I'm painting my underhood panels and the FRCs.

I've got the color coat done but I have just a slight orange peel effect

If I clearcoat over a slightly dull finish (light sanding with very fine grit)will it come good when the clearcoat goes on or do I need to leave the final color coat unsanded to keep it bright?

I plan 3 or 4 coats of clear to finish.

 

Do not sand the color, all prep work should have been done prior to paint. If you sand the color even lightly it is most likely you will see the sand marks in the clear. If you want to re sand the color, use 400 / 500 grit then repaint before clear.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, be glad to help!!!

 

I wouldn't sand the base coat. Two coats of clear should be good.

If the clear causes an exaggeration of the orange peel, sand the clear and buff. Of course that will be tough to do with the hood on the vehicle and because of all the seams. I'd just shoot it and leave it.

Ever wonder if there is a reason GM does not apply clear under there?

 

Times have sure changed, Years ago when we painted clear and base coat we always wet sanded the base coat before clear coat.

 

my best advice is dont try this at home.

but if you must ...
The base is for color only.. dont try to make it shiney, the wetter you apply the darker the color will be.

I sand base if needed but but MUST recoat with base.

the clear coat is the tricky part. agian dont try to make it to wet or you will end up with runs..

good luck.

 

Sanding the color coat is no problem, happens all the time, especially if your not painting in a REAL clean area or booth. Dust and other junk can get into the bascoat, wetsanding this and any runs out is standard procedure.

 

Thanks guys

 

Email chriswtx, he will help you out! ! He is a Pro when it comes to Paint! !

 

what kind of paint are you using should be the first question i think... shouldnt be any orange peel or runs in the base. like said above only reason to sand base is to get trash out of it. then have to reapply, the orange peel will be sanded out of the clear when you cut and buff it. that is if you are going to sand clear and buff when done or you can just leave it.

 

I have an extra front fascia I did the opposite, I wetsanded the color and shot the clear wet, it came out smooth and nice, I didn't wetsand or buff the clear it was so good.

 

I did these eng comp pieces w/Home Depot plastic furniture spray cans.
I primered, wet sanded, 4 coats of base TR, wet sanded & buffed out between each coat, put the vinyl letters on, hit with 2 coats of clear, had some runs & crackling, wet sanded, buffed out, put two more coats of clear on them, wet sanded w/2000, buffed out & they were still in great shape 2 1/2 yrs later when car was wrecked.

I did these eng pieces using model car spray paint in Candy Apple Red, using same technique.

And I'm doing some engine piece's for a friends flamed Z06 right now in a yellow to match his flames and caps will all be in a blue to match flame tips. Will post pics when done with them.

 

regardless of how wet you spray the clear you will still have some orange peel effect compared to a wetsanding with 800, 1500, then 2000 and buff right.

That is interesting, what paint were you using? was it metallic? what sandpaper? really hard to get away with the metallic plus really clogs the sandpaper.

btw, I dont ever use anything but eurethanes so the rattlecan is something i cant comment on but those red engine covers look nice with the rattle. thats impressive

 

Navy blue metallic-no problems-looks PERFECT. By the way, you want a little peel in it if you want it to look like factory paint. I was using DuPont Chromabase/ChromaClear

 

You're right, nothing has changed, just bad info given.
I used to paint cars and it is perfectly acceptable and still done on high dollar paint jobs. You sand the base or color with 800 WET and knock down the op and re-apply a couple more color coats. You then apply 4-6 coats of clear and wet sand it with 1500-2000 if necessary (probably overkill for some FRC's though).
Now truth be told op is caused by:
1. being in a hurry
2. Envioromental variables not being controlled (temps and humidity)
3. Cheap paint and thinners/reducers
4 The wrong thinners/reducers for the temp in which you are painting. I use slow thinners and reducers regardless of the temp, allows the paint to lay down and flow out more before the solvents evap. out.
The faster the solvents evaporate oput of the paint, the more orange peel you will have.

 

I've never done a wet sanded before...any tips you can give or maybe a link to an instruction thread?

 

Get a rubber squeege and PRACTICE. As you wetsand, squeegie off the muck every now and then, when all of the valleys from the orange peel disappear, your good to polish ans STAY AWAY FROM SHARP CORNERS!

 

GREAT advice here, the "trick" is to keep the paint wet enough to flow on the work, not start to dry from the gun to the work. Testing your mix and gun before you shoot is very important.

 

I cant agree with sanding the basecoat with a eurethane unless you absolutly have to due to trash or a shrinking effect. regardless if you sand the base or not your not gonna see any difference in the paint if you sand the clear and buff it and your also going to have to recoat the base anyway to get rid of the scratches and it will displace the metallics as well. waste of time and base to recoat what you have already covered. the base coat with a eurethane is so thin the 800 grit is not going to be able to smooth it without going through and there isnt even enough material to smooth. 3 medium coats will generally cover if you use the right sealer and its not a red or a yellow color base and that is nowhere near the thickness of even one coat of clear. I understand the sanding of the base with the older paints like laquers and what not because your putting 10-20 coats of it on but definetly not eureathanes like used today. If you still dont agree maybe you have been misinformed. take those 10 and 20 thousand dollar paint jobs with all the nice graphics and all and i can assure you that the base hasnt been sanded on a single one of those cars.

with the eurethane paint you can sand the clear after it dries and recoat with more clear and then sand that flat and buff. that will make a difference and make the color look deeper but not the base.

 

I'll also bet those paint jobs were done in a MULTI-THOUSAND $$$ downdraft spray booth with waterbaths below to keep the junk out of the paint. The only issue with wetsanding the basecoat is if you have metallic paint. You can possibly change the look of the metallic in an area if you wetsand only a spot. Other than that, the flatter the stuff underneath, the flatter the final product.

 

I agree with you about sanding the trash out of the base. That works great cause it dries so fast. No matter how much money and cleaning you throw at a booth it is always going to have trash. I dont understand what everyone is saying by sanding the whole area being painted.

If your primer was sanded correctly then your base should always lay flat with no orange peel or raised areas or whatever you wanna call them. If your wet sanding a eurethane, the base is so thin you will take off most of what you just sprayed down and with having to recoat with the same amount to cover than your really just wasting materials and time or giving yourself peice of mind. I think we all know how much materials are these days. I bought a half pint of paint the other day and it was $50 and that is with a discount.