Debate with my painter buddy about wet sanding vs dry sanding

I had a talk with my buddy Mike from that shop over on Elm Street last week. He swears by wet sanding every single repair before primer cause he says it cuts down on his block sanding time by like 30 percent. I always dry sand unless its a huge repair and told him hes wasting water. But then he showed me one of his jobs and the metal was glassy smooth. Makes me wonder if I'm just set in my ways. Anyone else have a hard line on this or switch it up job to job?

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luna5891mo ago

so i was in the middle of a full respray on this old beater lincoln a few months back. had this one dented quarter panel that was a pain. normally i just hit it with 80 grit dry on the DA and pray. but this one spot kept loading up the sandpaper and burning my freaking fingers off. wanted to try the wet method just so i could feel cold water for once. ended up using a spray bottle and a block for the whole thing. took like three times as long as dry sanding BUT i kid you not the feathering was perfect. no deep scratches to chase. still think im mostly a dry sand guy on small dings but for big panels that wet stuff really does work different.