i recently had my car painted, and i've had it for about a week now and was wondering if it's necessary or if it'll help at all for me to wet sand over the clear coat. if i do, what grit sand paper do i use, and how many times should i go over it and how long should i wait before i do this? also, how long do i have to wait before i can wash or wax it? any input will help. thanks

 

I would talk to the people that painted your car, you want to make sure that they used enough clear so you do not break through if you wet sand the car, if you have not wet sanded before you may want to have it done by someone who does this, you can ruin a car very quick wet sanding it.

 

Unless it looks bad, I wouldn't do it. It'll take a long time and there's a good chance of ruining your paint

 

I'd clay it first. Wet sanding, if not done properly, can ruin paint before you know it.

 

I'd HIGHLY recommend against wet sanding if you don't have a bit of experience, especially on a "good" paint finish. This first times I wet sanded it literally took me one swipe of the sandpaper and I had completely removed ALL paint down to the bare metal or plastic, and I thought I was being careful. Not good!!! And this was with a pretty fine grit paper I believe, something like 2000 I think it was.... This is something a qualified pro with a lot of wet sanding experience should handle IMO....

For waxing....wait 30 to 60 days for most all waxes, except Zaino in which you only need to wait 1 to 2 weeks.

 

1500 or 2000 grit is what i used but like they said, you must be VERY careful when doing it. where there are edges and points and stuff it's extremely easy to go through the clear coat...trust me, i know from experience and it sucks to have to start all over and buy more paint!
if it looks fine now, then leave it alone. if you have a buffer, get some 3M brand polish, like swirl mark remover or something. it's like $25 a bottle but good stuff. this is also the stuff i used after wet sanding.

 

I agree with the replies you've gotten. Thee missing information is why do you want to wet sand? There is no reason to just do it.

Is there dirt or orange peel in the clear? If it is bad, the shop that painted the car should handle it at no cost, unless you went the Maaco route or other cheap shop.

What exactly are you wanting to accomplish?

 

what does wet sanding do that is so necessary, other than basically ruin your car...

Definitely start loooking in a different dirrection buddy, just my two cents

 

I tried wet-sanding the places where I touched them up, and I've done nothing but successfully sand off the clearcoat.

 

Don't attempt this yourself especially on a new paintjob. Wetsanding isn't that hard but there are still lots of risks of taking off too much paint, etc. You'll also need to know how to use a rotary to buff out the sandpaper marks, even 2000 grit ones. Orbitals and by hand just take way to long.

Also, how do you know the paintshop didn't wetsand it for your? If the applied enough clear, then a Pro can wetsand the paint down and eliminate a lot of the orange peel in the paint.