Which Sand Paper Grit to use?
 

So I was driving on the highway and saw a black item just bounce towards me. I knew it was something that would do damage so once I saw it bounce in the air, I sped forward because it was heading for the hood. Luckily I saw it go above my car and I thought, "F-yea, dodged that shieeeet." But a split second later I heard a big, "Thump" like something dropped on my car. After getting to my destiation, got out of the car and saw no dents but a scratch on the roof-top. I put touch up paint on top and now I'm wanting to sandpaper it smooth. Which type of sandpaper grit should I use?

Thank you..:tiphat:

2000

let dry for a week, 2000 or even 3000 grit, then polish the rest using something like ScratchX on foam pad.

i use a sanding block, not sand paper for this.

Thank you. I was pissed when I heard the sound hit the roof...
Thankfully it was only a scratch and not a dent lol

Step1: done!

ahahaha you and your steps! lol

So sandblock rather than sand paper?
I'm eventually going to vinyl the roof top black. I just want it to be smooth so during the process I don't see a little scratch mark or lump lol

well, you can wrap the sand paper over a block of wood or something to get a similar effect of a sanding block. i just happen to have sanding blocks in my pdr arsenal.

yah, definitely smooth it down completely before vinyl. you'd be amazed how much the bump will show through on a non textured glossy vinyl..!

I'll just buy a sandblock haha
too lazy to,,,
1)buy sandpaper grit
2)find a wood block for the sandpaper grit.
3)wrap the sandpaper to where it doesn't slip

:rofl2:

Sanding blocks for paintless dent repair?? :bowrofl:

I think he meant for the smoothing out.
What I did was, I let the touchup paint seep into the scratch, then waited until it dried and added more layers until it formed somewhat of a mini-mountain of a line where the somewhat deep scratch was. Now I just need to sandpaper a smooth it down.

Oh I know, but in PDR no paint work is done at all (hence paintless :tup:)

PDR isn't always possible, and you don't always know this before you get started. So in cases where you can't just massage the dent out, you will need some form of paint correction, usually minor. Hence, the PDR arsenal does include paint repair tools.

See if you can find some Langka around. A lot easier than trying to sand a tiny little scratch. Although it's supposed to be used right after touch up, it will work a week or two later.

http://www.langka.com/

I use 1500, then 2000, then 3000 after clear-coating a car. As others have said you may want to start with 2000 to be safe, but don't be in a hurry and definitely use a sanding block. Also, use warm water when sanding and be careful when you buff it out because (as others have also said) Nissan's factory paint is crap.

Roger. I was just wanting it smoothed out so the vinyl once installed has no cosmetic damages lol I wish all 370Z's came with the protection clear bra thing haha

I hate clear-bra because I think it looks like crap. I wish they came stock with decent paint in the first place. No excuse for orange peel on a $110k supercar sitting in a showroom (GT-R). I can do a better job myself.:shakes head:

I like going into the dealer and pointing out all the swirls on the black GT-R in the showroom from their improper wash technique and towels. I'll keep a closer eye for the orange peel texture, too :icon17:

Op,

I can only add that by all means you're doing this repair at your own risk!

If you have very little clue of what you're doing? Please pay someone to fix it correctly.

I would hate to hear you did more damage trying to fix it than it should've been.

Good Luck :ugh2:

On the other hand, it shouldn't cost more for a shop to fix a slightly larger spot than it would for them to fix the small one to begin with. It's worth a shot IMO.

Yep, when you have multiple impact points or even multiple minor high spots that don't hide well in the orange peel, we use a sanding block to smooth out the irregularity on the surface to blend. This tricks the eyes thinking the surface is flat per the flat reflection in the paint.