Old one was beat up, I think previous owner curbed the door, trim-first, which left it scratched and cracked.
This was my first time using wet sanding and polishing techniques to smooth out a DIY 2K clearcoat over gloss black (the trim piece came flat gray plastic - from Latvia, hey the price was right!).
Lessons learned:
1) be more aggressive with wet-sanding, so you don't waste polish and time (great experience for sure, but took me a long time because like most DIY jobs I'm not a pro).
2) gotta be anal about every microfiber cloth, sponge, applicator not getting dirt or lower-grade polish on it
After wet-sanding, remembered to take photos, and I had started with hand-polishing with a medium cut abrasive (pic8.co)
I quickly shifted back to a hard-cut abrasive and my machine (pic8.co)
Comparison of old and new (left) - I didn't get all the orangepeel out, but I am planning on getting this vehicle a full professional paint correction next year anyway so it'll get taken care of then (pic8.co)
Installed, it sort of faces down so minimally visible; old one was actually bending outward so it looked like ass so I had to do something (pic8.co)
Old one was beat up, I think previous owner curbed the door, trim-first, which left it scratched and cracked.
This was my first time using wet sanding and polishing techniques to smooth out a DIY 2K clearcoat over gloss black (the trim piece came flat gray plastic - from Latvia, hey the price was right!).
Lessons learned:
1) be more aggressive with wet-sanding, so you don't waste polish and time (great experience for sure, but took me a long time because like most DIY jobs I'm not a pro).
2) gotta be anal about every microfiber cloth, sponge, applicator not getting dirt or lower-grade polish on it
[After wet-sanding, remembered to take photos, and I had started with hand-polishing with a medium cut abrasive](https://pic8.co/sh/gBRBhx.jpg)
[I quickly shifted back to a hard-cut abrasive and my machine](https://pic8.co/sh/WGdNmA.jpg)
[Comparison of old and new (left) - I didn't get all the orangepeel out, but I am planning on getting this vehicle a full professional paint correction next year anyway so it'll get taken care of then](https://pic8.co/sh/47JQFk.jpg)
[Installed, it sort of faces down so minimally visible; old one was actually bending outward so it looked like ass so I had to do something](https://pic8.co/sh/vjWpoj.jpg)
(post is archived)