I've been expirementing on my parts car that had a faded fender. I put a clear on it and it came out pretty nice and even had somewhat of a decent mirror finish. I did a little wet sanding to get rid of any overspray and what orange peel I could get out. It was out of a spray can so I didn't expect too much out of it but it came out pretty good.

However, sometimes I'll wet sand and the clear coat will become milky looking and won't polish up after sanding. Or I'll spray it and it feels smooth after sanding and isn't milky but is very blurry and non mirror like. Is that the underneath coat not being smooth enough or the clear?

So I'm wondering a couple things...is the mirror finish achieved by getting a very smooth color coat underneath the clear and then just a light sanding of any orange peel in the clear? And what causes that milky effect?

Also, do you sand between each coat of clear? Or do a couple coats then sand the last?

I'm slowly trying to learn this stuff so that I can one day do my own projects or at least do a nice touchup. Thanks for helping me out.

 

Sounds like blushing... a.k.a. too much moisture in the air (from what I heard).

 

I don't think so as I did them one right after another.. one turned out fine the other didn't. Maybe spraying it too thick or sanding before it's 100% dry?

 

That's more than likely what happened the paint on top was probably dry but the coats underneath were not. Especially if you sprayed it on thick.

 

Yeah that makes sense I rushed that one a little where as I went inside for a long time before I came back out and sanded the fender that came out good.

So is the color underneath like the silvery sheet inside a mirror? The clear acts like the pain of glass and the color underneath needs to be smooth to reflect a good image? That would explain a lot if I'm thinking correctly here.

I'm just now starting to practice this and am getting a little better results. I haven't yet tried wet sanding the color coat with a fine grit and then spraying a clear. So I'll get to that tonight.

After wet sanding is it best to wipe down the water or just let it air dry? If you wipe it down what's best to use?

Oh and when sanding down orange peel what grit should I start with? Especially if it's heavy? Should I just keep at it with a 1500 or start with 800 then work up?

 

I did 1200 and then I went to a fine rubbing compound.