have done this to the area your clearcoat has thinned and is more vulnerable? Also if you let it get super dirty and polish-less does it come through as obviously less shiny (I.e dull patches of paintwork?)

It will definitely be thinner. Essentially the lacquer will be the depth of the scratch, or a bit more. It shouldn't look any different to other areas of the paint unless the entire clearcoat is polished away. Then it will need re-painting. I've done quite a lot of wet sanding. My porsche 924 needed some serious wet sanding!

The thing is, even with wet sanding an area with 2,000, 2,500, 3,000, compounding and finishing your talking about 6 to 8 microns. The average I've found on many cars is in the region of 120 to 135 with both paint and clearcoat. The main issue is has that area been resprayed before? Has it been sanded before? and what are the actual depth measurements for that area? Yes it sounds counter intuitive to use sand paper to take out a scratch. But as long as you know what your doing, you should be fine. Find an old panel at a scrap yard to practice on if you don't feel comfortable in tackling it on straight away. If your not comfortable in what your doing, that is when mistakes happen.

I ended up using 240 grit on the Porsche!

Good advice there Svend

Good advice there Svend

Cheers Chris.

We were working on a 328 GTS the other day with 7 microns left against areas that had 28microns and it didn't look any different. Just shows that you have to be careful. A few microns from disaster!

Stormchaser - A Bournemouth Skoda driver, who joined on my birthday. Small world! Was just doing a bit of stalking when I saw the Bournemouth bit

Stormchaser - A Bournemouth Skoda driver, who joined on my birthday. Small world! Was just doing a bit of stalking when I saw the Bournemouth bit

Oh i see

It is a small world yes but not many on here from Bournemouth area.

I see many vRS' on the road, but none of them are on here :( We need a welcome to Briskoda - Bournemouth chapter, meet.

Good video!

with a PTG how do you know the depth of the clear coat vs depth to bare metal ?

Sorry if this is a noob question

Measure the door jamb paint thickness..They tend to have very little clear coat

Then measure your body paintwork. The difference between the two gives a rough clear coat thickness

ie.... Door jamb 102 microns

Bonnet 146 microns

Therefore clearcoat thickness is 44 microns

genius....

This is a very common technique used daily in the trade & works pretty well to get rid of the scratch, albeit with thinning the lacquer & or top coat on solid colours (some solid colours are lacquered too). There is always a chance of going too far & burning through the top coat so it needs painting, but you get a feel for how far you can go with or without a PTG also. German group cars tend to be pretty good, worst I've ever had was Fiat, so so thin.

Personally I feel the newer water based paints are not as good for cosmetic repairs as older cars using 2K (2 pack) lacquers & when polished they can fade & in some cases need re-polishing a few months later.