Paint Tips

[boomer3]

I'll start this out by this premise to save any preconceived notions: I am a novice painter..

 

I have done all of the metal/body work on my '76Z, and have just finished priming. I have done several coats, and have just wet sanded out any orange peel with 400 grit. Now that it's fairly smooth, do I need to scuff it lightly with a lower grit paper prior to base coating it? I don't know how much of paint bonding to paint is chemical versus mechanical bond, hency why I ask the question. If it is primarily chemical bond, then I assume I don't need to scuff it up post the 400 wet sand.

 

Once I've done multiple base coats, I want to let it cure and again wet sand out the colour base coat with 400ish to cover up my low hvlp skill level. What do I sand with prior to clear coat at that point? I presume 400 may even show a little under clear?? Do I move up to an 800 and then spray directly over the 800 sanded surface?

 

Once clear is complete, I plan to wet sand 400, 800, then right up to 1500 or 2000 + cutting compound to buff it shiny.

 

Thanks for the help.

[tooquick260]

Well I am a novice like you. Since no one else chimed in I will tell you what I have done helping my dad on some paint projects. We went to 1500 wet sand on the primer. What you are looking for is called a profile for the paint to stick to. Only going to 400 600 even 800 will leave some sand marks. I would put a good coat of primer on now and hit it with 800 then go back over it with 1500. Even 1800 or 2400 will get a better finish. Just how deep do you want the paint to look.

 

Then depending on your base coat. As in metals on not. My dad said you don't want to wet sand metal content base coat. Something about the sanding makes the metal lay over or flatten. So If you have non metal finish coat then wet sand that 1500 2000 2400.

 

Hit it will 2 to 3 coats of clear and spend the time on that wet sanding again. It is such a process, time consuming and wet. It is all the prep work that sucks. Taping, cleaning the gun, mixing the paint, spraying, cleaning the gun man it sucks. But nothing is worth while with out effort.

 

Good luck

[NgoZ]

Last winter, me and my best friend painted his car in my carport. We did a 3 coats of primer and we spent most of 1 day wet sanding from 400 to 2000. We could tell where we just screw it at 800.

 

As tooquick said, if you have a metallic flake in your paint your not suppose to sand that or your flake will either lay down, break, or look dull where you sanded. (We knew this but tried to sand and was very noticeable where we did it, stood out like a sore thumb)

 

Clear was the most difficult for us, but it was just because it gets everywhere.

 

Just need a steady hand and don't lay it too thick. Prep work and cleanliness is key. Let it bake for a few days, then spend the next few weekends buffing the clear by hand. I found it enjoyable, if I had a larger place I would do it more often.

[boomer3]

Great, thanks for the tips guys. I'm enjoying the process, but it has been extremely labour intensive so far. I know the pros know how to short cut it and still come out on top, but being a novice, the efficiency goes way down.

 

Good to hear that I need to cut it with higher than 400, I assumed that since it looks pretty glassy and can't see the scratches too much that I could just spray base, but I will take some more time in these steps now! Also, I thought that once I sanded out the orange peel that say 1000 grit wouldn't give the base coat enough mechanical grip (causing me to have to scuff with lower grit prior to next coat), but I take it that I am wrong here, also good to know. 

 

I am not using metallic base, I chose to do it this way so that I could water sand, knowing that I'm not experienced enough to bank on proper spray technique etc. I wonder if pearl pigments in clear react the same way to wet sanding as the metal flake does? Hmmm

[NgoZ]

Not sure if anyone had the same issue I had, but invest in a full face mask. The first day I had a mask and had no issues. The next 2 days, I only had a respirator and the fumes screwed me up for a few days.

 

Post some pictures too, would love to see your progress.

[boomer3]

Good advice. Always use the high quality charcoal filter mask for this kind of thing. I could even smell it a little through my mask, that's when you know it's toxic stuff.

 

I am planning on throwing up a thread about this partial restoration.

[Dat260Z]

I am a professional painter with years of experience in multiple types of paint and paint sprayers. I wouldn't recommend wet sanding the basecoat. If you are using basecoat-clear coat I would make sure that your primed surface is completely clean of all imperfections (hard sand scratches/trash in primer/pinholes from filler ect... Use a tack cloth to clean settled dust right before you apply basecoat ( be sure that your basecoat is reduced properly or else it will not spray right) wait approx 10-20 mins between coats (2-4 coats should be enough unless its a transparent color)

 

Once the basecoat is tacked off you can begin applying clearcoat ..first tack coat 25% overlap the following coats 50% overlap . But everyone has a different technique . If you have any questions shoot me a text phone call and ill be happy to help the best I can. 912-224-4731

[Miles]

Also, if you are using metal flake beware of  making tiger stripes in the base coat like I did.  My spray technique was off somehow.

[boomer3]

Awesome, thanks guys, very helpful. I am not using metal flake (I chose not to given my level of experience with spraying), I will experiment with metal flake soon enough. I think I will try spraying clear directly after base as you say rather than sanding. I presume I can sand out orange peel from the clear as long as I lay enough down, and then wet sand right up to 2000ish before buffing. Just taping off the car today, and hopefully spraying will be done next week or so.

[Chris Duncan]

I've never had any trouble only going to 400 on the last primer filler coat. Then going with a primer/sealer right before the base coat. And not sanding the primer/sealer as long as you go soon enough with the base coat. Go to 1000 sanding the clear coat then use Meguires "Cut and Polish Creme". This one product does both just by changing the type of buffing wheel.

 

And don't kid yourself about isocyanates, which are in almost all 2 part paints. THEY CANNOT BE FILTERED OUT WITH ANY TYPE OF FACE MASK FILTER. You need two things. Ventilation and a fresh air mask. In other words a full face mask with a remote air pump and hose. Isocyanates are a potent neurotoxin. Boeing used two part isocyanate paints when they first came out. It took them a while to figure you that they couldn't be filtered out. Many of the painters from that time are functionally retarded.