Cut and Buff - Water Spots

eelliott

Promoted Users
Hello all,

I’m a novice painter and thanks to the help and many threads on here, I just finished painting my first complete car. BC/CC with UC. Unfortunately, I live a stones throw away from the ocean and the air is always wet here. I did my best with 2 air/water traps and a homemade condenser, but unfortunately it seems I was spraying a few water drops here and there. Not to mention sweating like crazy in a paint suit in a homemade “paint room”. There were a more than few times I used the gun to dry out water on the surface.

I made sure to shoot 5 coats of clear and went through about 1.75 gallons of UC on just the exterior of the car (no jambs etc). Hopefully leaving plenty of room to cut and buff out the trash. I’ve begun this process on a nice easy flat panel and noticed that a few imperfections seem to be much deeper than the flat panel. I know I have a lot of material on there, but I really don’t want to break through and want as much clear on there for a deep look. I’ve snapped a pic below and was wondering what to do next. Do I just keep going and sand them out or should I just spot more clear in those sections? I’ve only just gotten through the orange peel at the point of the picture. The car has sat in the sun for about a week to allow everything to fully settle.

If it makes a difference, I’m using a 6” DA with Eagle yellow 1000 on a soft interface pad. Dry sanding so I don’t need a guide coat. Was planning on moving over to the 1200 or 1500 pink wet next before some trizact 3000 and 8000. I also have the chemical guys foam pads and v32-38 with a rotary buffer.

Thanks in advance for the help. I’ve stopped for now so I don’t mess anything up.
 

Attachments

  • CCFD8100-7162-419D-ADA6-774F12640EA8.jpeg
    CCFD8100-7162-419D-ADA6-774F12640EA8.jpeg
    172 KB · Views: 173
I just cut and buffed a tailgate and have a post in this same part of the forum. I only applied two coats of UC clear and was really worried that I would burn through but surprisingly didn't. Now, I wet sanded, by hand, with 1000, 2000, and finally with 2500. Don't even think I'd put a DA on that with just two coats, however with five coats you'd probably be just fine. I'll leave the suggestions/comment to the many pros on here and see what they recommend. Look forward to seeing how it all works out for you.
 
Thanks for the reply! I definitely wanted enough clear to work with, but also want to keep the clear coat thick if I can. I want that deep glassy look for sure.

Right now, that picture is just barely finishing off the orange peel with 1000 grit. I can still physically feel the pits with my fingers so there’s a whole lot more to go I think. I’m tempted to mix up some clear and dab it in the pits but there’s probably some reason why I shouldn’t do that. Also, you’re definitely right that I should have plenty of room to cut the pita out, but will I be sacrificing depth on the final finish?
 
Some of that trash in the pic is in the basecoat or even the sealer coat from the looks of it. You can't sand that out and buff and be rid of it. The white speck in the top right of the pic you can see that it is sanded through to the seal coat. The dark blue dots I have no idea what they are. Is that from the pic or are they in the paint? Only way to get rid of some of that trash (like the white dot) is to spot more base on and re-clear. Not what you want to hear I'm sure, but the only way to fix that.
Another tip, if you put five coats of UV clear on it, you are going to have some urethane wave. Nearly anytime you apply 4 or more coats you are going to get some clearcoat wave. You need to do your first step with a block and either 600 (aggressive ) or 800 (safer) wet. I would recomend the 800 grit just because it is less aggressive but will still flatten the clear. Sanding with a DA is not going to flatten the wave. It will flatten the texture but not the wave.
 
Awesome tip, Chris. I've seen cars with that clear coat wave you mentioned. After how many coats of clear do you recommend blocking the clear....2,3?
 
Thanks for the help Chris. I didn’t realize it when snapping the picture, but the white speck is deceiving. It’s just dust from dry sanding sitting in the “pit” I have yet to sand out. I should have blown it out before taking the pic. The darker dots are the same, a concave pit where the clear has yet to be sanded, thus showing up darker. The sanded clear looks lighter. Knowing this, should I just keep going until the pit is sanded out and flat? Or should I try to spot in some clear in the dots to bring it up level?

Thanks for the tip on the clear coat wave. I’ll get some 800 blocked out wet before I go any further. And after I figure out what to do with the pits.
 
Back
Top