removed side moldings now have a very unattractive issue.

I took off my side moldings yesterday, and unfortunately i was very upset with the results. You can clearly see where they were compared to the rest of the car and it looks terrible. It appears that when removing the adhesive it took up the layers of clear with it. You can feel a ridge with your finger nail and it held dirt in this ridge. Ive tried claying washing and waxing it with no success. Any suggestions on how to repair it? I was thinking possibly wetsanding out the ridge then reclaying and waxing it?

try wetsanding it first till the ridge comes out then buff it with a high speed buffer using a light compound then some finess (i use 3m products). i had the same issue with mine too but i bet yours had been painted also thats how i found out mine had been. you might still have some color variance but not too bad.

that was my second guess. Im almost positive my car has been resprayed because there are some run marks on other parts. The color is very close so if it can get rid of the ridge it should look good. Its mostly the doors the quarters arent all that bad.

What grit sand paper should i use or should i use several grits working up to a fine one? Should I spray some clear or just clean and wax?

id start with 1500 then work up to 2000 so your not there wet sanding all day lol and IF there is a good amount of clear still left you can just buff it out and make it look good. your best bet would be to 2 stage the whole car (compound and finess) that way your car willl look even better

Looks like I'll have to do that cant live with it the way it is. I just claybarred and mothers 3 stepped 2 weekends ago :( Is the mothers a good opion or anything out there that might yeild better results?

You will need the professional stuff for it to turn out perfect here are the links to what im talking about

autogeek/3m-extra-cut-compound
autogeek/3m-ultrafine-polish-16oz

woah thats exspensive lol. Ill just do my best with off the shelf stuff for now. Hopefully its close enough to be acceptable. Thanks for the help

welcome and you can get it at o'reillys in smaller bottles for alot less thats where i get mine and yes its expensive but well worth the money