Wet Sanding

[shortyx250]

Hey I am about to wet sand my S&S. Should I go in a circular motion when doing this? Or can you go up and down or side to side?

[BrianM]

Go one direction then when you move to the next finer grit paper do the opposite. Easier to see when you have removed all of the previous grit scratches that way.

[supturb89]

A circular motion will also make it more difficult to buff out with a circular polisher. At least this was my experience when doing mine.

[shortyx250]

Thanks guys. I wet sanded one side of the boat over the weekend with 800 grit. It was milky looking. What is this? Also how do I know how much to sand? I got it smooth again and am going to hit a sextion with the compound and buffer. I was going to also hit it with 1000 grit. Should I go up to 1500 before I start to buff?

[BrianM]

Sand it out with 1000 grit first then hit it with some 3M Heavy Duty Compound on a wool pad. The compound will take out the 1000 grit scratches but not 800. Compound will also leave it looking a bit hazy. Follow the compound with 3M Finesse-It-II polishing compound to bring back all of the shine.

[Doug G]

What Brian said. Here is this weekends results. I however did not need to polish, I was able to go right from compound to wax. Did a section with polish and without and could not find a difference. Pink is now red and the decal remnants are gone.

[shortyx250]

Thanks, Also I am seeing some silver flakes behind the gel.

[BrianM]

If you are getting into the actual silver flecks you have sanded too far. The metal flake has a clear gel over the top. You do not want to sand all the way through it.

[shortyx250]

I am seeing this all over the boat. I only sanded one side. I guess my gell is gone or thin, and the sun has faded the paint of the flakes maybe.

[jconover]

pictures please!