I figured I would post this in here, since I know that this forum get the highest number of posts and views, so please help if you can.

I have been taking off the pin striping on the sides of the Civic I recently purchased. I have stripped it off with tar and gunk remover, and now that I have stripped it off, there is a visible line where the pin striping used to be. So I decided to wet sand it and try to remove this visible line. As you can see from the pictures below this is what it looks like after some sanding. I was wondering if anyone knows how far I can go with the wet sanding before it gets too deep into the clear coat. Or if there will be any way to get rid of this visible line. After sanding some of the car, I did use buffing compound, scratch remover, and crystal polish and it came out absolutely amazing, but very slightly visible there is the hint of a line. The finish overall though looks amazing, looks like liquid glass, but I want the hint of a line gone. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

i don't think those lines are "slightly" visible...... i think you're past the correcting phase....you'll probably have to have it strippe/repainted

 

Any idea why they are there?

My guess is that it is becuase that pin stripe has been on there since 1998 when new and it never had a chance to become faded and what not.

When I buff, polish, and shine it from that step though, it looks awesome and you can barely see it in the spot that I have done those steps. I just was wanting them to go bye bye.

 

What Im trying to figure out is should I just buff it up and make it shine, or should I dare try to wetsand it a little more? I just know that once you do it, you cant take it back. lol.

 

What grit sandpaper are you using? Wetsend some more with VERY fine sandpaer, than buff it with some compound.

 

Looks like your clearcoat is fugged!

 

I took off my pin striping bout a year ago,and when i did it u could still see the lines in it!i just went out side to see if the lines where still there and they werent! all i did was wax my car every noa and then and i pretty much wash it every day! i dont know if this is gonna help but hey what hell it might!

 

You'll probably need to repaint. The problem is that the paint has uniformly faded around the pinstripes but has not faded UNDER the pinstripe tape. Thus, the problem is with the underlying base color and not the clearcoat. The wet sanding is only gong to affect the clearcoat (unless you sand through of course and then you'd need to repaint anyway because the basecolor would be flat and exposed). From the looks of your sanding marks too, I think you may be using too coarse a grit of sand paper... it might be tough to get all those marks you just put in with only compound... dunno though, would have to see it in person.

-Jeff

 

too bad pin striping sucks!

 

Actually the sandpaper that I am using is 1500 grit wet. I was using it soaking wet and spraying it constantly with a water bottle. The sanding is not too deep, because as I said, I did then buff and polish a section of it and it came out amazing. I think I will just buff the whole cars and polish and wax the whole thing, and just not worry too much about the striping. Sound good to you too?

 

You can only wetsand so much before you "break" through the clearcoat. Just be careful because once you go past the point of no return - you will need someone to paint the fender!

 

i wouldn't wet sand it any more. just buff it with rubing compound.there is somthing about the glue like sokes into the paint. thouse lines will not come all the way out unless you prim them and repaint. ive had to do that on a couple of cars ive painted at work.

 

i've got black paint and i removed my pin striping of like 6 years of being on there, and it was really visable, but i used rubbing compunt and waxed about once a month and its been obout 5 months now since i've taken them off and i can't even see them anymore.


[Modified by 91SIvic, 4:30 AM 2/2/2003]

 

I will just buff it and polish it now and give it some time. Hopefully after some time is will disappear. I dont want to have to get it repainted, since I dont plan on showing it, I dont feel like I need a expensive new paint job right now.

 

new paint new paint

whoop whoop

h0lla

haahah

 

omg, from the pictures, it look like you fucked it up..
when you're wet sanding, you need good light..
so you can see the area that is finish..
if you run water on it, and look at it from an angle, you can see smuges, if you wet sand it properly, you wont see those smuges..
make sure you go the right direction on the whole area.. dont go one way on one area, then go another way..
also: you cant just wet sand one area you want, you need to wet sand the whole fender, because it would leave a even layer.
hope you're using 600 grit..

 

I removed the pinstriping on my 97 Integra 4-door, used a razor goo-gone and tons of paitents, never needed to sand it came out perfect after I buffed it out and everything, that looks fawked.

 

Dammit. I am going to buff it all out tomorrow and then post pictures for everyone to see that it is not screwed up.

And if you read, I am using 1500 grit paper.