You do not have to wetsand and buff the clear afterward if you dont want too. I usually do after i do a paintjob makes the job look smoother and more level. If you prep the car right and keep everything as level as possible the less orange peel you will have. You can even wetsand the basecoats before you get to clearcoating. Depending on temperature conditions, when you clear just make sure you reduce it like it says maybe add some flow enhancer so it will flow better and give you better leveling set your gun pressure right and go with it.
If you clear it twice and it looks good then leave it. Remember alot of times a flourcent light like in a paint booth or garage where i do mine. It will give you a different look. Pull it outside and take a look at it in the bright sunlight and if you have a slight case of orange peel inside most likely you wont see it in sunlight.
I did a friends corvette. In the lights inside it looked like it had orange peel pulled it outside and you coulnt see it. But i wet sanded it anyway just to make sure i knocked and dirt nibs down or whatever that could have gotten on it and it was much smoother.
But when i did my 06 mercury milan and repainted it. i laid a the factory white base down then a pearl coat. Cleared it twice and left it like that. Had some orange peel here and there. But oh well. Didnt feel like going thru the hassle of wetsanding and buffing it. Remember most people that just look at a car wont notice the flaws in it unless they paint or know what to look for.
Oh sorry, i just seen you wanted to know the proper steps when i looked again.
Usually you want to clearcoat the car twice. Too much clear will be too much product on the car and then you can get more orange peel. So say you cleared twice. And your starting to wetsand and buff. Depending on how fast you want to do it. And what product your using to buff and polish with. You could start with say 1000 grit. knock it down with that. Then step up to say 1500, then maybe 2000. If your compound isn't as strong trying to buff 1000 grit marks out wont work. So you step it up to 1500 then 2000. Just remember when your wetsanding put like a drop of soap in a bucket, keep it wet and sand it. Remember also your cutting the clear. So if your stepping from 1000,1500,2000 you dont want to set there and sand alot with every grit you use because you can bust thru faster to the basecoat and if you do you will notice it.
But you can go right with 1500 or 2000 and buff from there. Just the lower the number grit it will cut it faster. With 3m rubbing compound i've buffed out 1200 grit marks with no problem. But it is much easier to buff out a 2000 grit wet sanding marks.
Another thing is use good compound dont go get turtle wax compound and think you are going to get a good buff job. Buy quality products and the job will come out much easier. 3m is great.
If you really want the paint job to look smooth and flat on the flat areas. Get a hook it pad with say 1200 grit hook it wet/dry paper. You can actually use it on a DA sander and dry sand or wet sand all the flat areas then buff them smooth.
Thats how people get their hot rods looking smooth like glass. They wetsand or dry sand the clear. Clear it again, then wetsand again over and over then buff it.
Thats why when you hear someone say "oh that car has 10 coats of clear on it". One or two things, either #1 they dont know what they are talking about and a painter bullshitted them. Or #2 they are talking about they put 10 coats on it with wetsanding and buffing it multiple times. Say 2 coats of clear, wet sand it clear it again 2 times let it set up wetsand it, then do that 5 times. No way someone is going to set there and spray 10 coats of clear on the car its too much product and with that much product you can run into problems with it cracking lifting etc. So if someone tells you oh thats 10 coats of clear on the car they are full of shit like i said above.
Last edited by jayseon; 02-11-2010 at 02:00 AM..
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