I truly looked around, thoroughly but not with a fine toothed comb before I posted this thread. Seriously!

I am trying to paint my front fender a glossy black and love Powder Pro's suggestion of soaking cans in hot water. On a scale of 1 -10 I was expecting a -2 but it came out about a solid 6, yay.

My problem is when I put the final coat on, about five coats, I got cocky and shot too much paint and it left a small but noticeable drip. As I have 5 coats I sanded with 1000, 1500 & 2000 grit paper always wet but now I see the drip is gone but then I got distracted and came back 3 hours later and saw that it was not just dull but in the direct light it had a very dull if not gray appearance. I will put on one more coat tonight or tomorrow most likely and then wet sand with only the 2000 grit to get rid of the orange peel.

So far so good? I think so but feel free to jump in!!!

Question time:

Do I buff with a rubbing compound then, let dry and then clear?

Do I go right to the clear probably waiting about 18 hours?

When do you low speed buff with the rubbing compound? I can buy the Meguiar's or the 3M as it makes no difference to me since the auto parts store sells them both but the 3M is about $3 more and half the size. Any suggestions here is welcomed too.

Thanks!

 

you buff after you clear but I guess I use PPG products and not rattle cans.

but here goes after you wet sand you will have to apply atleast 1 more coat to bring back the color after ample Flash time (whatever the recoat/overcoat time on the paint you are using) then apply the clear, you can use a gray scatch pad over the color coat and a good clear will cover the scratches. but since I don't paint with cans my help to you is very limited.

maybe Joe can chime in here I know he has good luck with cans as he has posted many nice rattle can jobs before.

as for the buffing stage you would need to wait about 24 hours after the clear has dried then you can sand it with 1500-2000-3000 then rub it out most rubbing compund will get rid of 1500grit scratches and a little bit goes a long way. Also remember rubbing compund is not a finishing product after using rubbing compound you will need to use a polishing compund after. 3M has little numbers on the bottles to tell you what order to use them in like a 1 ,2 ,3 and each step requires a different pad to apply it.

I have found that the Wizzards Finish cut works great.

 

Thanks a lot, i will look for wizzqrds finisher cut.

 

i always like to wet sand $1000 grit then light coat of base and clear that wet... but when you are wet sadning be sure you are using a wet sanding block so you are giving even pressure and think light hands!!!! i like to shoot my clear on a wet base coat. 3 or 4 coats of clear and your good... then wait a full week before you wet sand... got lightly 1000, 1500, 2000... then polish i like turtle wax polish but finishers cut works great as well as stated above... let me know if you have any questions, paint does not know if it is being shot from a can or gun man all in the prep! to be honest you can use 2k clear, it is a 2 stage clear in a rattle can be just the same as shooting it from a gun and it is self leveling so it will flatten out nicely for oyu

 

Well the products I use I can spray base wait 5 min spray a second coat of base wait 15 min then clear then wait 20 min and buff thats the difference between a rattle can and what comes out of a gun

but my stuff also cost a sheet ton more.



I knew Joe would be able to help. Thanks buddy

 

ooh did not know you where shooting out of the gun, you can adjust your hardener to cure it up for you then and have it all said and done in a day... can not do that out of a can! hahaha

 

Thanks for the suggestion again Joe. I soaked the rattle cans in the sink full of hot water for 5 - 10 minutes and I think it made a difference in the amount of paint flow. seemed less restrictive if that makes sense. I got a nice top final coat and then waited about 36 hours and shot a coat of clear and then an hour later I shot another.

Since your suggestions are working so far Joe I will wait seven days after putting on another and final clear coat tomorrow I will then very, extremely and super lightly wet sand with even pressure all around the block then buff it out.

Thanks a lot and I will put some pictures up when complete. This really has been a great learning experience that I will build on. Prep, prep and then some more prep!