calling buffing/wetsanding gurus

since there is no general bodywork section, i thought i would post this in here since i need help on this and may help people in the future with this too.

i just noticed tonight on my 320 that all the work(~10 hrs) that i put into wetsanding and buffing the paint on my truck is already starting to fade and get dull. ive always kept it waxed and clean this summer trying to prevent that from happening again. i also noticed that the original paint that is showing through in some spots still looks excelent. the original paint is actually amino alkyd enamel which is very good paint that able to restore shine from buffing after long periods of neglect. everything on the truck looks as if they sprayed the newer paint directly over the original paint. the newer paint also has some orange peel look to it and a few drips.

now onto my question... is it possible to sand through the newer paint to bring back the original paint. i am thinking to maybe start out with some 600 grit and go up from there. im not too sure if thats too rough and will leave too big of scratches in the original paint to get out with finer paper witout going through the paint. this truck has been the first vehicle that ive ever tried to get it to shine and kindve been just teaching myself as i go so i dont really want to try anything that might be too severe and cause this to be another one of my vehicles to be put into primer.

heres what it looked like as of a show in june. i know it looks night and day compared to what it looked like before but the light hit it just right tonight and it really bugs me now.


heres before

i would not chance trying to sand off the newer paint to get to the old you are going to have bad spots on the old paint as well id do a repaint or just hit it with the buffer again if the old paint is comming through its only a matter of time b4 a repaint is due

^^^ WHat he said is right on. If ythey repainted it in the first place, thwere is a reason. Otherwise 600 is too course, take it slow and start with 1000, 800 if you wanna risk it to speed things up. I've been told that once a paint begins to oxidize, no amount of sanding/buffing will ever stop it just delay it.

it'd be real sketchy to sand exactly through the top layers of paint in hopes they merely scuffed the stock clearcoat to re-apply the new paint. i think you'd further ruin your paint if you tried to sand it. repaint it if you want it to really shine. maaco is cheap.

i fully understand what you guys are saying but its really hard to explain exactly what the paint looks like. there are sections where the new paint has just flaked away and the original paint is showing through. the thing is that i just dont have the money to be putting into paint on this thing and there would be a lot of bodywork needed to get it close to ready to paint. plus, the interior would have to get stripped down along with the engine compartment because when i do get to painting this, itll be getting done right. youre right, maaco is cheap, but more in quality than price.

yeah chase i can see on the hood in the pic

those little orange spots you see in the top pic is actually oxidized thru the original paint and is too far gone. the flaking that i was talking about you can see in the old pic. the orange spots on the door and down the side of the bed is spots where the newer paint has flaked away and after buffing, the original paint in those spots has a brilliant shine to it. along with most of the top of the fenders and hood minus the couple little spots that are too oxidized and just shiny orange.

seriously man id repaint or just buff again