[Goatracer1]

My grandson had his 1955 Chieftain painted and got royally screwed. Not only can you see very bad orange peel but you can feel it. Also there are several Drips in the paint. They are not runs but what appear to be drips from either the nozzle or the cup. I can't find anyone that wants to correct someone else's crappy work. I can't really blame them. Is this something I could fix myself if I went slowly and was careful? The car is two tone red and white and they are solid colors with no metallic. Years ago I sanded and hand buffed lacquer on cars that I painted myself but I know nothing about modern paints.

[dhutton]

It’s a little risky if you don’t know how many coats were applied. Ideally at least four coats of base or single stage are needed to safely cut and buff.

Might be best to hire a paint correction tech to do it.

Don

[dhutton]

I meant 4 coats of clear, not base above. Sorry.

Don

[78w72]

lots of base/clear paint jobs come out with some degree of orange peel, small runs & dirt nibs. i have seen paint jobs with orange peel end up looking like glass after a proper wet sanding & buffing.

i have done 3 or 4 myself on my cars, my painter lets me do all the pre prep work & final sanding/buffing & he just sprays the paint or does small body work like small patch panels or fixing difficult dents. my cars arent 10/10 but for budget paint jobs they are as good or better than 9 out of 10 cars i see at car shows where guys spent a lot of money writing a check to body shops for repaints.

maybe post some pics of the orange peel for others to give advice, but its not that difficult to sand & buff to correct orange peel. what i do is use a dirt nib/run shaver tool by hand on any bigger runs first, then 1500 on a DA sander dry to knock down most the orange peel, then go to 2000 wet to get it all mostly smooth, you can see when the orange peel is smooth, then i carefully do wet sanding with 2000 by hand to get close to edges & body lines, gotta be careful on edges & body lines as they can sand through real easy. then as a final step use 3M 3000 trizak pads on the DA. then buff with a wool pad & i like 3M perfect-it buffing compound & for most colors that is all thats needed, for dark colors like black some will use a foam pad with a finer polishing compound but that wasnt needed IMO for my white & charcoal grey cars, & ive done some spot buffing on the black car after 5 or 6 years to touch up some areas just using the perfect-it & it came out great. a final good wax coat & it will look like a high dollar paint job.

doing those steps will greatly improve what you described & probably be very happy with the results. if youve never buffed or wet sanded, watch some youtube vids to get an idea of how to do it or ask for more help on here... or pay a pro to sand/buff it, chances are it can be saved to look very good.

[HoovDaddy]

It's risky, but I would remove one of the hood moldings wet sand with 1000 grit where the molding was. Mask the edges where the molding was. Are you sanding cor or clear? This way you can test the thickness.

[Goatracer1]

I would love to hire a pro to do the job but I can't find one locally. As you can see I'm in NH and if anyone on here is in this area and knows someone who would be willing to help have them chime in. If we can't find help I will try "HoovDaddy"'s suggestion and see what happens.

[HoovDaddy]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

I would love to hire a pro to do the job but I can't find one locally. As you can see I'm in NH and if anyone on here is in this area and knows someone who would be willing to help have them chime in. If we can't find help I will try "HoovDaddy"'s suggestion and see what happens.

I obviously can't type well on my cell phone. I meant to say if you wet sand a small area under the molding, the color of the residue on the sandpaper will tell you where you are. Car color right away, you have single stage paint, milky color is clear coat. You'll sand that area until the peel is gone and then determine if you have gone through the clear (by hitting color) or if single stage, the paint might be thick enough to polish. If it's a metallic color, and it's single stage, I would not wet sand it without some guidance.

Modern paint polishes just like the old lacquer. You just use a lot finer sandpaper, milder compounds, and if you're my age, a polisher. I did them by hand in the old days as well.

[Goatracer1]

The paint is a solid color. I always hand sanded and polished lacquer. The area where the hood stripes go is fairly wide so it gives me good spots to experiment.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

The paint is a solid color. I always hand sanded and polished lacquer. The area where the hood stripes go is fairly wide so it gives me good spots to experiment.

if you can still talk to the painter, just ask him how many coats of clear was used? usually any base/clear paint job will be at least 3 coats, some use more.

heavy orange peel in the clear is usually pretty thick but it can orange peel thin too. good idea to test a small area by hand but chances are its thick enough to sand & fix or greatly improve the peel & drips/runs.

[694.1]

Welcome to the hobby!
Part of the deal is fixing other's mistakes. It's how we learn... multiple lessons here.
Consider it an opportunity
Otherwise, we would go crazy.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

I would love to hire a pro to do the job but I can't find one locally. As you can see I'm in NH and if anyone on here is in this area and knows someone who would be willing to help have them chime in. If we can't find help I will try "HoovDaddy"'s suggestion and see what happens.

There's a few guys on here from NH, and at least one of them is a body guy. They post in this section, so hopefully one will see it.

I've cut and buffed my own paint jobs, but I'm no professional.

Where about in NH? I'm right on the coast of the MA/NH border.

[Goatracer1]

Just north of Haverhill Ma or west of Amesbury Ma

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

Just north of Haverhill Ma or west of Amesbury Ma

I might be able to help….shoot me a PM . Your at the Candia Cruise nights ..correct ? Silver 67 GTO ?

[Goatracer1]

PM sent. Yes to GTO

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

PM sent. Yes to GTO

Sent you an email

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Goatracer1

Just north of Haverhill Ma or west of Amesbury Ma

Oh wow, you're right near me! Hopefully we'll run into each other this summer!

[Goatracer1]

72 where do you live and what do you drive? PM me if you want.