Well looks like I'm going to have to reclear this door for the 4th time!!! unbelievable. Trial and error like no other. I burned through again, this time with the buffer pad on a ridge/2 inch channel that needed to be buffed. I also raised the rpm from 1000 to 2200 after googling what speed to buff a new paint job. There was a guy on youtube that buffs his new paint job at 4000 rpm ,thought that was a bit much so I set mine to 2200..

The crappy part is that I'm out of base coat. I saved a tiny little bottle of base for touch up so I'm going to touch up burned spots the best I can with base coat using a small brush then maybe sand it with 3000 lightly tomorrow then reclear the door with my last bit of clear that I have. The scratches look like crap, definitely not mirror like image. It looked WAY better when I first hit it with 3 coats of clear. I'm learning the hard way, and sucks.

save yourself more aggravation- get rid of crappy pads and 3m crap.
get a twisted wool pad and meguiars m100.

I had bought this wool pad and it wasnt cheap. Used it first and it looked like crap, but I think it looked like crap because I used the wrong 3M Compound, I used HEAVY DUTY compound and it was like red sand on my paint, maybe that's why i have all the scratches to begin with. I then changed to the 3M Regular compound but it may have been too late but then again looking at some of the deeper scratches they are long ways and not circular so I have no idea.

The guy at the paint store told me to only use foam pads because they won't get caught on edges so I bought a 8" white 3M foam pad.. So many different opinions it's hard to know what to go with. It looks like I added deep scratches from sandpaper that never came out. I was using cheap O'Reillys/hardware store wet/dry sand paper.

So I'm going back to the Dewalt Twisted wool pad that I originally got to do this job and i ordered some Meguilars M100. I also ordered good 3M automotive finishing sandpaper 800, 1000, 1500, 2500 instead of hardware store sandpaper and also got a 3M Black finishing foam pad coming for polishing to replace that $3 ebay finishing pad I used. Hopefully I can get good results this time. By the time this stuff arrives the clear coat that I spray on the door tomorrow should be dry and good to go.

tomsteve wrote:1st thing i suggest- change sanding directions between each grit and use a guide coat between each grit. dump the da,too.
small pigtail swirls=da marks

What kind of Guide coat would I use on cut and buff when wet sanding?

A better pic of what I'm dealing with. Reclearing door tomorrow..

So over the past few weeks I was able to RE-CLEAR my door and let it dry for a while in this cold weather. Tonight I cut and buffed my door and it came out better but I have scratches that when I run my finger nail over you can feel them. I also have some slight swirl marks.

I took your're guys advice and used the twisted wool pad and Megulars M100 compound at about 1800 RPM.. Before I started my door looked amazing with fresh clear coat on it, and hardly any orange peel except for the bottom section of the door had some orange peel. I finished with a black 3M foam pad and 3M machine polish.

Since I had scratches and swirl Mark's last time I did the door, this time I started with good 3M 1000 grit paper instead of Autozone 800 grit. I only used the 1000 in the area where the orange peel was. On the rest of the door , I used 3M 1500 grit with a 12"x1.5" block and I wet sanded in big criss cross patterns and did that with 1500 then 2000, then 2500 paper. I'm thinking maybe a tiny rock or debri got under my paper and caused the scratches I also noticed that my paper had wrinkles or small creases in it after soaking it in water, I wonder if that can cause the scratches, I'm learning as I go here.

I hit it pretty hard with that black foam pad a few times and got rid of alot of the scratches and swirl marks but there is still deeper scratches all over the place. What do you guys think caused the scratches? How should I proceed sanding the rest of the car to avoid this? And what do you guys recommend I do to fix those scratches in the door?

I see all these yourtube videos with cheap products that take out scratches in old paint but this is new paint and I have a good buffer and decent product I think but lack the knowledge and experience. I'm definitely getting closer to getting it perfect just need to find my errors and correct them in the process. Advice would be awesome.

one thing youll learn when sanding:
if you hear what sounds like faint nails on a chalkboard, theres a piece of grit making big scratches.

Where the heck does this piece of grit come from I spray each piece of paper with water as well as the panel right before I sand...Dang can this be repaired?

I have literally spent 150 hours on this door alone. Always the same result at the end. SCRATCHES! almost ready to give up. I can take my thumb nail and lightly scratch the door with hardly any pressure. I sprayed this door with clear early last week it has not got above 60 degrees here and now its Into the 40s. Maybe after sanding and buffing a few layers of clear off that it's still soft underneath? I dont know.

Well there is a few hundred shallow scratches going every which way on the door but you can only see them when the light hits them just right. What do guys think about maybe letting it dry some more or carefully running a heat gun over the paint? Then maybe try some of that autozone scratch remover kit or something? Door looks good from 2 feet away.

My guess is the 12" long sanding block is too long and flexes in the middle. All the scratches seem to be going in one direction which means they weren't removed when using the next finer grit.

I use a small piece of oak about 5" long and 1 1/4" wide and 3/4" thick for the initial wet sanding to remove orange people and any urethane wave.

The process is to work a 12" x 12" area at a time. I keep a spray bottle of water with a drop or two of dish soap in it to keep the surface wet. I also keep a microfiber towel to wipe the surface from time to time to check my progress.

Next I use a soft block (like this: https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Guard-SB-1 ... B003WUYG1E) with 1500 grit and work the panel in the same manner as described above. Repeat with 2000.

If you only have a few places with those scratches showing, try wet sanding them again with 1500 and see if the scratches go away. Then hit the area with 2000 and follow up with your buffer and Meguairs M-100 compound. I start the buffer working at low rpms to spread the compound and then jump it up to 2000 or so for buffing.