Well Ethan, it has been a week and I cannot get to spraying the clear coat until next weekend. So 2 weeks time will have passed. Will I have to wetsand the entire car and if so, what grit/s should I use? Also, am I looking to break all of the surface of the base or just knock it down abit? Thanks Jim
Yes for proper chemical cross link you will need to wetsand all the base , you don't have to go crazy just a squirt bottle 1000grit and soft sponge, you don't really need a perfect dull finish but a little more than just shaking hands with it if that makes any sense, clean each section as you go to keep the cleanup to a minimum, base sanding dust is super fine when it powders up and will be all but impossible to get out of the crevices. But the up side to doing this is the clear will lay like hot butter so you will need to be careful on the first coat and just put an even tack coat to hold the others
Ok, so all is not lost. Thanks for the help. Couple more questions ifya don't mind. The shell looks dry in the quarter panel areas and I messed up the trunklid, so that has been wetsanded out already. I am planning on spraying the shell one more time and at least two coats on the trunk lid. Will I need to wetsand the shell and body when base is dry or can I shoot clear over them within the 24hr window? I guess my concern is , will it look different from wetsanded panels that were cleared? Jim/Rott
It will have more peel in it than the sanded base panels , but the adhesion will be better vs missing the topcoat window
Ok, appreciate the quick responses Ethan. Will proceed according to your directions. I'm sure there will be more questions in the future. Thanks again, Jim
Finished the base on shell ,trunklid and passenger fender. Sanded base, cleaned thoroughly then sprayed 4 coats of clear on all. Wetsanded everything with 800 and will spend my Columbus Day cleaning panels in preparation of 3 more clear coats. Then car will be put back together . Cut n buff at a later date....Jim
Thanks, been a long road..... 3 more coats of clear and I'm gonna walk away from it for a couple of weeks. Then I'll tape off everything, mount inners to fenders and start putting her together. Then I'll wetsand and buff her out. Jim
Ill tell you something. Don't get it together too much before wetsanding. That white clear dust get on everything and in every crevice and it sticks. Especially if it gets warmed up like on the engine or Windows in the Sun. Not fun cleaning it up.
Bear in mind , my car is stripped, no glass no nuttin' , so when I say put it together, what I really mean is hang doors, fenders w/ inners , trunk lid and hood. Nothing else. No glass ,etc. Perhaps it would be better to wetsand from 1200 grit thru 2500 grit, then put car together ? Cut n buff following assembly? That should keep the majority of the slurry away from the goods. Jim
I would do the hood off the car if I had it to do again. Bottom line it'll get less polluted with that stuff and clean up easier the less small spaces and nice surfaces there are to mess up.
Makes sense, I was thinking about doing hood off car also. Would make it easier as well , no reaching across fenders...and no slurry leaking into engine compartment. Thanks for the tips......Jim
Spent both days this weekend spraying clear, panels on Saturday and shell on Sunday. Had sum issues Sat with runs on one door and trunk lid... was a loooong day to say the least, with many colorful words coming from the garage. But I got thru it... Sunday spraying the body , ya woulda thought I did it for a living, go figure. Body should be much easier to wetsand n buff...... Jim
Clear I used was 1 part clear to 1 part activator. I reduced it with 4 ounces of very slow reducer per quart of sprayable material and that allowed it to lay flatter with less orange peel. Like anything, you figure it all out at the very end. Jim
