New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

[Jonsr20]

Ok so I just painted my car 3 days ago, I used an acrylic enamel paint and clear coat made for it. I put about 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear on it. This was my first time painting a car so I have some runs and also some orange peel. Im thinking about wetsanding it but there are several issues. First the paint is a metallic and also I added pearl in the clear coat. So a couple things im wondering if I do decide to wetsand it how long should I wait? It says on the paint can to wait 60 days before polishing, if I wetsand I have to polish right after correct? The runs are my main concern but I would like to get rid of the orange peel aswell. The pearl in the clear kind of changes the color of the paint aswell so if I only wetsand the runs it probably wont match the rest of the car. Am I screwed on this one?? Any advice or tips or even step by step instructions on what to do would be great!! Haha thanks!!!

[hot rod]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

The orange peal is in the paint not the clear , you will be able to wetsand the clear but not the paint. The runs are the same you will have to wetsand down to the paint . Next time you paint , you should wetsand the paint then clear coat it.

[yalerd]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

As far as I understand things orange peel are irregularities in the paint surface, what I mean by this is that the paint / clear coat is not flat enough.

For this you'll need to wet sand the clear to remove the high points and then polish out the sanding marks to bring back that wet glossy look.

Wet sanding a car is very hard, normally on a factory clear coat car you'll have a very thing layer to "play" with but because you've paint and topped the paint with 3 layers of clear coat then I guess you have more to play with.

Keep in mind that this is a very hard job, lots of hours into it and you'll have to know how to wet sand & how to use a rotary to get great results.

I've just had the chance to wet sand my junk yard hood and that's it, maybe some of the guys can give you advice with this.

Good luck with your project.

[the other pc]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

First off, the instructions on the can are highly abbreviated. Get your hands on the manufacturer’s written instruction sheets for the coatings you’re using. You should be able to get those from your paint supplier. Most manufacturers also have them available online.

The details on when you can recoat, color sand, buff, etc will be in the sheets. Most refinish coatings are meant to sanded, cut and buffed within a few hours to a day after application.

What paint did you use (brand and product)?

Meguiar’s abrasive blocks are great for removing runs.


PC.

[Jonsr20]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

I know its alot of work I already have a ton of work in the car though so I may aswell make it look the best I can.

Here is the clear I used http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...174791675&rd=1

And this is the paint http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gun-M...mZ320179400838

I dont have any experience with a rotary buffer, im a fast learner though and have been watching some videos and stuff on it. One thing I was wondering though would I need to get 1 of the really expensive ones or would a cheaper one work pretty well for me? So I should probably start wetsanding ASAP then?

[the other pc]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

Trinity Starfire, hmm. Never heard of it. Not that that means anything. There are lots of companies I’ve never heard of.

Anyway, the links on their website that go to their data sheets are broken so I have no idea what their instructions say. You should call them, ask their tech reps directly and have them email or fax you copies of the sheets.

As for your orange peel, you may be out of luck. Maybe, maybe not. There’s no way of knowing over the internet. The paint you used for a base coat is designed to be used as either the first stage of a two-stage, base/clear finish or by itself as a single-stage finish.

Since it’s a glossy finish in its own right it probably has significant orange peel of its own. If that’s the case there’s nothing you can do to reduce that because you’ve already cleared over it. You can only sand whatever orange peel is in the top coat. If you’re lucky, most of your orange peel is in the clear top coat. But there’s no way to be sure at this point.

It’s too late now but any sanding of the base coat would have to have been done before shooting the clear. (And that’s assuming the base is sandable at all. Many base coats and metallic single-stages aren’t.)


PC.

[Jonsr20]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

Yeah thats what I figured, so what would you recommend? Wetsand and buff the clear and see if that takes some out? Im guessing I cant remove the runs either because they are in the paint and not the clear? It doesnt look to bad its just not as glossy as it should be.

[the other pc]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

Ok, quick terminology clarification because I’m getting confused by the question. Any liquid you put on a surface that dries to a continuous, solid film is “paint.”

So, “paint” can be colored (pigmented) or clear and technically even primer fits the definition “paint.” So I’ll refer to each coat by its functional description.

If you laid down a primer before the colored base coat there could be runs in that too. But since you haven’t mentioned primer can I assume you shot the basecoat over an existing finish?

Sometimes you can sort of tell by looking really close if a run is in the basecoat or topcoat. Sometimes, sometimes not.

You have to decide for yourself if the runs bother you enough to make it worth the risk of removing them. Worst case is that you sand through into the base and have to re-spray the area. But since you shot it yourself there’s a good chance you can blend the repair in rather having to re-shoot the whole panel (depending on well this particular coating system blends spot repairs).

If you leave the runs you might still be able to go after some of the orange peel, at least the part that’s in the topcoat.

And if you don’t want to tackle the orange peel you may be able to amp up the gloss by sanding with a grit that’s finer than you’d use for orange peel and then buffing.

So what I’d really recommend is that you talk to the manufacturer and find out just how sandable it is and when. From there you need to decide how much risk you want to take, both in the sanding and in buffing, which is a brand new skill that you’ll be having to learn “on the fly” on your new paint job.


PC.

[Jonsr20]

Re: New Paintjob wetsanding help!!!!

Alright thanks for the help, you have been very helpful!! I did put primer on it but there was no runs in that all the runs were in the second base coat " i laid it on a bit to thick". Anyway I'll try and get in contact with the maker of the paint!