help buffing new clearcoat

broncoguy · 07-24-05, 02:03

Hi-
I'm a serious newbie here, and I have a clearcoat question. I just did a repair on the hood of my car (black). I did the base coat, and then clearcoat, but I'm not sure how to buff/polish the clearcoat area and overspray. Is it a wetsand first? It's a pretty big area. How long to wait after applying the clearcoat before the next step?

It's not a professional job, obviously, but I'd like it to look OK if possible.

Thanks.

papi_jay · 07-24-05, 03:01

If you wetsand the base coat it changes color and possible leaves a " stain "
As long as you followed proper blend procedure though , the clear would've overlapped the base coat's invisible edge by at least an inch and then only wet sanding the clear coat for a perfect blend is fine .
Overspray you remove with clay or paint cleaner . Also you shouldnt do any of this until paint is set if you are asking what to do .
Which would be about 48 hours , but I would allow a week for it to gas out before working on it .

Have a picture of the job showing detail so I can say better what I think should be done ?

broncoguy · 07-26-05, 08:06

Well, it's bascially the better part of the whole hood. Don't have pics to send yet. Need to know what products and steps to use to get the best shine. Sprayed 4 coats of black base and 3 coats of clear. I have a variable speed buffer that looks similar to the porter cable version everyone talks about here.

Again, doesn't have to be perfect, but I'd like it to look as good as possible. Thanks.

papi_jay · 07-27-05, 12:53

What I was asking basically is if you taped it off . Then the color coat and clear coat would end at teh same point , which is not good .
You would want to wetsand the edge out and then go over the entire clear once in one direction with 800 grit in one direction or use a light grey 3m scuff pad to scuff the surface .
Then do a wax remover and tack rag on it , and tape it off about 2-3" past where your original tape line was and re-clear it , but fading out to that new tape line so it's barely overspray at the tape .
That makes a " perfect blend " and can be wetsanded with 2000 grit and rubbed out after paint has cured .
You can't use anything but rubbing compound and glaze on fresh paint for 30 days or it wont cure properly .

broncoguy · 07-27-05, 05:08

OK, thanks. That helps.