Our El Camino "color sanding"

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First let me point out that I am NOT an expert. I am not school or factory trained and I have no information from the paint suppliers or anyone else. There are folks who can do all of this with DA's and other power tools but I'm not that brave!

This is what I have learned by trial and error, mostly on this car.

I painted this car in 1995 right here in the driveway at home. I used single stage Acrylic Enamel and sanded out the dirt. You can also color sand a base coat clear coat finish in basically the same manner. Recently, the car had been stored for about 7 years and during that time it was mainly a place for the cats to hang out. I kept it covered so they didn't hurt it too badly but they did manage to put faint claw scratches all over it where they slid down the side to jump off or even worse, lose their footing going up!

This is a very light color sanding using 3000 grit paper. I am only going after the scratches in the finish. If this were new paint with orange peel, I would start out with 1500 or 2000 grit paper and progress to the 3000 grit.

1. Thoroughly wash ( and dry) the car with dish soap to remove wax and dirt. It is very important that you get the car absolutely clean. The sand paper will pick up dirt and scratch the paint or load up with built up wax if you don't.

2. Tape and mask off anywhere that you don't want to get compound on, this can get very messy if you don't have the hood on.........

3. Mask off trim, chrome and emblems. Even the 3000 grit will mar the trim very easily.

4. Using a lot of water, sand in an X pattern. Be very careful at the edges or body lines, it's very easy to cut right through all the paint on an edge. I use a bucket and sponge to keep a good trickle of water under the paper while I'm sanding. You can dry it periodically to see how you are progressing. The low spots will still be as shiny as when you started.

5.  Tape off all body lines and edges, I covered about 1/2" from the edges and finished those areas later by hand. The electric buffer and a light cutting pad was used with 3M Finesse It rubbing compound and then I used disposable pads to do the final rubbing by hand. A wet towel will wipe away built up compound enough for you to see if you need more compounding to remove the sanding scratches.

6. Wash the car to remove leftover compound, then dry, (wipe the overspray of compound out of the engine compartment!!) polish and wax normally.

This is the right side completely sanded. You can tell this is a very light sanding because you can still see the shine (under) to it. A heavier paper would make the finish appear much duller or more like a flat color.

I did this spot by hand just for the contrast. This polished area was done one time by hand and still has many sanding scratches.

I taped off the high spots and edges and used an electric buffer then removed the tape and used compound 2 more times by hand on the entire side. I have used these little cotton pads called Webril Handi Pads with Meguires' polish and then wax. I think these pads help me to keep this car so nice. They are small 4x4 very soft cotton pads, you put the right amount of liquid on the pad and then start covering the whole panel. They work well with paste wax too. As the pad gets dirty, I turn it around and use the other side. I use them 2 at a time and I use both sides so in effect, I use 8 clean surfaces of the pad, throw it away and then get a couple more.

This is really a lot of work but the results are well worth it as far as I can tell!