What is a good but not too horribly in depth recommendation for wetsanding and buffing out scuffed up clear? My Civic needs it done on the trunk and I was going to give it a shot. Figured what better car to "experiment" with. If it looks better at all, I will be happy. Just has a lot of surface scratches. I have experience wetsanding/buffing, etc. Just wondered what you guys have done that works well. I have never actually done it on a painted surface for this. I was wanting to know what you wetsand up to and where to start from, and then what polishes, etc. you used. Thanks.

I would do 1200-1500 grit wetsand followed by a good electric buffer with 3M rubbing compound. If the scratches aren't terribly deep, scratch the sandpaper and just buff it with a good wax afterwards. I've only painted a few cars so somebody else might know better..

That's a start. I am just nervous about sanding without knowing exactly what I am going to buff it out and polish it with.....lol.

Well, so far I started with a 1000 grit to get the scratches out. That works well. I am going tomorrow to get 1500 and 2000 grit. Going to try to find it for my Corner Cat sander too. It is a low power sander that I think would work well for the finishing grit to get a nice even texture. need to get some rubbing compound too. I only have a polish. And a wax. We'll see how it turns out....

Well, went to 1500. Pretty much looks like crap...lol. I need to go up to 2000 but I am going to have to invest in some sanding blocks and good wool buffer pads and try again....

Don't use 1000 on it. The paint on the Rams is pretty thin from the factory. So you have to be real carful not to sand through the clear.
Don't use a hard sanding block. Get a soft one. There kind of like a sponge.
Strart with 1200 then to 1500. Theres no need to go to 2000.
When your finished sanding with the 1500 it will look bad.
YOu need to have buffer. I like the wool pads over the foam. If you not experienced use the foam. They will not burn though the paint like a wool pad will.
Start with 3m Heavy Duty rubbing compound. It will bring the shine right back.
Then I use Finesit to remove the swirls. Then you can put a coat of wax on it.

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The paint on the Rams is pretty thin from the factory.

This is on a Civic. I never had the balls to try anything like this on my Ram. This is my test car for stuff like this. I will figure it out....eventually....lol. But I figured I better learn now, than when I have a car/truck I can't practice on....all tips/tricks welcome! Thanks. I ordered some sanding blocks/sandpaper off ebay tonight. Going to give it another go....I will say, even though I left finger lines in it that you can see at the right angle, the shine is WAY better than it was, and just at a glance it looks better than it did, but close up you can see the imperfections. So I think it is definitely within reason of making nice. But I have some other areas I want to touch up, so I want to get it down well.

The steps I listed are the same for any car. The paint on the Civics isn't all that thick either. Just be careful and don't sand to much. Then when you start sanding with the buffer keep it moving or it will create a burn stop real fast.

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Then when you start sanding with the buffer keep it moving or it will create a burn stop real fast.

I am fairly efficient with a buffer. I appreciate the tips. We'll see what I can come up with. Good thing is I know a cheap paint guy if worst comes to worst. I have been thinking about having him do my front bumper anyways too. I can always just take him my trunk while I am at it....