How Not To Paint Your Mustang

[jikelly]

Howdy Folks,

Yeah, yeah, I'm still working on my stupid paint job.

I spent the last couple days completing the "final" steps with the buffer. I compounded and polished the paint on the whole car, and did just a bit of wet sanding on the hood to knock down the orange peel.

So, I wish I had pictures, but the results look alright. It's not real shiny since I was too chicken to really go after the orange peel in the clearcoat for fear of cutting through to the base. There'll be no mirror finish, but I can live with that.

Now I did find something strange. On a fender after compounding I found that I couldn't polish certain areas to a high shine. I initially thought that was because I'd cut through to the base, but no the clear is really think there. So I hit it with a little wet sanding at 2000 grit and repolished. The shine came back. Strange I thought, but later I noticed that in that area the shine still didn't match the rest of the panel in that area.

It was like that on the hood too, but the hood is different. I suspect that I may have just barely cut through the clear on the hood. So, I've decided I'll respray it. Course since I'm using urethane base/clear it's not really that simple. I'm willing to wet sand the hood with the 600 grit and then reshoot the clear. Course where it's white that's not a problem with the base, where it's got the blue glow metal flake that I'm never supposed to sand I'll probably have to reshoot the basecoat as well. Luckly I have just enough paint left to handle these "spot" repairs

Lesson to all of you for your first paint job, it might be best to practice spraying clear for a while till you can lay it with little or no orange peel (gun/air adjustment is critical) and you definatly want to spray more clear on the car than the manufactures say.

 

[chepsk8]

Wanna paint my Cobra?

Paint is one area I stay away from. I do not have the steadiest hands, and usually end up with a run when I spray with cans. So, I have always farmed that work out.

My kudos to you.

Now, PICTURES!!!!

 

[JDS68Stang]

I wasn't aware they made urethane in a base/ clear coat but didn't look into it enough when I should have. I painted my Silverado black urethane this spring with the single stage, found out later you can clear it w/ a 50/50 mix of color and the clear for the final coat.

I was told I had to give it 30 days to set before any buffing etc... .
I'm gonna try and check back on your post later when I have time and read it more thourouly and see if I can add anything helpful.

Be glad you didn't go black, it has a brownish sheen in it in direct sunlight, I was told it would.

 

[Red5oh]

Black is not black is not black... that is like saying white is white. There are too many variations of the colors and yours might look brown in the sun.

Anyway, its always best to use a basecoat/clear as it is the most forgiving. You can always spray on more clear, just stay out of the color when you are sanding.

I am surprised that no one told you to spray on more since it was your first job. You can always easily sand off more (as you found out) but putting it back on is the costly and time consuming part.

Good luck and lets see some pictures.

 

[chromedog]

im not following what you are trying to say... did you sand the car with a lower grit than 2000 to begin with? what you may be seeing is sand scratches that the 2000 didnt take out (ive never used anything finer than 1500, followed by a wool pad, foam cutting pad, then foam polishing pad) what are you using to buff with? give me some specifics, and ill see if i can help...

a bit of my handiwork

 

[jikelly]

That's pretty. If you'd like I'll drive the car out to you and let you finish it.

Yeah I learned about the thickness of the clear a while back and what happens if you cut through it. http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=668701

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=671586

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=657582&highlight=paint

I know they say base/clear is easier, but I'll tell you from my experience it's a big pain unless you do it perfect and I don't usually do things perfect the first time out.

 

[jikelly]

K so, as far as the stuff I'm using to compound and polish its the 3M perfect it 3000 compound and polish with the matching foam compound and polishing pads. Looking at the hood I can tell in the low light from the garage that it's not that the clear is gone, it's that the scratches in the clear are dulling the look.

So it's like the polish doesn't take all the scratches out. Interesting, so where the clear is untouched the clear looks shinier

 

[chromedog]

perfect it 3 (the white stuff) is a polishing compound, used for removing the haze left by aggresive buffing..switch to perfect it 2 (it is beige) or synthetic cutting cream, with either a wool pad, or a foam cutting pad. follow this with the perfect it 3 and a foam polishing pad

 

[CarFreakGT]

Sorry, jikelly, not trying to hijack.

Chromedog--what color is your car? That is exactly the shade of blue I am looking for.

 

[Rodcobra]

im not following what you are trying to say... did you sand the car with a lower grit than 2000 to begin with? what you may be seeing is sand scratches that the 2000 didnt take out (ive never used anything finer than 1500, followed by a wool pad, foam cutting pad, then foam polishing pad) what are you using to buff with? give me some specifics, and ill see if i can help...

a bit of my handiwork

Any front pics ,I like the front panel .

 

[chromedog]

the color is ford sonic blue... the light is playing off it a bit in this photo, it is an 04 mustang, and ranger color...it does look pretty awesome in real life, though...you can go to my photobucket gallery (chromedog65) there are more pics there, i think theres a frontal shot.

 

[JDS68Stang]

K so, as far as the stuff I'm using to compound and polish its the 3M perfect it 3000 compound and polish with the matching foam compound and polishing pads. Looking at the hood I can tell in the low light from the garage that it's not that the clear is gone, it's that the scratches in the clear are dulling the look.

So it's like the polish doesn't take all the scratches out. Interesting, so where the clear is untouched the clear looks shinier

Lucky at least you didn't take off the clear coat. I was going to tell you to look into 3M's products as well after getting a chance to read your post all the way thru but chromedog allready has. I never used the 3M yet but I heard by painters it was the ones to get for a nice glassy finish and chromedog seems to know which ones to get.

I got very little orange peel on my last paint job but plenty of friggin pollen got into the booth I built and caused major havok when I shot the front of my truck this spring so don't feel bad. I used the single stage though and I've painted enough to be used to this kind of BS happening. Don't even tell me you didn't get a bug or two in the paint,lol

Research a bit more on your paint on the net, some clears they recommend you sand and buff within so many hours, I'm not sure though if this applies to urethanes that are T/C coat. If you missed the time frame recommended it doesn't mean you still can't wet sand and buff, just means your dealing w/ a harder finish now that will take more effort.

You might have to wait 30 days with the urethane, that's what they told me, if your buffing to early stop and wait till the paint fully dries as recommended, then she'll shine like hell after you sand and buff.

Sounds like you might be able to finish your job off to look nice but don't rush with that buffer and find out what's going on first. Do the wet sanding only on areas that the buffer pad will be able to get to as well. If you sand in a crease and your pad won't fit in there, well you see my point.

Have a large piece of cardboard next time you paint and use that to adjust your gun on. Good luck.

 

[chromedog]

on the topic of drying time, etc... i like to let the clear set a couple days, scuff it lightly with 1000 grit, let it sit several days to a week, cut it with 1500, then buff. the reason for this is you dont want to let the clear sit too long before you sand, because it gets harder as time goes on. when you open it up with the first sanding it will dry throughout sooner. so you sand at first to let the solevents evaporate, then you sand your peel, sags, etc... out, then it hardens a bit more, then you buff. if you try to sand and buff too soon, the solevents will continue to come to the surface, and you end up buffing again. my car sit 3 days, i sanded with 1000, it sit 3 days in the sun, sanded with 1500, then i buffed. btw, the amount of material comes into play, also... the more material, the longer it will take to dry through out. ive got 2 sprayable gallons of color, and 1 1/2 gallons (3 wet coats) of clear on the 65...

 

[jikelly]

Well the last clear was sprayed back in early spring when the temps first came up above 70 regularly (I could do without winter).

So yeah the clear should be plenty hard by now. I do have two different 3M products for the compounding and polishing. I don't remember the number of the polish.

I don't have a wool pad though. What's that supposed to do for you anyway?? is it more likely to get down into the valleys on the peel, or is it just more aggressive at removing scratches/material??

I used cardboard to adjust my gun. Course it wasn't till later that I knew exactly how the clear should look as you spray it on. The guy at the paint store mentioned after I showed him a few pics that he liked to thin that particular clear to get it to lay out smoother. I had no idea I should do that. I remember seeing in the data sheet that you could do it, but not that it was recommended.

 

[chromedog]

the wool is a bit more aggressive than foam,and will get into the valleys better than foam. the thing to remember about foam, you can use the edge of the pad, just be SURE there is plenty of compound on the edge, thats the best way to burn thru the clear the 3m os an ok product, but the synthetic cutting cream is better, imho... it will break down to a polish, and gives a better shine. check around at the local bodyshops, see if you can talk someone into selling you a quart (it comes in a gallon jug) i like to reduce my clear on the last coat, just a bit, cause if you overdo it, your shine will die back

 

[RMODEL65]

also did you seal the car it might be having a dieback problem from soaking into primer etc in those few spots

 

[jikelly]

No, no sealer was required. The Base was supposed to bond into the primer, if sprayed within a certain amount of time, as was the clear to the base. Or at least that is what I was led to believe.

 

[chromedog]

most times, not sealing will leave a "fuzziness" more than dieback(been there, done that) im thinking you just need to buff more. also, if your car has been painted since early spring, you may need the wool pad to get rid of the sand scratches. as folks in the trade will say "ill bet your car is like buffing a rock!"

 

[jikelly]

That's what the guy at the paint store said. Sand paper quickly remove material, but I guess the polish can't.

 

[avc8130]

Chromedog,
What color is that (I realize it's "blue" ?
ac