help buffing new clearcoat

[broncoguy]

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]

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]

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]

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]

OK, thanks. That helps.