Rant: A customer's offhand comment about my clear coat work made me switch my whole sanding step

I was finishing up a 2018 Honda Civic hood last month, and the owner, who builds custom bikes on the side, just said, 'You know, you can still see some 800-grit scratches under that angle.' I was using 800, then jumping right to 1500 before the clear. I tried his tip of adding a 1000-grit step in between, and wow, the final finish is way smoother now. It's a tiny change that adds maybe 10 minutes, but the result is totally worth it. Has anyone else had a simple piece of feedback like that completely change a routine step for the better?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_gray10d ago

Ever try a 1200 grit step instead of 1000?

the_ryan10d ago

Yeah, tried that on some kitchen knives last month. The 1200 step gave a more even scratch pattern before jumping to the strop. It just seemed to polish out the deeper 1000 grit marks a bit easier for me.