im painting it candy black, so i get the metallic basecoat, candy concentrate, black primer, lacquer thinner, clear coat, and obviously the sandpapers, etc. my friend said after putting on 3 layers of basecoat you let it dry for 2-3 days then sand it with around 2000 grit and then clearcoat it, is that true? please help
thanks

 

I would not recommend sanding the base coat. This could put imperfections in your base and cause it to be really noticable when you go to put down the clear...

I would suggest taking a sharpie, marking all areas that have divets or holes and then take a orbital or DA sander to those spots first. Take some filler and hardener and fill those spots. block sand them smooth with 220 grit. I would then suggest primering over those spots and block sanding with 220 grit again. I would then primer the whole car, then apply a guide coat over it. Let it dry for atleast 6 hours and then block sand with an agressive 180 grit. Apply another primer coat and sand with a 320 grit. I would then wait atleast a day and then apply your base coat. Let it flash to the recommended time and then apply another coat, and then one last coat. I would then wait a full day and apply your clear, wait the recommended flash times. Make sure you do 4 coats of clear. I would then go ahead and wetsand the clear with 1000 grit, then 1500 grit, then 2000 grit. I would then get a polisher and some 3m compound and buff the car.

It sounds like a lot of work, but you dont want to skimp on the prep work.

 

with black you should go finer than 320. Black shows everything. Final sand your primer with 600 just to be on the safe side. I did and mine turned out very slick.

 

I should have specified... I would go with a high build 2k primer. These fill scratches from 80grit. So there really is no need to go higher than 320 grit. But to each their own.