Body work help

[1FastCSX289]

I am NOT a body guy so excuse my ignorance. Ive done a little body work and I want to get better.....so I am taking on the task of painting my grill and front air dam for my CSX. I stripped, and primered the grill.....wet sanded with 320 and then 800 grit and then sprayed the color. It actually looks pretty good, but I need to do the clear coat yet. Heres my question.....do I need to wet sand prior to the clear coat? If so, what grit should I be using? ANd then after the clear....sand that coat? What grit?

Im not looking for a show stopping paint job.....it just needs to look decent. So I am not going to do more than 1 or 2 coats of clear.....

Thanks for the advice.

[Speedeuphoria]

well I'm no expert either, but since you didnt do the clear over the wet base I would suggest you wet sand the base. I think 800 would be ok if its wet paper.

Normally stuff that you cant buff very easily like the grille ect.. you want do get some slick coats of clear on it so then you dont have to wetsand/colorsand and buff it out. But again no ones a pro here(well speaking of me and you)

If you do sand after the clear you need 2-3000 grit(unigrit prefered). Then you still have to go over it w/ a rotary or lots of time and elbow grease(and still wont finish out like a rotary)

[spoolinhard]

You dont have to sand before spraying clear, as long as you clear it before it has fully cured. It should say on the can what kind of time frame you have. With the PPG stuff I use, you have up to 24 hours to clear without sanding, after that you just have to break open the surface of the basecoat. Easiest way to do that is with a light scuffing pad. You should be able to clear within 20min to 30min after basecoat, but check your application to make sure first. I dont know what product you are using.
-Kaleb

[1FastCSX289]

You dont have to sand before spraying clear, as long as you clear it before it has fully cured. It should say on the can what kind of time frame you have. With the PPG stuff I use, you have up to 24 hours to clear without sanding, after that you just have to break open the surface of the basecoat. Easiest way to do that is with a light scuffing pad. You should be able to clear within 20min to 30min after basecoat, but check your application to make sure first. I dont know what product you are using.
-Kaleb

Actually, I talked to one my students who is good with body work and this is the same info I got from him. So, I cleared it before I left school today (probably 2 hours after the color). Should I go right to 2000 grit paper to wet sand the clear? He was saying start with like 1200 or 1500. How long do I give the clear to dry? Do I have to put on another coat of clear after its wet-sanded?

[Turbodave]

I'm not a proffesional, but on the parts I've done before I usually do a couple coats of clear, let that dry for a few days then wet-sand if needed.

[1FastCSX289]

I'm not a proffesional, but on the parts I've done before I usually do a couple coats of clear, let that dry for a few days then wet-sand if needed.

A few days, huh? Now how long do you let it dry between coats?

[89ShelbyGuy]

Well, theres one thing i didn't like that you did, Sand the primer with 320 then 800. The base coat won't adhere right. These are the steps i take when painting a car.

1. Sand area to be painted with 80 grit, then apply primer. 3 coats
2. Wetsand primer with 220, then spray anoth 2-3 coats, let dry
3. Wet sand primer with 400 grit depending if you had any flaws, if not just use a scuffing pad.
4. Prepsol it all down and get base coat ready.
5. Tack cloth it down and spray 3 coats of base coat, depending on what kind of show quailty you want, you can wet sand with 1,000 grit between coats, but in this case just spray 3 coats of base and wet sand with 1000 grit, if you think you did a real good job on layin the paint down you can even use 1500 grit.
6. After you sanded the peice down, prepsol it(just a cleaner) and tack cloth it down.
7. Spray 3 coats of clear making sure there wet when going on. Let dry
8. Wet sand with 1500 grit making sure your careful around edges.
9. Get some rubbing compound and buff that ----- to a shine! Then put some polish on it.

As for the drying time, it all depends on the paint and the temp and how humid it is. I usally let my peices dry for the night when its 65-75 degrees out with about 50% hem. Also, depending on what paint you use you could wet sand it in a couple of hours.

Now as for putting another coat of clear on it, that is sometimes wise to do, some people do not have polishers to buff it out, so they would just wetsand the flaws out and put a nice even wet coat of clear on so they wouldnt have to buff it out..

Now remember this is the way i paint things. I accually just got done painting my 89 daytona shelby....painted my sundance too..and do many..many side jobs, so this is what worked best for me.

Good luck, and post some pics when done!!!

Tom

[Speedeuphoria]

A few days, huh? Now how long do you let it dry between coats?

shoot base coats, give 20-30 in between, or if painting a whole car, you can pretty much start right over after you finish. Then let the base sit 30min or so and shoot clear, same times. Then let dry at least 24hrs(1-3days), then you can start sanding if needed. If you going to start sanding soon then use finer grit. You can put it off for long time and sand later, the clear will be harder so it will take more effort to polish it out.

mine was metalic so I didnt want to sand the base, but you can and do like advised above

[GLHS592]

1. Sand area to be painted with 80 grit, then apply primer. 3 coats
2. Wetsand primer with 220, then spray anoth 2-3 coats, let dry
3. Wet sand primer with 400 grit depending if you had any flaws, if not just use a scuffing pad.
4. Prepsol it all down and get base coat ready.
5. Tack cloth it down and spray 3 coats of base coat, depending on what kind of show quailty you want, you can wet sand with 1,000 grit between coats, but in this case just spray 3 coats of base and wet sand with 1000 grit, if you think you did a real good job on layin the paint down you can even use 1500 grit.
6. After you sanded the peice down, prepsol it(just a cleaner) and tack cloth it down.
7. Spray 3 coats of clear making sure there wet when going on. Let dry
8. Wet sand with 1500 grit making sure your careful around edges.
9. Get some rubbing compound and buff that ----- to a shine! Then put some polish on it.

I agree 100%. That is exactly how we painted my Shelby Charger. Now, if you're spraying a single part for a car that still has mostly factory paint, I'd skip step 8 and 9. For example, I had my driver's side fender extension piece repainted for my GLHS after I hit the opossum. My car has most of the factory paint. I left the orange peel texture because it matched the factory paint better.

[1FastCSX289]

Thanks guys. I guess I will see how it turned out tomorrow and then decide if I polish or wet sand or both.

89ShelbyGuy......why do you think the base coat wont adhere to the primer I layed down? Did I sand it too fine? Do you think it will peel up later on? The grill was kind of a practice run for me.....I figure if I screw it up, I dont have a ton of time invested (its only a small piece). I want to have the process right when I do the airdam though.

Keep the advice coming. Thanks!

[GLHS592]

...why do you think the base coat wont adhere to the primer I layed down? Did I sand it too fine?

I think you sanded the primer too fine. It could peel. It might not.

[mwrenn]

If you sanded too fine before your first coat of primer, it might reduce your adhesion some. The reason is that the 80 grit scratches are microscopically deeper, so the initial primer coat simply has more surface area to stick to. Your subsequent coats then depend on this first layer adhereing well.

Real world it probably won't make much difference on that small a piece. Because of it's location, it might not be as resistant to rock chips, etc...

Post some pics, we would love to see it!!

[1FastCSX289]

If you sanded too fine before your first coat of primer, it might reduce your adhesion some. The reason is that the 80 grit scratches are microscopically deeper, so the initial primer coat simply has more surface area to stick to. Your subsequent coats then depend on this first layer adhereing well.

Real world it probably won't make much difference on that small a piece. Because of it's location, it might not be as resistant to rock chips, etc...

Post some pics, we would love to see it!!

I did use 80 grit to remove the old paint before I primered.

I will post some pics tomorrow.

[Clay]

I am NOT a body guy so excuse my ignorance. Ive done a little body work and I want to get better.....so I am taking on the task of painting my grill and front air dam for my CSX. I stripped, and primered the grill.....wet sanded with 320 and then 800 grit and then sprayed the color. It actually looks pretty good, but I need to do the clear coat yet. Heres my question.....do I need to wet sand prior to the clear coat? If so, what grit should I be using? ANd then after the clear....sand that coat? What grit?

Im not looking for a show stopping paint job.....it just needs to look decent. So I am not going to do more than 1 or 2 coats of clear.....

Thanks for the advice.

Go with manufacturers recommendations for everything. It's their paint/product, they know it. Now, on that note, when wet sanding before color, most manufacturers recommend somewhere around 400 -> 600 grit.

Typically, if you let the color/paint sit for 24 hours, then yes you need to wet sand it before spraying the clear. I usually use a fine scotch brite pad, but if your using sand paper I would shoot for the high end of 600 -> 800 grit when wet sanding the color before clear.

If you want to wetsand the clear (you dont have to unless you really want it to look nice), start with 1000, then 1500, then 2000, finish around 2400 or so. Then buff. Unless your really trying for a show paint job though, I wouldnt worry about the wet sand and buff on the clear.

[1FastCSX289]

Thanks Clay.

It dried up over night and turned out OK. Its not great by any means.....if I paid someone to do it, they would be doing it again. But, its not bad for not knowing anything. The vertical surfaces of the grill look nice....nice shine....a little fish eye though. The horizontal surfaces of the grill look a bit orange peely. I think its because they got dusted when I was pointing the gun at the vertical faces. Will the wet sanding take out the orange peel? Will I have to wet sand and then add another coat? I can live with it...its not horrible, especially since its just a small part of the car......but I want the airdam to come out better.

[Clay]

if the orange peel is in the clear, then wet sanding/buffing can get rid of it. IMO all paint will have some degree of orange peel.

Now, if you know your going to wet sand the clear, you would typically apply more coats. Worse case you sand through the clear and into the color and then you have to reapply the clear. Best case, you wet sand the clear, get it how you want it, and then buff the shine back into it.

BUT, if you can live with it for now, then I wouldnt worry about it until you paint the entire car. Unless of course the entire car looks really good and it doesn't match very well.

[89ShelbyGuy]

Yea, IMO, 600 before base is alittle fine to me, but like i said before, it all depends on what works for you, when i tested different ways and sanded with 600 grit or higher before base, it would look awesome, then a month down the line ALL the sanding marks come up and you could see it....Like everyone is saying, painting a little peice like this is nothing, you should be fine, if anything does happen to it, just redo it, and you'll know the semi right way

And as for as the base coat you should be fine, it just might not last as long, but it will still look good for a long time to come.

Post some pics!

Tom

[Clay]

yeah, I try to stay with 400 before the base, but if you dont have it, Ive been ok with 600. If Im worried about it, I spray a sealer before the base coat, let it flash, then spray the color.

[1FastCSX289]

Thanks guys. I didnt have a chance to mess with it today.....it was a busy day.

I will post some pics when im done.