[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by dataway

Yes, I painted it two difference colors since the original paint ... now it's returned to the original color. I left original factory paint on the underside of the trunk lid.
Strange color ... in direct light it looks quite light in color, in shadow it looks quite dark.

More painting put off until Tuesday ... weather again.

Nice…it always nice to paint the car the original color. Looking Good ! That’s what metallic will do to a color.

[dataway]

So pics of the paint while the clear is barely dry.

Ehhhhh ... doesn't look this nice in person. Going to need some post paint work for sure. Two very small bugs so that was no problem, biggest issue was visibility, areas I could see well turned out nicer than areas I couldn't.

I'd call it a 6.5 on the scale of amateur paint jobs. But the way I look at it, if it already had paint like this, I wouldn't have painted it, so I should be satisfied.

First post paint question ... how long in the future could a person wet sand the whole car and shoot it in clear again (assuming this is even possible).

Next ... how long should I wait with SPI clear before attempting some corrective wet sanding and buffing? (car will be indoors the whole time so no sun curing).

[Rob in NH]

I started sanding mine the next day.

[roger1]

Looks like a professional job in the photos!

I know you can sand and re-shoot clear after 6 months with no problem but I don't know if there is a cutoff amount of time. I don't think there is.

[MUSLCAH]

On something like that …I wait at least a week ….before sanding and buffing. As far as sand and reclear with that Paint system….it’s looks like another phone call has to be made……. Crash jobs I do…the clear gets 24 hour dry time…then de-Nib and polish and out the door.

[MUSLCAH]

How many coats of clear ? …..And no runs or sags ?

[tinindian68]

I’d be damn proud to say I painted that! It looks great!

[MUSLCAH]

And another thing…..your paint job will be fine …..you cannot spray a show finish out of the gun period. All these wicked paint jobs are sanded and buffed beyond belief…..We are talking 80 hours for cutting and buffing

[Entropy11]

Looks great! All your hard work is paying off.

Muscle nailed it… those show finishes are endless hours of post-paint work. If you’re even remotely satisfied with it at this stage then you will be more than fine with it after even just a little work!

Btw- you’re right about that boring ride from my end of the state out to you. Just drove it about a month ago (an hour south or so). The only appealing part of it for me was out your way… the 75% of the drive starting from my home is just endless flat farmland.

Again, congrats on the paint!!!

[Shiny]

Looks beautiful!

[Rob in NH]

You did an awesome job, whenever I see that color I know its a Pontiac.

[dataway]

1. Might just be me ... but after 6 hours of drying it looks better. Smoother, glossier. Went from a 6.5 to a 7

2. Not a single run or sag. A couple of areas where the base coat was put on a bit dry. This happened for two reasons, either I couldn't see it well enough (light and shadow), or in one case the panel was way too hot, sun came out seconds after painting it and the surface temp zoomed up to about 120+ degrees.

3. No more Tiger striping (thanks MUSLCAH), upping the pressure did the trick along with getting it in my head to look for a wet "satin" finish, not a wet gloss. Evenness of the metallic was excellent.

4. Coats tend to run like this ... 2 full everywhere, 3'ish on areas that are more prominent (belt line etc) or where I had good enough light to be confident. Leans more toward 3 coats of clear. I tend to "double coat" during a pass more than I should.

5. I can imagine myself holding off on the exterior trim and possibly lightly sanding and reshooting more clear in the spring if possible. I'm guessing just how good I can make it with sanding and buffing will depend on how much clear I got on it today.

For those interested in these products (Motobase LV and SPI clear) - I used slow activators and reducers, surface temps ranged from 77 degrees to 85 in general ... with a couple of areas hitting over 100. Base coat dry times ranged around 30 min, clear coat about the same. Shot base at 30 psi, (metallic went on very nice at this pressure), shot the clear about 35 psi. About 1.5 hours between base and clear (clear was shot in cooler temps and no direct sun).

So you can break a few rules with this stuff and it still turns out OK. I have more nibs in the trunk than the whole rest of the car combined ... that'll learn me to tack the base before clear coating.

My number one piece of advice to any other newbie backyard painter ... visibility, you have to see what your are doing to do a good job. You put the seal coat on dry in some area you can't see well, then the base is rough, then the clear is rough. You can't follow good practice on the amount of paint you are using if you can't see what you are doing. You need reflective light sources everywhere so you can gauge the gloss as you go. Second would be ... put on as much clear as you can, you're going to need it later

Thanks to everyone for the advice and comments. Hopefully I'll remember all this in the spring when I paint the fenders, hood and bumper, just don't think I'm going to have the weather to get them done before winter. Ordering another quart of the same paint to mix with what I have left just to make sure I have enough and they match as well as possible.

Can't wait to experiment with sanding and buffing.

PS. I'm not short and fat as seen in the door reflection

[MUSLCAH]

Always tack …aftah every coat of sealer and base color …to keep dirt at a minimum. I DO NOT tack between clear coats….as I only allow 15 minutes or less between coats.

[nytrainer]

While you have it apart you can always flowcoat it now. Clear always, IMO, goes on so nice when flowcoating. If you wait a year or so you’d only have mechanical adhesion (which might ne fine) but doing it now will give mechanical (sanding) and better chemical adhesion. As a plus you’d have more clear for later cut and buff

[dataway]

Dave ... yep going to have to make the decision very soon on whether to start reassembly or wait on that until I do something more to the exterior .... guess I could work on the interior in the meantime.
I'll research this flowcoat option.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by dataway

Dave ... yep going to have to make the decision very soon on whether to start reassembly or wait on that until I do something more to the exterior .... guess I could work on the interior in the meantime.
I'll research this flowcoat option.

http://www.spiuserforum.com/index.ph...r-method.4012/

Don

[dataway]

The more I read, the more I think I should leave well enough alone. I have a couple of areas that will need to be addressed but 95% of the paint should look great after the cheap shine gets knocked off with polishing

Don't think I should be dreaming of a show car finish when the under lying filler work is not show quality to start with.

What is kind of a shame is I'm close to being able to handle the gun properly, but I'll never paint enough to get it down pat. There are areas of this paint that look absolutely glass like and need nothing but wax a year from now. All of them areas that I could get up close and personal with, and all of them had curves, angles etc. that allowed me to read the surface very well as a shot them.

Areas like the panels on either side of the trunk lid and down to the bumper ... absolutely perfect. The top 15% of the door panels, bottom of the rear quarter window opening, the valance, the down slope of the trunk lid, all as level as glass, perfect gloss. If I could have shot the large flat areas that nice I would have been extremely happy. There really is a sweet spot between wet and heavy with this clear.

[MUSLCAH]

There is a fine line that all us painters dance with.....each and every time we paint. Painting is like a baseball pitcher....some days you have your curveball and some days you don’t...