How soon can you wet sand/buff new paint?
 

What's the proper amount of curing time required on a BC/CC finish before you can wet sand and buff for final finish? Days? Hours?

TIA :thumbs:

Read the tech sheet for your product, but we usually like to get on it next day. If you wait too long with urethanes they get harder to buff the longer they have to cure.

That will depend on the particular clear that you used and the temperature during spraying and cure. There are a lot of urethanes that you need to get on the next day. I've just switched to a high solids clear that buffs as good 2 weeks later as it does the next day. So it's sort of an open question.

Dan

clears
 

Dan, what is the clear you are referring to? I sand and buff every thing I do. So clear that buffs easy and if it has a nice d.o.i. thats what I'm, looking for.

Almost every clear out there can be sanded and buffed at 24 hours.. As a matter of fact I dont know of any that have to have any more wait time than that..

Some clears buff great at a day or two, while others if you wait a week or longer are harder to buff out as they cure.. Depends on the product here allot..

But overall you should be able to sand and buff at 24 mark as long as the paint is in a 65f-70 degree temp for that time

My neighbor painted his truck and waited a week to sand and buff. He said he did this on purpose because it would be a lot harder to sand and buffer through the clear. I dont know too much but thats what he said.

popa,

The clear I use and refered to is SPI Universal Clear. If you want more information about it, try this link and take a look around.

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/homepage.htm

Dan

One of the problems with getting on it too soon is that it will cure out later and sink into the sand scratches, for best results we cut and buff for driving appearance and then do it again at least 1 month (6 is better) later after the paint has time to cure...although it it easier to sand and buff sooner, the depth will not be there until full cure IMHO

with spi uv clear it does not matter. today or next month.

That's a great clear coat. I used it last year on my '68:

Attachment 48171406

most clears if they are baked can be wetsanded within 12 hours. if you cant bake it ( 400* plus) then wait atleast a week for all the solvents to come out ofthe paint, or you'll just be cutting it and it'll buff out, but it'll dye back down in a couple days.