Frustrating Paint issues

[chrismoore701]

I have finally started to sand and buff my paint job. Did the cab a couple months ago. Started on the door last night. My paint job is not the smoothest so I have to do a lot of sanding and went through on the first area I started. finished the job and went through a total of 4 spots. I hope this is not a trend. Going to sand the other door and hope to just touch this one up. Then move on to the fenders. I can cry, or just fix it. But I will complain a little


Chris

[gmachinz]

Your best bet is to scuff the whole panel with a gray scuff pad (equal to 600-800 grit) and respray the entire panel and re-clear. Do a light wetsand knockdown with 1000 then move to 1500 and then 2000. Take your time though. Did you not spray heavy enough coats of clear the first time? Did you sand your guidecoat with 800 prior to topcoating?

[chrismoore701]

I did guide coat. my problem is, my paint job. It is not smooth at all in my opinion. So by the time I have it smooth, I am through the paint. I just need to be more careful. I am not sure if you call it fish eyes, or what it is, just not smooth. When I sand it down, it is a nice flat color, with a bunch of shiny dots, I need to get these dots out to make it smooth.

[cadillac_al]

Look at all the new cars and trucks. Orange peel is "in" now and smooth glass paint is out.

[gmachinz]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

I did guide coat. my problem is, my paint job. It is not smooth at all in my opinion. So by the time I have it smooth, I am through the paint. I just need to be more careful. I am not sure if you call it fish eyes, or what it is, just not smooth. When I sand it down, it is a nice flat color, with a bunch of shiny dots, I need to get these dots out to make it smooth.

What grit did you block your guide coat with prior to your first coat of color? You should block with 320-400 prior to your first color coat.

[85/Silverado]

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

Look at all the new cars and trucks. Orange peel is "in" now and smooth glass paint is out.

I hear that

[Matt Man]

New paint jobs are very poor, and the paint is very soft.

[chrismoore701]

I used 400 prior to paint

[Jrgunn5150]

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

Look at all the new cars and trucks. Orange peel is "in" now and smooth glass paint is out.

I blew my GF's mind showing her this on the showroom floor, on a brand new ZR1 lol... Funny how many people don't notice orange peel.


To the OP, I'm guessing you didn't block your primer down enough, if I'm understanding you correctly. You just don't have enough "meat" in your paint to get it level now.

[RandyP]

Need more information to know what the issue is.

Is this single stage or base/clear?
What brand/type of top coat(s)?
If clear was used, did you use a high solids urethane clear?
Finally, what paint gun was used.

My thought here is a high solids clear was used and not applied correctly and it is drier than a popcorn fart.

[chrismoore701]

I am painting with a divilbis starting line gun. I have two guns. One for primer one for paint. I sanded the primer with 400 and guide coat. Very smooth. I am spraying DuPont chromobase paint and clear. I can send you the exact specs on the paint tomorrow. Just does not want to lay smooth. Mind you this is my first paint job. I have the gun about 30 at the connection. Open for suggestions. Cab is sanded and buffed. Went through on one spot there. More of a lesson learned and would like to know what that lesson is.

[gmachinz]

What size is your gun tip? I use a 1.4 tip (same as my topcoat) and I lay the clear on slow and medium-heavy....@ 26-28 psi pressure. I also like using Chromabase paint/clear. I usually go with 4 thick coats of clear, and use a LOT of water while wetsanding. It is a lesson learned type of thing. I watched/helped in a body shop for about 6 months before In ever tackled first cut/buff job. Cool temps, low humidity and a slow drying activator is what I prefer in my clear.

[cadillac_al]

My first paint job was on a complete vehicle but it would have been better to practice on a fender or hood first to get your pressure and technique dialed in. From the sounds of those shiny spots it must be pretty deep orange peel. If you sand it down to get rid of the shiny spots there may not be much paint left on the panels. You may be looking at a re-spray. If you post this or move this to the paint and body section you will get some very in depth advice on what to do next. Good luck.

[chrismoore701]

So far it is just a couple spots. I need to work on my sanding technique as well and watch where I use a block and where I sand by hand. I did better on the rest of the door. Practice practice practice

[chrismoore701]

Not sure my tip but I followed the spec sheets when I sprayed. Is a smaller tip better.

[gmachinz]

I'd rather go with a larger tip, dial down my pressure if need be and move faster while spraying. There's a fine line between spraying clear enough to cover smoothly and creating runs. Same principle when applying the paint topcoat.

[chrismoore701]

Oh how well do I know that fine line. So easy to cross it and I do it all the time

[gmachinz]

Here's a diagram I drew up just to visualize how to think in terms of layers when color sanding. Keep in mind this is very basic and is just meant to help visualize potential problems. I think your problems are a combination of not enough paint on the surface will will accelerate the drying time and not let the paint "flow" into small areas smoothly. Factors can be too fast of an activator, not enough volume, too much gun pressure, too small of a tip, moving too fast while spraying, or not blocking sanding the primer enough.

Notice on my diagram the various layers-the humps represent high/low areas....the dashes represent how far down into the clear layer you'd need to go in order to remove all the small "shinies" as I call them. Every sprayed layer above the sanded primer layer will follow the contour (generally) of the blocked sanded primer layer. At any point you get a layer inconsistency, keep in mind the next layer will follow suit. If its bad, then color sanding the clear layer in the end can result in sanding down into the paint or primer layers, creating burn through spots. The only solution is to scuff the entire panel (I scuff the clear with a gray scotchbrite) and re-spray.

There are other factors that can cause burn through too-too aggressive of a wet sanding, too much pressure on the block, not enough water, ect.

[chrismoore701]

Great mark up. Agree. I just need to find what I am doing wrong. I will make some adjustments

[RandyP]

I suggest you go spend time in the Paint and Body area and thin out the answers. I still can not remotely start to help until you give specific paint #'s. They make several chromabase clears and on top of that you have the different reducers that go with the temp's you're spraying in. Also you should have a different tip or gun for the clear coat. Normally you have a a primer gun, a sealer and color gun and a clear gun.

I'm still willing to bet your clear was not laid down slick enough and that is where most of your issues are. But if you primed and blocked only with 400, that's another issue in itself.

Everyone that tells you the sealer/paint should be sprayed over a prepped surface of 800 or whatever, are giving you very bad information. Granted we don't do restoration work or even work on "classics", here is the normal routine with our PPG paint system.

Body work final sand with 180 and primed.
Primer blocked with 220.
Final sand with 320 dry.
Blend panels/areas prepped with 1500 dry on a DA.
Sealer, color and clear done. We use a high solids clear which requires pounding the first coat. Your first coat of clear is what the final "smoothness" is going to look like.
After baking/drying, the dirt is nibbed out with 1500 and then 2000 dry on a DA and then buffed and polished. As mentioned we rarely chase orange peel or it will make the rest of the car look bad. This is nothing new, has been that way for 20+ years.

[chrismoore701]

Spec sheets say to use a 1.4-1.6 tip. I have a 1.5 tip in there. See pics for paint codes

[chrismoore701]

Second pic

[Jonboy]

What temp are you shooting it in?

[pontgta]

Please post of your finished product.

Spray thin coats..very thin wet coats. Adjust and and spray on test panel.

How much did you spray? 1 gallon? I used about a 1.5 gallons of clear for a full size long bed truck. This will help out the burn through.

[chrismoore701]

Spraying about 70-75. I can't remember how much clear I went through. I think almost 2 gallons. Before mix. 4 gallons mixed. And need to go buy another gallon 2 mixed. I went through a butt load of paint. I spent near $3000 in paint and clear