Hey all, I have a scratch in my door on my 10 ES350 that I am pretty sure was put on by a screw driver approx. 14 inches long. I tried buffing it out and got some of it but it is down to the primer. So I decided to apply my touch up paint that i got when i bought the car. My question is when I go to wet sand it should I start off with 600-800 grit then work up to 1200 then before I am ready to buff it out what should my last and final grit of paper be 1500 or 2000? Thanks, Dave

 

It takes an aggressive compound to remove 800 or under grit sanding marks so I'd use a 1000 or 1200. After that hit it with the compound no need to move up to a finer grit paper at least in my experience on a small area.

 

I am not sure it is a good idea to do what you propose. With 600 you might as well rub the car with some rocks. Ok exageration but the problem is you are also removing the surrounding clear coat,
Usually a scratch like this you will need a shop to paint it again.
I would really be very carefully going over it with a 1500 or 2000 sandpaper wrapped in a round wine cork if you were trying to level your touch up paint

 

Your car's paint is only the thickness of a piece of paper...including primer, base, and clear. DO NOT use 600 or 800 grit!

1500, 3000, the then compound. I highly recommend jumping on YouTube and perform a search for AMMO NYC or Chemical Guys. They have several great videos on wetsanding.