i read somewhere that sanding the basecoat will make it shiny like sanding metal. and it was a bad thing, especially for metallic paints. the clearcoat is supposed to make it shiny

i've been reading alot of stuff about painting, and the more i read the more i get confused. Your way seems to make sense, so i might do it your way.

 

SoSoFast Wetsanding with 1000 will definatly not give you a glossy basecoat.. you will be able to see (not feel, though), microsanding marks on the basecoat after you sand it.. I think I was using 900 or 1000 wet sand on it, and it still looked like it was sanded. It is sorta glossy after you lay it down, though. For examples of this, take a look at my "unsorted and unresized pictures of my rx7 paintjob". it's at http://www.killermonks.com/rx7 . The directories that will be of interest to you will be "firstbasecoat" and then "green". In the Firstbasecoat directory, you can see how it looks sorta glossy (not like after I spray the clearcoat on it, but shiney), then if you look in the "green", especially the sunroof and doors pics, you can really see the sanding marks around where the green metalflaked clearcoat is..

Hope this helps!

 

why isnt this archived yet?

 

I think archiving would be a good idea, I've seen enough people reference this in other threads


On a unrelated note, I finally got on my duff, and resized all of the in-progress images the link above, and named all the pictures.. I recommend you take a look at "green" and then look at the sunroof pictures to see what I'mt alking about with the sanding marks, then go into the clearcoat one and look at the sunroof again

 

Awesome info! This will definitely come in handy.

 

Hi i just received my hvlp gravity feed spray gun. But i oredered the one with the 2mm tip cos i read it sprays acrylic better. But they send me the 1.7mm tip one instead. Should i exchange it. Or wont' it make a difference with the paint?

thanks

 

NOTE OF WARNING: Do NOT follow the directions i received and wet sand the clearcoat right before you wax... I just did this today, and I'm having a helluva time getting the shine back... I'm not sure what my problem is, but it's acting like the wax is simply not coming off. I'm thinking that it may be the 96% humidity here today (hey, it was nice in the morning), and it's not allowing to the wax to dry. Either way, I'd avoid that for now, and maybe go with a polishing buffer or something to get rid of minor surface clearcoat orangepeel (which is what I was trying to get rid of).

If I can't get it to become shiney tomorrow, then I'm going to just wet-sand off the wax and respray some more clearcoat on monday. You can never have enough clearcoat

Just for the record, i was using McGuire's (sp?) #26 or 7 wax...

sosofast I'm honestly not sure how the different tips will respond.. The gun I was using is 1.4mm, and that seemed like plenty of flow to me.. That's a good question though, Any body shop guys in the house?

 

Good luck man! I am getting ready to paint my FC myself... I am in the army though and have use of a COMPLETE auto garage including a down draft paint booth and all the tools needed. Even with all that though, I am still scared I am going to mess it up.... I have a lot of fiberglass to work on too though so who knows.....

 

awesome information here...my car's paint is starting to bubble and drip and (looks bad up close) yea...the previous owner just painted right over the old stuff, i don't think there was any prep work at all so its all weird looking now. good thing this info is here, definitely VERY informative.

 

sosofast & crickifur- How did your car ever turn out? c'mon, I wanna see some pics.

aka-rocket - Good luck, as long as the body is in good shape, a recoat shouldn't be TOO hard I just shot a friend's prelude last week, and that's pretty much all we did. Took less than a week and a half from start to finish.


UPDATE ON MINE - I guess I never did finish explaining what was happening with mine at the buffing stage. As I suspected before, I did need to use a polishing compound instead of just the straight wax, however, I realized that the clearcoat was a little thinner than I wanted it to be, so I re-sanded, and dumped another gallon of clearcoat on it. that was about a month and a half ago..

NOw I'm equipped with a 20 dollar wal-mart buffer, some polishing wax, and some fine grit sandpaper.. This time it will be REALLY shiney. Probably next weekend or the weekend after.

 

well its been more than a month since ive done my paint job so i thought id post back.

the one thing i can realy emphasis in hind site is the importance of waiting about 10-15 minutes between coats of base or clear. this "flash time" allows the paint to set up and begin drying before the next coat comes down. if you dont do this the paint will "sag" as it dries even if it doesnt look that way right after spraying. so just spray a few light passes (think more of "dusting" with the paint then "coating') then wait before repeating. in other words, if you are spraying so much that you can see sags while its wet, you pilled on FAR to much paint. it might be too much, too fast even if it doesnt look saggy while wet.

also wait a week before wet sanding the clear for the final time. want it to be COMPLETELY dry before that last sanding.

-andy

 

Good call on the clearcoating tips. A lot of people get crazy after the first coat they slap down (since it has such a nice surface to adhere to), and put the same thickness on next time, then it runs...

Personally, i'm waiting until right before I polish and wax to sand the paint. but to each their own As long as you use 1500 grit for the final finish

 

great info.

WonkoTheSane, what type primer did you use? What do you recommend?

what brand base and clear did you use?

 

Really smart tips on Finishing in this thread, thank gos people know how to lay down good finish

 

Wow, this thread is back from the dead!


I don't remember the exact brand of primer I used. I let the guy selling me the paint worry about that. It was a primer-sealer, though, I can tell you that. I used a Tran-Star clear coat, which worked out well. I really wanted to go all PPG, but I didn't want to pay for it for my first attempt at doing bodywork/painting. I'll probably end up doing that next time, but for this time, the cheaper brands worked out. I think the trick is to go around to some good paint stores, and see what combination they suggest.. They work with that stuff all day long, they'll know what works and what doesn't.

 

Question for you guy who have paint your own car. Should I go with a single-stage or a base/clear system. I look for a decent shine and durable enough to handle everyday driving.

Please gave me your opinions?

Thanks guy, you are the greatest group

 

Wow Derek, you really keep this thread alive

There is no way you could convince me to go with a single stage setup, especially after the polsih I just did on the car The more clearcoat, the better.

 

If you want that look of depth in the paint or any kind of a 'wet' look in the shine, go base/clear. Single stage looks good on tractors and lawnmowers, or those who are going for a flatter look, like the old ratrod style.

If you are using any king of metallic or pearl, you need the clear for protection and depth.

I don't agree with 'the more clear the better' mantra. Too thick of a clear and the layers of the clear won't dry properly and will crack or 'alligator' over time. This is for the polyurethane clears, which most automotive paints are now days. Back when laquer was prevelant, more was better.

 

Time for my 2 cents, lol...

I've been trying to perfect rattle can paint (Rustoleum) jobs on scrap pieces of aircraft skin panels for some time now. I still don't know if I'm going the "ghetto" way with the rattle can, or if I'm going to splurge for a "professional" paint job, but I have somewhat perfected the rattle can primer, paint and clear coat.

Micro-mesh makes a sanding kit for acrylic and lexan aircraft windows (we gotta get the scratches off or the passengers freak, lol), and it works wonders on clear coat paints for the wet sanding steps. I got a coat of clear to literally look like water by using the micro-mesh kit ($35, BTW).

You start with 1500 grit, then work your way up to 6000 grit using their "floating" pad behind the sanding cloths, then polish it to a sheen.

I'm waiting a couple of months to see how the Rustoleum clear coat stands up to the Houston sun (I practiced on the sunroof, it was rusting to hell anyway). I will not use the rattle can approach if it doesn't, but so far (about 3 weeks) it's doing OK.

The main problem with rattle can, as I see it, is the freakin' tiny spray pattern...

I'm assuming that it won't be as hard as the polyurethane systems either...

BTW, like trochoid said, you don't want TOO many clear coats...

 

I just finished painting my car protege blue I spent more time fixing dents and rust than painting. Not quite done with the car but done painting. Heres a pic

 

itts alll about the bondo baby

 

Damn nice work!

That is about what color I want. What paint code is that?

I think I want to paint mine 2003 color off the maita. 24A... i believe

 

Wayne, it wouldn't be the same without your two cents Any chance I can get ahold of this Micro-Mesh stuff? I definatly want to try it.

Just for clarificiation: When I said the more clear, the better; I didn't mean to just and throw as much clear on as possible. Just that you don't have to be timid with it. I've seen professional hot rodders talk about doing up to 6-8 coats, but taht's if you mist it. If you glop it on, only do maybe 4. My car as 6 coats in a few places, as anywhere the green is has clearcoat with green metalflake, then there's 3 coats over the entire car.