[82Spearco]

I have been doing a bunch of fiberglass repair on my Kaminari body kit. Everything is repaired, primed, hours and hours of wet-sanding, and all is painted black. Final step is to lay on the clear. What should I use to get rid of the dust/imperfections in the final coat of paint? I used 1500 grit and wet-sanded the first coat of black, before I layed on another coat. The surface look pretty dull when I was done wet sanding with the 1500. I have 2000 grit, but am afraid of screwing it up. Any recommendations? I would like to get this back on the car asap. Thanks.

 

[SilverMk2]

Go ahead and put clear over what you wet sand the dirt out. It'll be plenty shiny after you do this. Most base coats are flat anyways.

 

[82Spearco]

Thanks Aaron. I was just worried cause it looked so dull after wet-sanding.

 

[Marblehead]

Today's paints are completely different than how laquer paints used to perform. Laquer had a nice shine by itself when dry. The new 3-part paints now REQUIRE a clear coat. As Aaron said, clear the black and you will have a brillant luster.

You can clear 2 ways. Allow the paint to dry and sand as you did then clear. The best way, however, is to spray the color coat(s), allow the paint to cure for 15-20 minutes then spray the clear. The clear coat is mixed with a hardener which acts similar to epoxy. The hardener will create a chemical reaction cure instead of just an air cure. For smaller touch-up areas air cure will do just fine.

Be careful with black. That is the least forgiving color of any for showing imperfections in the paint and application. White is the most forgiving and can hide lots of mistakes.

Humans are the only species who drink when not thirsty.
Scott

 

[SupraFiend]

its probably too late now but I wouldn't recomend clearing over paint you just wetsanded, especially with black. After doing a color coat, if there is significant orange peel or any drips, do your wet sanding with 1500 grit, then apply another thin layer of base, let it dry (about 15 mins), then do your clear. Get yourself some tack cloths, before you do your clear coat you can use one of these to wipe down the base (make sure it is dry) coat if there is any dust, hair, loose overspray, etc on it. Any and all flaws you can see in base before you clear will be magnified. Dust in clear can be easily wet sanded and polished out though.