Can wetsanding save this?

65Ranch

Promoted Users
Being utterly inexperienced, and my first time painting a car, ran into an issue at the end and can wet sanding save me. This is spi epoxy as a sealer (20% reduced), then 2 coats Wandabase and 3 coats spi univ clear. Last week I perfectly painted the valances of my mustang and practically needs no wetsanding, looks amazing, but this weekend I did the whole car and didn't realize my wrist was bumping / adjusting my air pressure alot. Found this out during the 3rd coat of clear, my inexperience showing. So some of the epoxy ended up textured more than it should I think, base as well but for the most part smooth. Clear ended up with tons of dust nibs along with bad orange peel, pictured. So question is, am I toast and need to sand down and start over? Or can it be buffed out? One area, not pictured looks like possible air bubbles in a 1ft sq area, no idea where that came from.

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With 3 coats of clear on there, you should be able to sand it flat and shoot another coat. I like to use a hard block and 1000 grit to flatten clear but for a flow coat you could go with a lower grit but the risk of sanding through is greater.

This is orange peel being sanded. The low spots still show color. The idea is to level the surface so you will continue sanding until you don't see any more low spots. Be careful around edges and body lines as they have less clear on them. Some guys put tape on the edges just to be safe.

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So flatten as best I can, then its good to reshoot clear? Any adhesion issues? what grit should it be just before spraying? Thanks btw, this is great news, was worried I may have to go all the way back to the sealer. Lost about all last nights sleep worrying about this.
 
Whatever grit you decide to sand the peel out with is good to spray over - I’ve sprayed over 320 before and it filled- did a few coats of clear after that though
 
Are you guys thinking, from what you've seen, that I would need to respray? Or might the cut/buff fix this?
 
Try starting with 1000 grit on an area and work your way up in grits then buff - maybe a 1 x1 (foot) area and see how it looks. If you’re happy then do the rest. If you’re not then you will probably want to do a couple more coats.
 
Thank you so much for your advice, so far I've done the worst offending area on a fender with 1000, and moved to 1500 and so far is looking very good. Maybe I just have first time jitters/panic attack.
 
Are you guys thinking, from what you've seen, that I would need to respray? Or might the cut/buff fix this?
Once you sand it out (if it sands out) you are not going to have enough millage (thickness) for the clear to last. It's going to be way too thin. Far better to sand it out flat as best you can and apply 3 or more coats of clear. Then sand that out and buff. As rough as that is 1000 grit is not going to do it. You need to flatten what you got and then apply more.
 
Thanks Chris, should that be just for the panels that are the worst of the whole car as several areas are not too bad?
 
Once you sand it out (if it sands out) you are not going to have enough millage (thickness) for the clear to last. It's going to be way too thin. Far better to sand it out flat as best you can and apply 3 or more coats of clear. Then sand that out and buff. As rough as that is 1000 grit is not going to do it. You need to flatten what you got and then apply more.
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Thanks Chris, should that be just for the panels that are the worst of the whole car as several areas are not too bad?

Three coats is marginal for cutting and buffing in any situation. You want to have enough millage on the clear to allow it to live. If it's a collision repair or used car work, you can get away with it. If it's something you want to last, you want more clear on there if you cut and buff. Flatten it, apply 3 more coats and then begin the cut and buff process. That would be what I would recommend.
 
But is that for the really bad panels or the whole car? Will need more clear for whole car to add the coats. I'm assuming whole car.
 
Now after I sand the clear out flat, it will then have a matte hazy look, won't spraying clear over that continue showing the matte hazy look and hide the color underneath?
 
Will 600 work well enough for the clear to stick? if I miss some hidden area I take it the newly sprayed clear will just not stick to it.
 
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